5th Sunday after the Epiphany
Luke 5:1-11
"At Your Word"
5:1 ¶ While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
2 And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
5 And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking,
7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken;
10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men."
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.RSV
Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus who is the Christ. amen
Our gospel lesson is the similar story in Luke’s gospel of Jesus calling his first four disciples.
Jesus had been preaching to the people. The crowd had become so large that Jesus was forced from the shore into the water. He saw two boats which were empty as the fishermen were cleaning their nets after a night of fishing. Jesus asked the owner of the boat if he would put the boat out a little way in the water so he could continue his preaching.
Peter was polite add id as Jesus asked. So Jesus boarded the boat, Peter rowed a little from shore and Jesus began to preach.
Some time later, Jesus finished preaching. We don’t know if he finished because the people left, or if he was done for the day. What ever the case, Jesus was through preaching.
So imagine that Peter was getting ready to row the boat ashore and get back to cleaning his nets when Jesus asked a peculiar question.
Jesus said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
Jesus would have known that the men had fished all night long as he came upon them as they were cleaning their nets. Jesus might have seen they had not caught very many fish, but he asks Peter to go out into deeper water and cast out the nets to catch more fish.
Not Peter had taken Jesus at his word when he asked if he could use the boat to preach from. He had no trouble in following that request. But this one? This was unusual. Peter was probably tired. He had been up all night. He had listen to Jesus preach for probably hours and all he wanted was to finish cleaning his nets and go to bed.
So out of frustration, out of confusion, Peter says to Jesus: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! " Peter was probably thinking we toiled all night and caught no fish and now you want us to go back out to sea and do it again? He probably thought this, but we know his actions were different.
For the verse continues But at your word I will let down the nets. Peter at first thought, tried to talk Jesus out of this fishing session. but then changed his mind as he said: But at your word I will let down the nets.
This is twice now that Peter obeyed Jesus’ words. The first time was when Jesus asked to borrow the boat to use as a pulpit to preach, and now he was going to go out into the deeper water, to let down his nets.
Peter threw his nets into the sea and what happened? As the text says: And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking,
7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
The nets were cast into the sea, and Peter could see from the boat that the nets were getting full of fish. The nets were so full in fact, that he had to call his partners, James and John to help pull the nets from the sea. As they pulled the nets from the sea, the boats began to sink.
So imagine that they rowed extra hard to get the boats and themselves back to shore. And in the middle of all of this Peter makes a confession.
He says: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." In the middle of this huge catch, Peter makes a confession. He says to Jesus I am a sinful man. Why now? Was it the miracle of the catch? Peter had been at other miracles. He was at the wedding at Cana. Just the night before, Jesus had come to Peter’s house and found Peter’s mother-in-law sick with fever and Jesus healed her.
But now in that boat at sea, Peter falls on his knees at the feet of Jesus and declares he is a sinful man.
I think Peter did this because he now had a glimpse of who Jesus really was. He saw and felt that Jesus was the Messiah, the son of God. In the presence of Jesus, Peter knew in his heart that he was a sinful person. He had taken Jesus at his word twice. First he allowed Jesus to preach from his boat and secondly and probably most important he cast out the nets in the deep water at the word of Jesus.
Notice Jesus’ response to Peter’s action. The text says: And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.
Do not be afraid. He calmed Peter’s fears. Jesus is saying to Peter do not be afraid, I know that you are a sinner and it is okay. Do not be afraid, I came not to condemn, but to save is what Jesus is really saying here I think. Do not be afraid, I am the Messiah and I bring salvation. Those words, "Do not be afraid; sound familiar don’t they. The angels told the shepherd those very words when Jesus was born on Christmas Eve. Do not be afraid for great things are happening.
Jesus tells Peter do not be afraid for in a sense great things were happening now. Jesus’ ministry was beginning. Salvation was coming. Do not be afraid.
And then Jesus adds the last line, henceforth you will be catching men. Jesus was telling Peter from now on he would be a different kind of fisherman, he would be catching people for the kingdom of God. From now on, Peter would be telling others what he was feeling about Jesus. Peter would be telling others about the Messiah. Peter would be telling others that it was okay to be less than perfect in the eyes of Jesus. Peter would be telling others that sinners can and would be forgiven of sins.
Then Peter, James and John get the huge catch to shore, and they leave it all there and walk away. James and john must have sensed something different in Peter that they would be willing to walk away with him. For this text does not say that Jesus talked to James and John, only to Peter. They must have seen something different or special in Peter to walk away with him from this catch and catches to come.
I think as we look at this story many things jump out at us. But one thing I think is really important. Something happened to Peter and he somehow shared that with James and John. Somehow in getting that catch ashore, Peter told James and John about the Jesus. Peter had been changed. He believed and trusted in the word of Jesus. At your word, Peter believed. And he helped James and John to believe.
"Garrison Keillor tells how he became a Lutheran. So many people kept telling him, “You have so many stories about Lutherans and Catholics
in Lake Woebegone, why don’t you go to church yourself?” And then he would proceed to explain why he didn’t go to church. One day a friend made a
similar observation but instead of asking him why he didn’t go to church, simply said, “Would you like to go to church with me and see it all ‘first
hand’?” He went with the friend to church, was impressed, and joined." 1
I think this is the important message of this text. We are to help others to believe. We are to understand and believe in our relationship to Jesus so that we might share with others. We are to have faith like Peter to believe "at that word," so that we might bring others to Jesus.
Peter saw Jesus and believed. Garrison Keillor saw Jesus through one who believed and believed himself.
A closing story reminds us of our calling:
A rural Indiana congregation stood near the intersection of five country roads. When the new pastor stuck red pins in a map to locate where the members lived, he noticed the majority clustered along the north/south road.
While visiting an older parish member one day, the pastor asked, “Why do so many of our members live on the north/south road and not east or west?”
“Years ago,” she replied, “Joe and Melva Quimley lived up on the north road.
Then they bought a farm on the south road and moved down there. The Quimleys were friendly, outgoing people. They were always inviting people to church.
Not everyone they invited came, but some did!”2
But at your word
Amen
Written by Pastor tim Zingale January 29, 2007
1 sermon by Richard Hays as found on SermonCentral
2 from a sermon by Bill Mains
