Luke 5:1-11
While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennes’aret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the bots, 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. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, 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. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zeb’edee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching people.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
“The Big Catch”
Sometimes… not matter how hard we try… we just can’t do what we want to do. Sometimes there just isn’t enough elbow grease to get the job done. No matter how much we would like to… we simply can not jut pull ourselves up by our bootstraps… and what then?
The fishermen in the boat that day had toiled the entire night and the entire morning, only to have empty nets and empty boats by the end of it all. Nothing at all worked. As mid-day approached, they had drawn there boats to shore and were probably packing and repairing their nets for the next nights attempt.
They had come up entirely empty.
A little over six years ago, I had a moment like that… where I too had come up entirely empty. To give you a little bit of history. I was a smart enough kid who was able to breeze through High School with good grades, never having to really do homework. Things got a little more difficult in college, but even then no matter how much I had slacked off or how much I had neglected my school work, I could still pull that all nighter to finish out with a strong B average. I really thought that any problem I came up against could be solved with just a little bit of work on my part.
But then something happened. Something came up that I wasn’t prepared for, and it was something that I could do nothing about. You see, after graduation from college, the next step in the grand scheme was to apply to Seminary so that is what I did. Much like high school and college, I was winging it… absolutely positive that I could just work my way into Seminary, just like I’d worked my way through everything else to that point. I sent off my application, simply positive that I was going to be moving early that next fall.
Early that summer, I got a letter back from Seminary, “Mr. Homan, we regret to inform you…” I was shocked… I was absolutely devastated. All of my plans hinged upon getting accepted to Seminary. So naturally, I went to the phone lines, applying that elbow grease… resolving this problem. But, to my astonishment… what I got back was not a “We’re sorry Mr. Homan, of course we have a spot for you.” What I heard was, “It is the recommendation of the committee that you wait three years before re-applying.”
Three years… I was getting married in the next few weeks… we had already given notice to our jobs and even given notice to our landlord that we would be leaving in the fall. Three years wait… and there was nothing I could do… absolutely nothing I could do. God and I had a very interesting discussion that night where I did an awful lot of talking. But I don’t think God minded, he knew he would have the next three years for me to listen.
Over those years, as I looked back and asked the great “why,” the answer that kept coming up is the same lesson that comes to us today from our scripture. The disciples had had a wretched night, and the very first step they took is the exact same step we need to take if we ever want to succeed. Now I firmly believe that this not only applies to vocation, or to applying for seminary, but for everything we do… in our lives… in our jobs… even here at church. The first step the disciples took that fateful day… was they invited Jesus into their boat.
You see… one thing I realized about that time in my life, is that while I was a Christian, while I would even say God was a big part of my life… I hadn’t invited Jesus into my boat. It was my boat, I controlled the boat… had a firm grip on both the oars and the rudder. It was my plan, my time schedule, my route, my decision… but when I went to apply to Seminary, I found out pretty quickly just how far I could get paddling that boat on my own as I heard the response, “Not yet.”
Brothers and sisters, we make a very serious mistake when we begin to think that all the things we have… including our gifts… are our own… that we can take credit for them. It is far more important to realize, that we can do nothing… and I mean nothing without the power and grace of God in our lives. And this is the next step that comes to us from our scripture today. It is not enough to just invite Jesus into our boats, we must also come to realize where the real power lies. It does not lie with us.
One of my seminary professors gave us an illustration that I still think about quite often. It is like a father… out washing the car with his very young son and daughter. Have any of you tried to wash a car with a very young child. They love to help, and are very proud of their work, but what often is the result… is this one very small section of the car where the mud has been rubbed around a little. The father follows behind them, washes the car properly for them, and then takes no offense whatsoever when the child rushes in to shout “Mommy, I helped wash the car!” when all the while they really didn’t do much of anything.
Brothers and sisters, in everything we do we are like little children trying to wash cars. On our own, we get nowhere, but with the help of the Father, we can do some amazing things. These professional fisherman toiled the night long and got nothing… but at the word of the Lord they went against all their better judgment and received an amazing catch.
Likewise in my own story, after three years had passed… I applied to Seminary again with a much different mindset. Jesus was finally in my boat, and I knew he was the only one who could properly steer it. I put it all into the hands of God knowing that I didn’t deserve Seminary on my own, that I didn’t have the gifts on my own to get into Seminary… that ultimately… if I was ever going to be a pastor… it would have to be through the work of God and God alone. Then, and only then did I get into Seminary. Then, and only then… did it happen so easily… where before doors closed - they began to fly open. It was not my doing.
But there is still one more lesson that comes to us from today’s scripture if we are truly going to succeed. We need to follow God’s will no matter how strange it might seem to us. We need to remember that in our text today we have some professional fishermen, men who really know what they are doing. I don’t know how many of you have fished for hobby, but my Grandfather had a rule that we got out on the lake by 5am and quit by 9am. I used to think for years that this was just because he was old… and old people are awake way too early and have their first nap about 9ish. But that wasn’t the case… you see that was the prime time to actually catch fish. You stay out on the lake past nine… you really aren’t fishing your working on your tan, because the fish simply aren’t biting anymore.
So imagine this… here comes Jesus.. at mid day to some professional fisherman and tells them to cast their nets. Is he kidding? Last nights fishing was terrible, and now he wants them to fish during the day.
Against their MUCH better judgment they actually toss their nets, and the results are amazing. This request which seems to be against everything they knew was right on the money. While they knew it wasn’t the time to fish, they didn’t understand how God’s time worked, and they didn’t know then that God’s timing is always perfect. I know now that 6 years ago I was nowhere near ready for Seminary. If I would have gotten in... I would have ended up treating it like I treated High School and College both, and just floated through… and THAT would have been the saddest thing of all. I would not be the pastor that I am today, again… against all my better judgment, against everything I knew… God’s timing was right on the money.
Brothers and sisters… we are beginning a new church year. It is a good time to really reflect on today’s lesson as it impacts both your life and how it impacts this church. Have you let Jesus into your boat… have we let Jesus into this church’s boat, meaning - is he in control of your heading right now or do you still have a death grip on the rudder? Is he in control of the church’s heading, or are we still trying to decide the direction to go?
Do you take credit for your own talents, and your own possessions? Or do you know where they came from? Likewise, do we see the gifts this church has as a gift from God, or do we take credit for them as well?
Finally, are you willing to follow Jesus, no matter how strange his instructions might be, or do refuse to back down because your way is the only way that makes sense to you? Likewise, are we willing to go as a church in the direction God is calling us to go… are we too satisfied to stay in the comfort of what we know?
I encourage you to ask yourselves these questions… because it really does make all the difference. In my own life it was the difference between not getting into seminary and actually getting in. In the disciples lives it was the difference between coming up entirely empty and a catch so big they had to call in more boats. It is important for us to ask these questions now, so that in the future we can be in that second category.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
