You know, summer is a great time to go fishing. In fact, a couple of weeks ago when I was at my sister’s house for my nephew’s baptism, we saw two boys walk by the house two or three times with fishing poles slung over their shoulders and tackle boxes in their hands. They were headed over to the nearby creek to fish, they told us, for “small mouth bass.” It was the picture of summer. So, beginning this week and throughout the month of August, I will be doing a special sermon series, “Gone Fishin’!” During the next four weeks, we are going to look together at the fishing stories of the gospels. With it being summertime and us being near the lake, I figured this would be a great opportunity for us to be reminded together of what fishing is all about. And maybe we will all learn something here together that we can take out and put into practice in our everyday lives, whether that’s fishing on the dock, or hanging out with family and friends, or working on the job.
We begin this morning with a story from Luke’s gospel that is known by two names, “the calling of the first disciples,” and “the miraculous catch of fish.” Either way you look at it, thought, fishing stands at the heart of this story, so that is where we will focus today. But first, a bit of background; Jesus has just finished reading from the scrolls of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue. He has also been busy already up to this point healing people and casting out demons, so the word is getting out about this man, and the crowds following Jesus as he heads to the lake are really beginning to grow quite large. As we pick up with Jesus this morning, the crowds are pressing in, trying to hear him. Now, as it turns out, along the lakeshore close to Capernaum where Jesus was, there is a sequence of steep inlets, a sort of zigzagging shoreline with each inlet forming a sort of natural ampitheater. Jesus knows that if he can get in a boat and push out from shore just a bit, he will be able to talk in a regular, normal voice, and everyone will be able to hear him much better.
As luck would have it, there were a few fisherman with a couple of boats nearby. They had been out fishing all night and they were busy cleaning their nets and putting away their gear, so Jesus calls to one and asks him to take him out a little ways so he can continue teaching the people. And so the fishing begins...After Jesus was done teaching the crowds, he looks over to Simon and says, “Go out a little further, to the deep water, and cast your nets.”
Now, even the most novice of fishermen know that fishing in broad daylight is pretty pointless. The best times to fish are late into the night, or very early in the morning, which, as it turns out, is exactly what Simon and his companions have been doing all night...with no luck. So you can imagine Simon’s hesitation when Jesus tells him to row out and cast the nets again. He’s just come off a long night on the water, the nets have been cleaned and put away, and now Jesus (a carpenter of all things) is trying to tell Simon, the master fisherman, that he needs to cast the nets out and begin fishing again. It’s so easy to imagine Simon’s frustration, and the excuses must’ve flowed so easily. “Really? I haven’t caught anything all night, I’ve just put my nets away, and you want me to start fishing now? I really don’t want to go through all this again! Why me? You know, James and John are just over there, why don’t you ask them?” But then in the end, Simon complies, “Well alright....because you say so, I will drop the nets.”
And look what happened the moment Simon dropped his nets into the water. They were filled so full they began to tear, and when he called to his companions for help, their boats were piled so full of fish that they were riding terribly low in the water, and even on the verge of sinking. But here’s what we need to know, Jesus wants to bless us. Sure, he asks to use our stuff, he calls on us to offer our resources, to put our things at his disposal, but ultimately it is so that he can bless us with a great catch. Yet, how many times when Jesus has called on us have we made excuses like Simon? We do it all the time, don’t we? There’s some reason that we can’t tithe. There’s something else going on that keeps us from going to feed the homeless. We rationalize that we are serving God in other ways or that someone else is taking care of it, and so we don’t need to do this, that, or the other. In fact, it’s probably kind of comforting to see that even the disciples made excuses when Christ called upon them.
And yet, look at the result. After all the excuses, Simon finally gave in, and look what happened. The Lord wanted to bless Simon after a particularly trying night, and so he called on him to push out his boat, to head for the deep waters, and to cast his nets just one more time. And indeed, Simon was blessed with a miraculous catch. Christ wants to bless us too. But in order for that to happen, we have to be willing to offer the Lord our resources, not just when it’s convenient or when we don’t need them anymore, but all the time, so that they are there at just the right moment. Then we have to stop making excuses and recognize the blessings that come through willing and faithful service to God. And finally, we have to be able to step out of our “comfort zones,” and head for the deep waters.
Have you ever really, I mean really, stepped out of your comfort zone? Let me just offer up an example for us all to ponder for a moment. Every month, we have an appeal for assistance with feeding the homeless at Mustard Tree Ministry. In fact, we’re headed that way this Thursday. The easiest way to get involved is to supply some of the food that will be prepared and fed to the homeless. We can bring in cans of green beans or a couple dozen brownies; all we have to do is drop it off and we know that it will be used for its intended purpose and a hundred and fifty people or so will enjoy a good meal one night. But does bringing in that food really take you out of your comfort zone? Does it stretch you? Does it take you to the deeper waters?
I think the truth for almost all of us is that as we listen to Christ calling us to follow him, we realize that he’s beckoning us to go a little deeper, to serve the people; to meet the homeless face-to-face. And over time, you might feel Christ stretching you again, calling you to become more involved with the homeless, maybe giving them rides to job interviews or helping them find housing, or making sure they have the clothes they need. Then that leads you to other parts of the world, serving the needy in Haiti or India or Sudan. You see, that’s the kind of thing Christ does. He calls us, even to the places that scare us a little bit.
The Jewish people were not known for their love of the sea. In fact, for many Jewish people, the sea was a dark and scary place. Even the fisherman who lived their lives on the sea held a healthy respect for its power. “Going into deep waters” isn’t something they would just do without a lot of consideration of the wind and tides and weather, and all the other things that can make the deep ocean a scary place to be. So, when Jesus directs Simon to the deeper waters right then and there, without a moment to think, Simon must have been a bit apprehensive, just as we get apprehensive when Christ stretches us and pushes us to new places and new ventures. But are you willing to go there? Are you willing to venture to places with Christ; places that scare you a little bit? Because the thing is, that’s where the blessing really happens! A lot of people say Americans Christians have a faith is a mile wide, but only an inch deep. Yet, we have an opportunity everyday with Christ to change that perception. But for faith to be deep, we have to be willing to go with Christ to the deep waters.
And here’s the most important thing to remember about all this. It’s our job. Jesus came to Simon as he was working, doing what he did everyday. And Jesus didn’t ask him to do something different, to become a carpenter, or a preacher. Jesus worked with him right there in the same boat, with the same nets, on the same sea where Simon always worked. Our work and our mission as followers of Christ are not separate things. This is where we are everyday, these are the people we know and the people who know us, whether its colleagues or family. And Christ wants to go with us to work; he wants to help us there, because that is where the blessings and miracles are most likely to happen. We can’t ever forget that our job, whatever it may be, is also our mission.
Christ calls us just the way we are, and he calls us to work right where we are. Jesus climbs in the boat with us; he steps into our lives, our homes, our workplaces, and he says, “I want you to come with me. I want you to follow me and do this work, except on an even larger scale.” We can try and run from it, we can throw out all the excuses we want, but that doesn’t change God’s call. We don’t have to be perfect; it doesn’t matter if we’ve made some terrible mistakes in our lives. We don’t have to sell everything we have and take off for Africa. Instead, we just need to be willing to say everyday, “Jesus, everything I have is yours.” That’s what we need to say to God today and everyday. “Lord, everything I have is yours.” Let’s take a moment to do that.
Let us pray: Loving God, forgive me for all the times I’ve made excuses...please take away the fear that paralyzes me and keeps me from following you fully...and Christ, use me at home and at work to fish for people. Amen.
