Word Count: 1951
Isaiah 6.1–8, (9–13 Psalm 138 1 Corinthians 15.1–11 Luke 5:1-11
Summary: The phrase “I will make you fishers of men” has never meant much to me, I just cannot relate to it at all. Here we find out the true meaning of that phrase one that does relate, and one that gives you power if you could only see. Read on …
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 7th February 2010: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Please join me in my prayer.
Father I ask that the words this morning are your words and not my words; that they speak for you, and glorify you. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.” Amen.
Our reading this morning comes from the book of Luke in the New International Version (NIV),Chapter 5: Verses 1-11 where Jesus Calls His First Disciples: “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.
But because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him”.
Introduction:
This morning’s gospel reading is familiar to most of us, where Jesus tells Simon Peter and his fishing partners where to cast their nets, and even though they have not caught a single fish all night, they do exactly what Jesus tells them to do.
And lo and behold, all of a sudden there are so many fish that their nets that they are about to break; in fact the catch is so great, that they have to go and get more people to help haul this catch on board. Then Jesus tells them that if they follow Him, he will make them “fishers of men”.
Now most people take away some good basic messages from this text in the form of; “Jesus can work miracles”, and “can make something out of nothing”, and “we should therefore listen to Him, even when what He says doesn’t make sense”.
However, I think there’s a much deeper meaning in this verse. When we come to a passage as familiar as this, often we can not see what it says in its entirety, as we have heard the same old party line before; and we think that we have been there before. We tend to say, “seen it heard it and done it”; and so with this passage we say, “I have read it hundreds of times … not to mention the sermons I have sat through. Here we go again, there is not much left to learn” … or is there?
Let us look at this passage more closely, and as Jesus Himself was fond of saying, “For those who have ears, let them hear.”
First, let’s look at the scene. This isn’t a scene where the people are seeking Jesus; or his wisdom or salvation. This isn’t some speech that Jesus gave in the synagogue, no, these were rough men, hardened fishermen, who were probably using a colourful language to describe their frustration over having been out on the water all night long with no fish to show for it.
They were probably exhausted, and thinking more about where their next meal was coming from, and how good a warm bed would feel. I am sure they were not thinking about salvation and eternal life. They had a job to do, and it was not going well. They were probably thinking about nothing else.
So how does Jesus handle this situation? Does he tell them to stop fishing and shut up and listen to what He has to say? Does He tell them that what they’re doing isn’t important and that they should drop everything and follow Him? No, He sees that they are really caught up in the job at hand, and He goes to them and says. “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch”.
Simon Peter replies, “Look, we’ve been out here all night and haven’t caught one fish. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.” Note that Simon Peter says that although we have fished all night … I will listen to you, you seam to speak with authority and I will let down the nets just as you say.
This is curious, why would Simon Peter do that; and encourage the others to help him. Well I honestly believe that there was a presence within Jesus that manifested itself even when He spoke. A quiet confident, powerful, authorative presence; based on the knowledge that He Jesus knew what he was doing; that it was Gods will, and God would back him every step of the way. (We know this presence to be the Holy Spirit, where as the disciples did not).
Anyway, as it turned out, Jesus was right; there were so many fish in the nets that they’re about to break, and more fishermen were required to haul them in. Jesus not only came to them where they were, He gave them just what they wanted, “(or just what they needed)”.
Instead of preaching the gospel telling the fishermen what really matters in the world, He effectively says, “So you think fish are all that matter, OK, I’ll give you more fish than you could ever dream of. Let us see where that gets you”? Then the men realize that there’s more to life than catching fish.
And then Jesus says the most interesting thing to Simon Peter, and only to Simon Peter, (who showed personal fear and admitted he was incapable of serving God due to his unworthiness). Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people”, (paraphrased).
That is a strange thing to say, because Jesus was basically saying, “Hey, I’m God, and I want you to catch people for me, and I will be helping you to do it”.
What a strange way to put it, “catching people”, or as many of us probably remember it, “becoming fishers of men”. An expression I have never related to, so it is important that we looked at exactly what Jesus was saying.
First of all, the reason the old translations talked of “men” and the newer translations talk of “people” is that the Greek word is universal: in fact we are not talking just about men, but about women; and children, too; and the reason we don’t hear about “becoming fishers of “anybody” is that the word Luke uses, doesn’t really have anything to do with fishing.
That word is “zogreo”, where Luke compounds two Greek words: “zoos” meaning alive and “agreo” meaning to capture or catch; and neither of them having anything to do with fish.
Literally, Luke says that if you follow Jesus, you will “catch people alive”. Those words later come to mean “to restore life and strength,” or “to revive”. So what Jesus was really saying is that if we follow Him, “we will be able to restore people to life, and strength”; which mean a lot more to me than “fishers of men”.
And that’s exactly what Simon Peter and his friends realized that morning, after miraculously hauling in the biggest catch of their lives; they just walked away from it, and followed Jesus. Fishing: their main goal in life; their reason for being, their point of existence; now meant absolutely nothing to them. All that mattered was following Jesus, and working with Him to restore their life and the lives of others.
I just want to finish of with what I think is a major part to this story, a part that is rarely mentioned, and that is the mental state of the fishermen that morning. Those fishermen were up all night; they were probably wet, cold and tired. They would also be disappointed, discouraged, and downright fed up. In fact what more could they humanly do. They were experienced fishermen … they knew exactly how to fish … they knew ever trick in the book; but here they were cold tired and defeated with nothing left to do. There was nothing left they could try.
Do you now relate to these fishermen? When we are at our weakest, when we are right down in the dumps, at the point where we feel the world is about to take us: the point where we can just do nothing more; that is the point were God says, “Right, we have done it your way, stand back and let me have a go”. When we are at our weakest, God in our lives is at His strongest.
We do not feel God in this state, because we are down and depressed, but God can only work through us when we relinquish ourselves to him, totally; and let him work through us.
I have known this for years but I have not quite mastered it. When I am going through a hard time of testing, I do look for the point where I can do no more, (and I am pretty resourceful), I actually look with gratitude for that point where I can do nothing and need God’s help; as I know he is a lot closer to me than normal.
I know when he takes over, everything become right, in ever little detail; and suddenly everything in my little world looks great. I personally should have been dead and buried years ago, if it was up to me, but Gods grace is a wonderful thing. He protects us from ourselves, and if he has protected us before, we can look in assurance that he will protect us again ... and all because of Jesus.
Amen.
Let us pray.
Father I thank you for Jesus, and what he achieved on the cross. I thank you that you take control of our lives when needed.
I thank you that sometimes you do not give us what we what want, but you give us what we need; even though we are not always grateful.
Father I ask that we become aware of the point where we give up, and you take over; and Father, give us the knowledge and strength to pass that control over to you.
I ask you Father in Jesus name,
Amen.
