2.6.22 Luke 5:1-11
One time, while the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats there along the lakeshore. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered him, “Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were about to tear apart. 7 They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.” 9 For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear. From now on you will be catching people.” 11 After they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Go Fish
Go fish. It’s a simple children’s game. You look for a match to your cards. When you hear the words, “go fish,” it means there is no match. You’d rather not, but you do, in hopes of a match.
Go fish. Peter had done it many times. Yet this time, fishing brought Peter to his knees. We hear it often in Scriptures, “he fell down at Jesus’ knees.” It’s really quite the statement if you think about it, for something to actually bring you to your knees. It’s happened to me once in my life that I can remember. Has it ever happened to you?
Why was Peter so awe-struck? The thing was that it was so unnatural. Peter KNEW fishing. He knew how it usually worked. The fish just weren’t biting. They had been trying all night. Now that it was daylight, it was time to give up. But when Jesus told them to go to the deep water, it was as if the fish were jumping into the net. They couldn’t wait to be caught, to the point of nearly sinking two boats. It wasn’t that Jesus knew where the fish would be, which would be miraculous enough. It was that He actually CAUSED it to happen, which would mean that Jesus had power to control fish! It brought Peter to his knees.
Later on Peter would be brought to his knees for a different reason, that Jesus knew Peter BETTER than Peter knew HIMSELF. He knew that Peter would deny Him three times, even though Peter thought it impossible.
We confess that God is almighty. Yet so often His power is hidden behind seemingly natural things. The sun is designed to rise and fall at a certain time of day. It’s predictable because of the ORDER of God’s creation. But do you ever think or pray that God would break beyond the borders of nature and do something supernatural for YOU, as He did when the sun stood still for Joshua? I think of the person who is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, or the married couple who is convinced that there is no way their relationship will work out, or the parent whose child is addicted to drugs. Do you pray to God and believe He can actually work a miracle?
Peter had a part in this miracle, but he sure wasn’t expecting it. He had been up all night fishing. He was washing the nets. They were almost done. You’ve been there. You’re ready to cash it in. Can’t wait to get home. Yet notice how Peter let Jesus use his boat to go and preach. Peter didn’t say to Jesus, “I’d love to stay, but I just pulled an all-nighter. I’m too tired. I just can’t. I’ll catch you next time.” Luke doesn’t tell us how long Jesus preached for. Was it an hour? Two hours? Peter didn’t complain. Jesus kept him captivated with His WORDS. But then the real test. “Go fish.” Notice how Peter responds. He is skeptical at best. He doesn’t really want to. The only reason he does so is out of respect for Jesus. “Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Now if you think about it, what if he had politely refused or made excuses? It would have been disrespectful to Jesus, for one thing. But he also would have missed the miracle, because of his lack of faith. When he did what seemed foolish to do, Jesus blessed his efforts. There are so many instances of this sort of thing happening in the Bible that we take it for granted. “Go and throw a line. The first catch, open the mouth of the fish, and you’ll find a four drachma coin.” Moses, “throw your staff on the ground, and it will turn into a snake.” All kinds of things that just defy logic. We then take it to the extreme. “Jesus, go and die on the cross, and I will raise you from the dead three days later. Your death will pay for the sins of the world.” “Be baptized, and your sins will be washed away. The Holy Spirit will swim into your soul. Take this bread and wine, and you’ll receive my body and blood for the forgiveness of your sins.” Head scratchers for sure.
Actions done in faith might seem simple enough. Take a little bit of bread, a sip of wine. Get some water poured on a child. Come and sit in a pew and sing. But sometimes they are personal things and difficult things, more difficult and risky, even a little painful. Give your first fruits, and God will make sure to take well care of you. “I’ve got a lot of bills and expenses.” Give your firstfruits. You’re in a difficult marriage. Your spouse is spending too much money. He’s rude. She’s lazy. Don’t give up! Don’t file. Pray. Go to worship. Come in for counseling in the Bible. “We’ve tried, Pastor. What good does it do? We’re both miserable.” Wait for marriage. Don’t move in together. Don’t have extramarital sex. “You don’t know MY situation. This is different. We have to. It just isn’t practical to wait. We can’t afford it.” What are we doing but telling God, “I know what you’re saying, but You don’t get it. I trust you, but not that much.” So we leave God out of the equation and take short cuts. We don’t let God do His thing. We refuse to act on faith when it costs us money or pain or time. When God says, “Go fish,” we say, “No.”
Peter did what Jesus called him to do, even though it seemed foolish. And according to the fisherman, it was. Some call it a leap of faith. But that’s not really the case. According to the chronology of Luke, Jesus was already baptized. God spoke from heaven. He turned water into wine. He had chased out demons. He healed Peter’s mother in law. Peter had seen Jesus in action. This wasn’t really a blind action of faith. It was based on the history of what Jesus had done already. He had proven His power before, and He could do it again. So as skeptical as he was, and as weak as he may have been in trusting it would actually work, Peter still acted in faith. Jesus didn’t punish him for his skepticism.
And that’s why we read the Bible. That’s why we study its history and memorize it’s passages. It’s how the Holy Spirit builds faith in us and gets us to see how powerful and gracious God is. The words and promises of God build faith in our hearts, so that when He asks us to do something that seems foolish or odd or useless, we do it anyway, and we trust that He knows how life should be done. It means looking at that person you want to punch in the nose and saying, “No, that’s not the way.” It’s wanting to tell the world what an awful coworker you have, the one who kept you from getting a promotion, and saying, “No. That’s slander. God can work it out. God can work it out. If God could promote Joseph to second in command of Egypt after getting sold into slavery, then God can work this out for me too.” You’re always going back to the word. You’re always going back to HIS story, history, and trusting that the God who knew how to catch fish can work out your situation too. He knows you better than YOU know you.
Look again how Peter responded. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.” I don’t think Peter really meant this. It was a test of Jesus, so to speak. It was like asking Jesus, “Do you really want me here, Lord?” Here he had just doubted Jesus, just patted Jesus on the head, threw Him a cookie, only doing what He was told because He was told to do it. Yet Jesus, in grace and in mercy, gave him a miraculous catch of fish nonetheless. Peter didn’t feel worthy to stand in Jesus’ presence. Did Jesus really want Peter? Would He leave after what Peter had embarrassingly said to Jesus?
Think more of Peter’s words. He calls Jesus “Lord.” He calls himself a sinful man, in contrast to Jesus, insinuating that Jesus was sinless. He got on his knees before Jesus, in a position of submission, humility, and worship. If we would really dig into our lives, the times we’ve been spared from shame, spared from death, spared from disaster, we would have calluses on our knees. We are not worthy of all of the mercies He shows us. He too should have departed from us long ago for our lack of faith and our weak at best prayers. Sometimes we have even tempted Him to leave with our rebellious attitude and actions, failure to do what we know we should. This is a prayer we should all know well. We may not have spoken it with our mouths, but we’ve said it with our actions. “Jesus, you don’t belong here.” We say it more because we want to sin, rather than being aware of our sin.
Years later, Peter would take the lead and run away from Jesus. He would run from Jesus when he denied that he knew him. He went outside and wept bitterly. But he came back. And what did Jesus say to Peter? “Have no fear. From now on you will be catching people.” Yes, Peter was kneeling in the presence of divinity. We have no right, no reason for God to be standing among us. We, too, have no right for God to be entering our mouths, or being poured on our heads. Yet Jesus says, “Fear not.” The same words Jesus spoke in the Upper Room after His resurrection. He doesn’t want us to live in fear, even though we should.
Why not? Because He didn’t come down here to condemn us. He came down here to save us. As holy as God is, and as fearful as His judgments are, when we are hiding behind the cross and seeing the face of Jesus, He wants to overrule our fear. Think of the parable of the one man who hid his talent in the ground out of fear. He was rebuked and given more to fear for living his life in fear without faith. Jesus doesn’t want us to drive Him away out of fear. How many people do you know who don’t go to church because they think the roof would fall in, that they are just too sinful to be forgiven? No matter how long you point to Jesus on the cross, they refuse to believe that their sins are a part of the world’s sins.
You want to feel sorry for them, but you shouldn’t. They’re doing nothing but calling God a liar, and choosing to die in their fear. It’s not what Jesus died for. Have NO FEAR. Those words are for us too. I think of Joseph, who had fed his brothers and taken care of them for years. When their father Jacob died, they were afraid he was going to get revenge on them. How sad Joseph must have been that they thought he had been faking his love for them, plotting his revenge?!? Jesus doesn’t want us to treat Him that way.
This miraculous catch of fish might seem minor in the big picture of things. These fish had no souls. Their lives were temporary to begin with. At best they’d pay off a few bills and supply a few meals. When all was said and done, it seems the disciples just left them there. Perhaps the people who came to listen brought home a nice meal that night. What more? But this miracle was meant to show Peter, James, and John something important. “From now on you will be catching people.” Go fish - for people. Just as Jesus had enabled the fish to jump into their nets and their boats, so Jesus would enable men to be caught by the disciples.
But how? They wouldn’t have to use ropes. They wouldn’t have to use boats. They could simply speak the Word of God to them, tell them to repent, pour some water on them, and watch God work His miracles. By using the Word and sacrament, the Holy Spirit would use the disciples to capture humanity’s hearts and souls. They too would willingly jump into the boat of the church, and sail on through the turbulent waters of life and death. Think about how, when Peter preached at Pentecost, three thousand people were brought on the boat in one day. And there’s plenty of room for more!
Fish are caught to kill, slice up, burn, and eat: perhaps sell to merchants, or maybe put on display. Not so humans. They are caught in order to give them life and bring them on the pathway to eternity. Fish are taken OUT of the water. Humans are put INTO the water. Fish die out of the water. Humans die in the water, not physically, but spiritually, as their sinful natures are buried with Jesus in His death and then raised out of the water with Him in His resurrection. Think of Peter, who nearly drowns and then is pulled out by Jesus. Humans are given life and purpose when they are caught by Jesus and put on the boat of the church. We sail together with one purpose, to make it to heaven.
So God has chosen to use simple men with simple words to perform this awesome task, of rescuing people out of the flood waters of death and hell and bringing them on the boat to heaven. We are modern day Noahs, with much more than eight members on the boat. God calls us also to go fish. We feel unworthy. Yet we also feel blessed and powerful. We have a message and a purpose. Go fish for your friends, your family, your neighbors, and even your enemies. If God was able to make fish jump into a net and a boat to be killed, God can enable humans to jump into the boat of salvation to be saved, when you fish.
So go fish. It’s a good thing to hear in the reality of life. It’s no game. Remember who you’re fishing for. People like you - sinners - lost in the sea of humanity - wandering through life aimlessly - dying in their sins. Go fish - using the same powerful ropes the disciples did, word and sacrament. Go fish - believing that God’s Word will achieve the purpose for which He sent it - when and where He wills it. Go fish - when it seems it won’t do any good, when it seems impossible, and see what miracles God can work. Amen.
