For the last several weeks we’ve followed the course of just 24 hours in Jesus’ life. It was an amazing time. It started on the Sabbath day. He preached in the synagogue at Capernaum, cast a demon out of a heckler there, went home to Peter’s house and healed Peter’s mother-in-law in the afternoon. In the evening quite a crowd gathered, asking him to heal them, and he healed them all. But in the morning, when they came looking for him again, he was gone. He had gone out to someplace where he could be alone and pray. And, even though they urged him to stay and be there to solve all their problems for them, he said he had to move on, he couldn’t be tied to just one town. Every town and village in Galilee needed to hear the good news of what God was doing.
Then there’s a gap where we don’t know what happened, but we assume he went on a preaching tour through Galilee, announcing the new things God was doing, healing the sick, and then moving on. I want you to hear that it was very important for everyone to hear the good news. If we let the church get into a club-house vision, just take care of us and our friends, we are not faithful to Jesus. His vision is always wider than just me and my friends.
Today we move ahead to the next passage. It doesn’t specify where it is, except that it’s on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. And most of us have probably never heard of the Lake of Gennesaret, but it’s just another name for the Sea of Galilee. As Lil comes to read the text for us and we hear of a new phase in Jesus’ ministry, see if you can make a good guess where this is.
Our scripture for this morning is Luke 5:1-11. You can find it on page 62 of the New Testament section of your pew Bible. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.
1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught 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, `Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, `Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!' 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, `Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.' 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him"
Luke doesn’t tell us the name of this town, but can anybody guess? It sure sounds like he’s right back in Capernaum. What makes you think that?
I love seashores, so I picture a really beautiful scene here. It’s morning time. Two boats of fishermen had been out all night. Now they have pulled their boats up on the beach. The waves must be small since Jesus could sit in the boat and be heard. What else do you see or hear or feel in this scene?
I picture sea gulls who knew there would be some throwaways in the nets for them.
When the scene opens the fishermen are cleaning out their nets. Fishing nets get all gunked up with sea weed that has to come off before it dries and hardens. Thankfully they didn’t have to clean out plastic bags, beer cans or those plastic rings that hold a six-pack together. Once the nets are clean they needed to be spread out on drying racks so they could dry thoroughly and not rot or mildew.
And people had heard that Jesus was back in town. He was really mobbed. And these people weren’t there just to be served. They were there hungry to hear the word of God. They wanted to understand and to obey. And it was too many people for everyone to hear him well, so Jesus asked Peter to let him sit in his boat, and then pushed it off a bit from shore, threw down the anchor. Peter was good with boats and glad to use his fisherman skills to help. And there everybody could see him. Voices travel really well across the water, so people could hear him. They’d be facing east, where the sun was coming up, so there might be some glare in their eyes. But these people were used to that. And they really wanted to hear what God had for them.
The text doesn’t tell us what Jesus taught about, but it seems that Jesus had a basic stump speech that he used often and in a few weeks I’m going to take a shot at reconstructing it for you.
Picture Peter while this is going on. He’s in his comfort zone, on the water, with his nets. He likes Jesus and I’ll assume he is interested to hear his teaching and glad to be of help. He’s glad the neighbors are here. Maybe he even forgot about the frustration of fishing all night and catching nothing.
But be careful when you are with Jesus because he often upsets our comfort zones. When the lesson was over he turned to Peter and said something really strange.
OK, now Peter, get back in your boat, go out deep, and put your nets down again for a catch. And you can hear that Peter didn’t like this. What we have recorded is that Peter said, Master, we’ve tried all night and we didn’t catch anything. You can imagine him grumbling about these religious guys who know their Bible but don’t know anything about fishing. You fish in the deep water at night, not during the day. And they were really tired. They had given their all. The fish just plain weren’t in their part of the Sea of Galilee today. And they had finally gotten the nets all cleaned out, arranged on the drying racks. If they went out again it would be a lot of work, and probably for nothing.
Have you ever been in Peter’s shoes? You feel like you’ve done everything you can, nothing is going to work, and God is calling you to keep going, anyway, even to do something that seems useless?
But this amazing Peter, even with a bit of a grumble, agreed to do it. And his grounds for doing it were…. what? See verse 5. His grounds for doing it were just that Jesus had said so. His fishing instincts said it was a waste of time. His body said it was time to go home for breakfast and a nap. But for sheer, naked faith in what Jesus had said, he’d go out one more time.
Sometimes we put a lot of energy into making churches a comfortable place, to keep everybody happy. But for all the folks who joined today, and everybody in this room, I hope this church will be a place that pulls you out of your comfort zone, stretches you to do more than you thought you could, to be more than you thought you could be. If you aren’t being stretched, if you aren’t growing, then you aren’t listening to Jesus. He loves us enough to guide our lives to help us to grow.
Well, you know the story. He went out and put the net down. And he made the most incredible catch of fish ever, something he never expected to see except in his dreams. It was more than he could pull in. He had to call his partners and hold on to the net while they came out. And they filled both boats with fish until they were about to sink, and still there were more fish. They were really going to make a lot of money today!
But Peter forgot all about the fish. A fisherman forgot about fish! His best catch ever! Somehow he got to shore. He forgot all about the fish. He went to Jesus and he fell down on the ground at his feet. And what did he say? It’s in verse 8. Peter said, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’
Go away, you who healed my mother-in-law, who just gave me the most amazing catch of fish ever? Go away?
Luke doesn’t tell us why Peter acted so strangely, but I have an idea.
Peter was very comfortable hanging around on the fringes of what Jesus was up to. He liked the sermons. It was great having his mother-in-law well again. He could go about his business just like normal, only some of the problems were removed and he felt better.
But on this day it hit him that Jesus was asking for more. He didn’t want to leave Peter on the fringes, a consumer, and a spectator. He had something much better for him.
It’s cool to watch God use somebody else. What if God uses you?
And this Peter, who could trust Jesus enough to try fishing when he knew it ought to be hopeless couldn’t find it in himself to trust him now that Jesus was starting to do wonderful things through him. He was too sure that he just wasn’t good enough for the job.
And did Jesus disagree? No. Peter said, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Jesus didn’t disagree. He didn’t say he should have a better self image than that. He didn’t certainly didn’t say that being sinful didn’t matter.
He just said, “Don’t be afraid.” God has to say that to lots of people, don’t be afraid. We don’t like being drawn out of our comfort zones. But he does it for our good, because he loves us. It’s like good parents who encourage their kids to branch out and go to summer camp or go out for a sports team or try to learn a musical instrument. That’s love.
I’ll bet Peter was really good with fish. But Jesus was inviting him to a new life, of working with people. The day would come when this rough fisherman would be healing people, just like Jesus, preaching fearlessly to large crowds, bringing the deepest joy and healing and wholeness to people. This was a wonderful invitation that Jesus gave him. It was just a bit scary right now.
And what did Peter do? He left his nets there on the shore, with a ton of fish in them. And he followed Jesus. And Mark’s gospel tells us that his business partner, his brother, Andrew went with him, and two of his friends and fellow fisherman, James and John the Sons of Zebedee. These are the first 4 of Jesus’ 12 disciples. He found them in a little fishing town.
And if you’re worried about all those fish going to waste, Mark’s gospel also mentions that Zebedee had some hired men, so he wasn’t left in the lurch and I’m sure the hired men got the fish to market.
So what does this have to do with us, thousands of miles away and many centuries later? Did Jesus stop calling disciples once he got his quota of twelve?
We all so easily get in our minds that our job is something concrete and predictable, like catching fish or wiring houses or feeding kids or serving customers or teaching school lessons. And I don’t want you all to turn in your resignations tomorrow just because Peter did it that day.
But there’s something wonderful, and scary that happens when we hang around Jesus. We start to notice the people around us as people, hurting, lonely, and confused, sheep without a shepherd.
And maybe we are waiting on a customer and the boss has coached us to focus on maximizing sales. But we see that customer as a person, a child of God who deserves to be treated with respect, who may need a little patience today even if she’s grouchy with you.
And maybe you have been focused all your life on doing a building trade, but you can learn to see that work as God’s gift to the people who will soon live there. And some of those other tradesmen around you start to look like lost sheep who really need to hear that there is a savior who will love them and guide them and give them a purpose for life. Can you hear if Jesus calls you to share something of what God has meant to you? That’s scary. But it might lead you to one of the richest experiences of your life.
And maybe you hear that a neighbor has been sick and you decide to make your favorite soup to bring it over. I know this congregation has some really good soup chefs in it. But God is speaking to you to go beyond giving soup. Take a few extra minutes to just visit and listen and care. Offer to say a prayer for your neighbor. Ooo, that’s scary. But they’ll probably deeply appreciate it.
There are a lot of Peters in this room. You have loved being on the fringes of Jesus’ ministry, helping on church committees, sending cards when people are in the hospital, giving money for good church work. But hear today that Jesus often calls us to go deeper. Expect it. Don’t be afraid. Follow his lead. It’s a wonderful gift. AMEN
