Isaiah 6:1-8, (9-13) • Psalm 138 • 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 • Luke 5:1-11
"Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He 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. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.' 5Simon answered, 'Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So 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. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, 'Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!' 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and 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.' 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him."
This story in today’s gospel is a story that was not supposed to happen. It was not supposed to happen, that is, by all the norms and customs and social rules of Jesus’ day. Jesus may not have surprised you with the story. But the fact that it occurred is unbelievable. A little bit of context may help us see how impossible these events truly are.
Who are these fishermen Jesus is talking to? They are nobodies! They are the working poor. By the time they had paid the tax collector for permission to fish, and had given whatever fish they had caught to the person who hired them to fish, there was not much left to sell or eat. Fishers fished at night and in the early morning, meaning they could not be at home at the most dangerous time—at night—to protect and be with their families. Their absence drove their status on the social ladder even more rungs down the ladder. Simon Peter and the rest of his fishing partners were not just poor, the Gospel writer Luke later describes them in Acts as “uneducated and ordinary men”—agramatoi and idiotai in Greek! They are idiots—nobodies!
So, as Jesus goes about using Peter’s boat to preach; as he asks him to cast his nets one more time, as he catches a huge amount of fish, as he tells him that from now on he and his partners will catch people, and they follow Jesus…why does Jesus choose them? Jesus acts like a rabbi as he is teaching and preaching to the large crowds, but he’s not following the usual rabinic custom of finding his disciples in the Temple. He’s not in church looking for the perfect Sunday School attendance-getter, or who has been in worship every Sunday, or who at the church puts in the most volunteer service hours in. No, he’s out in the world, on the beach, with the masses, talking to nobody fishers about casting nets when it’s been a bad day at the office for them already. Jesus was seeking to grow his ministry; to preach the good news; to start the public relations phase of his ministry so it could get off the ground. He should have been looking for oratory masters; for debate team captains; for public speaking and preaching specialists.
He chooses them because Jesus believes in them. Jesus believes there do not need to be any qualifications to follow him. Jesus chooses them—and he chooses us—as his disciples because he believes we can do what he does. Jesus believes we can testify to a gracious God, love sinners, feed the hungry, comfort the sick, and do justice. Jesus would not ask Simon to “catch” people if he did not think he could do it. He leaves the mission he comes to share in our hands—and Simon Peter and the disciples do it! Although every instinct tells us we’re not his instruments, his hands, feet, eyes, ears and mouth in the world, he would not show such belief in us if he didn’t trust us. Jesus chooses Simon Peter, chooses us, because nobodies are who God specializes in turning into the body of Christ.
Jesus believes in us to be his fishers of people, but as one theologian puts it, it is not our role to do the catching. Jesus believes in us to be his nets. To follow Jesus, we don’t have to be the ones casting the deep over and over again. To follow Jesus means we can follow this master of our ship, and trust that he is the one who makes it possible for us to hold together an overflow of fish. Jesus is the fisher; we are the nets. He is the one repairing the holes, cleaning the nets, encouraging us to get cast. Jesus is encouraging us, not to tread as nets in the shallow, easy, safe waters. He is urging us to get cast in the deep, unknown, unfamiliar waters where abundant life is waiting. That is where Jesus casts us to fish for people. Jesus is the one at work in us to widen the embrace of God’s mercy, so that it ripples out, further and further, until the nets are busting, and he can bring us safely into the boat, and back to shore.
Jesus believes in Simon Peter and in us because Jesus doesn’t believe that someone has to be a religious expert to follow him. Especially in our contemporary culture’s compartmentalized, professionalized culture, when we need help with something, we have a professional, moments away on the telephone, or the click of the computer, to expertly take care of it. Jesus does not open the Yellow Pages to call experts to be his followers. He opens the White Pages! Jesus calls fishermen; not just the experts, rabbis, pastors, the wealthy, or just the church council leaders. He calls us. He calls the agramatoi and idiotai to be his nets, and to let him work through us. When Jesus needs to spread his compassion, to show his mercy, to speak words of God’s forgiveness in his name—he doesn’t call the experts, he calls you!
Jesus believes we can be his disciples; that we can do what he did. He believes we can grow in faith and trust of what he can do through us. This is not WWJD-discipleship (as in What Would Jesus Do). This is WDJD discipleship (as in What Did Jesus Do?). Jesus gives us his promise: he will make us catch people. Where are the deep waters that our church is afraid for Jesus to cast us to? What places in our community; what moments and opportunities everyday is Jesus asking us and inviting us to drop everything, and to trust in his work in us, and to be thrust overboard in faith? Will we keep our nets in the boat? Or will we give ourselves over to this one who believes so much in us he entrusts us to be the thread that holds the fish in his kingdom together? Will we follow Jesus and let him cast us to the deep waters? He is calling. Our phones are ringing. It’s for us. Will we answer? Will we follow?
We can. We will; and Jesus will never lose his grip on his fishing nets—the nets he promises will catch people. Amen.
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