Luke 5:1-11
Gone Fishing!
I’ve never been much of an outdoorsman. I grew up in the city and have rarely had the chance to experience and enjoy the many things people do in nature. That’s not for lack of interest, maybe partially skill... but I’m always open to try something new. Well, detour aside, I remember once going fishing with one of my friends. It wasn’t the first time I had gone, but it was the first time I had done any of the preparation by myself. I’ll be honest; I never really learned how to cast a fishing line, or any of that. So, when he told me to cast the line out into the water, I mirrored to the best of my ability how he had done it, and how I had seen it on TV. I flung the line towards the water... and... I got a catch pretty quickly! I started reeling it in, struggling against the mighty tug on the other end of the line. It didn’t take long though to figure out what I had caught... it was a pole. A wooden pole of the pier we were standing right next to. Needless to say, my friend ended up cutting it loose and I don’t think I got to cast another line after that. Now, as you all can understand, I’m no professional fisherman. So, I can’t talk much firsthand about how easy or difficult it is catching fish. But I can relate how difficult it is to struggle at something you’re good at. When we claim to be good at something, anything, we all believe we have this reputation to uphold. We don’t want to be outdone by someone less experienced than us.
Consider in our Gospel lesson this week how frustrating it must have been for Peter and the others to go all night fishing and not catch anything. They were fishermen by trade, and while it might be normal to have some struggle, they never would have been happy with a complete failure. But along comes our Lord who surprises them with his catch. Let us then learn:
DO NOT BE AFRAID FOR JESUS HAS COME TO CATCH YOU!
I.
I’ve always wondered what the interaction was like between Jesus and Simon (who is Peter). Jesus has been teaching a whole crowd as he traveled. In this instance, the crowd was large and very eager to hear Jesus. Thus, Jesus needs a new podium from which to teach. This is where Simon and the boat comes in. Remember that at this point, Peter isn’t a disciple… at least not fully. It’s certainly possible that Peter knew Jesus already, though for sake of argument, assume that this is their first meeting. As we read, “Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, [Jesus] asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat,” Luke 5:3. How would Jesus have asked for the boat? “Hey, Simon, are you using the boat right now?” or “I see you don’t need the boat right now, so can I use it?” or “Not many fish here, Simon… can I have a turn?” It seems that no matter what Jesus said, there would be some embarrassment for Peter. All the toil and nothing to show for it. Indeed, it must be frustrating and also deflating at the same time.
Imagine being humiliated in the same way. Imagine a complete amateur showing up to your job and then telling you what to do and even doing it better than you’ve ever done. How would you feel? I would imagine no one would be appreciative to be shown up by someone less experienced. We all understand that we’re imperfect. We know we don’t do everything right, yet we think that our best must be better than most people. We believe that our best is often good enough. Yet, we must quickly come to learn that even our best is so often meager. This is especially true when we talk about our relationship with God. If we’re trying to cross the bridge, or show off our own holiness, or trying to make a “catch” all on our own, our best attempts will come up empty. Hear what St Paul even teaches us, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature,” 1 Corinthians 14:20. We need to be mature in our thinking about our own abilities. We must be mature enough to realize that often our best still isn’t good enough. We need to be mature to say “I’m a sinner; I’m not perfect”. Otherwise, we’ll be just as humiliated when we encounter the perfect man, Jesus.
II.
After Jesus was done teaching, he turned his focus back to Peter and the other fishermen. He hadn’t forgotten their plight. For then we hear Jesus tell them, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking,” Luke 5:4-6. The fishermen went from no fish to abundant fish. They went from mended nets, to nets breaking at the load even to the point that boats were starting to sink! This catch truly was miraculous and would normally have been reason to celebrate. However, we hear Peter respond differently. “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,” Luke 5:8. At this miraculous catch, Peter was wise to understand who was standing in front of him. It was no ordinary man, but the perfect man. And when the perfect breaks into the imperfect, it’s a terrifying thing for sinners.
However, our humiliation is replaced by the humiliation of our Lord. For the catch our Lord is after isn’t fish in the sea, but sinners in the ocean of this world. Jesus teaches us, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men,” Luke 5:10. Don’t be afraid. Jesus is telling us, “Your sins no longer stand between me and you, for I have forgiven you.” The net which Jesus uses is no small net, but the net of the Gospel. It’s the word spoken over precious Natalie this morning, the name of God placed upon our foreheads and our hearts in baptism. It’s the witness of his saints among their neighbors and friends. That word, is none other than the cross. The net of the gospel is the cross of Christ. It’s Jesus’ humiliation to take our place as chief of sinners. It’s Jesus embarrassment of being nailed to the cross. It’s his lowly death and burial. It’s his whole passion for us that is meant to catch you and me for his Kingdom! Indeed, this is the miraculous catch, that Jesus came to catch you and me by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead that we may be raised up to eternal life!
Let us not go fishing without Jesus, that is, our witness, our outreach to the world is meager and doomed to fail if it weren’t for the word of Christ granting us power and success unto salvation. For God has exalted his name and word among us that by his power we may catch yet others for His kingdom! In Jesus’ name! Amen!