Epiphany 5C
February 9, 2025
Luke 5:1-11
INTRODUCTION
Today is a day of call stories. We’ll hear Isaiah’s dramatic call story, in which he describes a vision he had of God on a throne. You will recognize some of the words in this text: the call of the seraphs, the angels, are words we now sing as a part of the communion liturgy. I hope as you hear and sing them later this morning, that they will bring to your mind this scene that Isaiah describes, in which the whole room is filled with God’s glory, and where sin is blotted out.
Our reading from 1 Corinthians offers a glimpse of St. Paul’s call to missionary work – though it is not his call story (that can be found in the book of Acts), he reflects on how he became one of Jesus’ apostles; despite his sordid history of persecuting the church.
The last call story we will hear today is the call of the first disciples, Peter (here he is still Simon), James, and John. Where in the other Gospels, Jesus starts calling disciples pretty much first thing after his baptism and temptation in the desert, in Luke he has already been doing some teaching, preaching, and healing, and so has already made a name for himself. In fact, one of those healings was of Simon’s mother-in-law, so keep in mind that today’s interaction is not the first time Simon has met Jesus.
Call stories like this matter – especially when the stories are included, as these are, in the biblical canon – because they set the tone for and even foreshadow the ministry to come. So as you listen, take notice of the details around each encounter and the way it is presented. What do you think those details can show us about how God calls us into ministry today? Let’s listen.
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| by John August Swanson |
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of my favorite movies is When Harry Met Sally. I love the whole thing, but most of all I love the vignettes throughout of older couples telling the story of how they met. You can learn a lot about a person or people from how they tell these, their origin stories – stories about how they got to where they are today.
The Bible, of course, is full of origin stories. The entire book of Genesis, of course, is origin stories, but there are also quite a few call stories as well – that is, stories about how various people came to be the servants of God we know them as today. Today we hear three of them: the prophet Isaiah, the Apostle Paul, and Jesus’ disciple, Simon Peter – three giants of the faith. We get insight from all of them about how they came to do the Lord’s work of spreading the word of God throughout the land. And like most origin stories, how a call story is told has much to tell us about the nature of that call, and what we can expect from it.
So today I wanted to explore with you the call of Simon Peter, because while we are not all called to be prophets, like Isaiah, or church planters, like Paul, we are all called to be disciples, like Peter, and I think we can all learn something about the life of discipleship from Peter’s call story. So, let’s explore!
First of all, we can learn from Peter’s story that God calls ordinary, broken people (just like us) to be disciples. Luke tells us that Jesus has gone to the Lake of Gennesaret, some 80 miles from Jerusalem, where he just was. This spot on the lake is like, Nowheresville, Palestine, and he’s talking to a bunch of country folk and fishermen – not exactly the upper echelons of society. Furthermore, he’s targeted some fishermen who are allegedly professionals at this gig, but who have just utterly failed. All night they have fished, and caught nothing, not one fish! Some fishermen, right? But it is from this bunch of losers and failures from whom Jesus plucks his first (and most famous) disciples.
Of course, this should come as no surprise to us, because this is a theme throughout the Bible: God is always choosing people with issues to do God’s work. Abraham and Sarah were abusive, Jacob was a scoundrel, Moses had a speech impediment, King David was a murderer, liar and adulterer. John the Baptist was a loon in the wilderness, Matthew was a slimy tax collector, and Paul was a persecutor of the church. And yet, I think we sometimes tell ourselves that we need to somehow have it all together before we can answer God’s call. I cringe when I hear people say things like, “I’ve wandered so far from God, I think lightening would strike the church if I ever entered it!” That’s exactly the opposite of what would happen if a notorious sinner walked in the door – indeed, no one but a sinner ever has. But God has shown again and again that sinners and failures and broken people are exactly the crowd Jesus interested in.
Second, we can see from Peter’s call story that following Jesus requires immense trust. All night Peter and his friends have been fishing, and caught nothing. And then this carpenter/rabbi Jesus guy comes along and tries to tell these professional fishermen how to do their job! I doubt I’d be so gracious as Peter! I’d probably say, “Seriously, dude, you think you can do my job better than I can? Listen, I’ve been at this gig a long time, and I can tell you, if we didn’t catch any fish all night, we sure as heck won’t catch any right now, in the light of day with all these people around!” Surely Peter knew better than Jesus! And yet, Peter puts aside his confidence that he knows better, and casts the nets anyway. And the result is an abundance he can’t even manage on his own.
Boy, this is a lesson in discipleship I need again and again! I’m a pretty logical, smart person, and I usually think I know better than whatever crazy thing God has in mind. Yet dependence on my own intellect does not reflect much trust, does it?
Last year, as you know, we received a multi-million dollar bequest, and said early on that we did not intend to use this bequest for our regular operating expenses. Instead, it would go toward ministry over and above our usual business. And so, while some we put some aside for capital improvements, and our endowment fund, and the hope of creating a new position for mission and outreach, a quarter of it, about a million dollars, we decided to give away to community organizations who are doing work we believe in. Very exciting! But then, by the end of the summer, it became clear that we were running a significant deficit – we were about $25,000 below our budgeted income for that point in the year. For several months, it was pretty concerning. It would have been really easy to say, “Well we have this bequest – why don’t we just give a little less away, and put that money toward our own needs, instead.” And yet, no one, not one person seriously suggested this, at least not to me. Instead, we were steadfast in our decision to be generous, trusting that God would provide. And God did! We ended the year with a surplus. You see, how we manage our money and resources is one concrete way we can practice trust, rather than logic, in our faith. It is hard, but God does have a way of coming through for us. And Peter’s call story shows us that this sort of trust is faithful discipleship.
Third thing we can learn from Peter’s call story is that following Jesus starts with repentance – that is, confession, and turning away from sinful ways. When Jesus tells him to cast his nets again, his first response is skepticism. “Uh, we’ve tried that… but whatever.” When he sees the bounty that results (so many fish the nets break and the boats begin to sink!), he immediately recognizes his unbelief, his limited perspective, his belief that nothing more than he had seen before could ever happen. Jesus opens Peter’s eyes not only to the possibility of something he’d never imagined, but also to his own sinfulness, his own need for grace.
And perhaps that is even the better lesson we can learn here: that we are all sinners in need of God’s grace. That every last one of us has doubted whether God can really pull through for us; every last one of us has put our trust in human things, rather than divine things; every last one of us has held a limited view of the power of God. To start our journey with repentance, with confession of our unbelief, is to start our journey by saying, “Here, Jesus, you drive. I can’t do it, but I know that you can. I am a sinner in need of grace, and I know and trust that you will deliver.” That’s why we start nearly every Sunday worship service with a time of confession. It is so that, as we bring ourselves to worship (our whole selves, even the broken bits), we are powerfully reminded that we are sinners who are utterly dependent on God’s grace. And, even more, that we are, each day, assured of being given that grace.
Finally, what we can learn from Peter’s call story is that following Jesus, while inspiring and life-giving, can also be really scary. After Peter recognizes and names his human frailty, Jesus tells him, “Do not be afraid.” This is always a clue that what comes next is really something worth being afraid of! It’s like, “Don’t freak out, I’m about to give you a huge, important task,” but it also means, “but don’t worry: I’m gonna be right here the whole time.”
And so it is here: “Do not be afraid, Simon Peter. I’m going to use you to spread this gospel, to share the good news, to cast your nets into the deep waters of the world, where there are people you’re not used to talking to, and situations unlike you’ve seen before, and experiences that will stretch you to your limit and then some. It ain’t gonna be easy. But do not be afraid: I’ll be here with you the whole time.”
That’s how it is to be a disciple, you see? Being a disciple of Christ implies a call into the deep waters, into the chaotic world, to bring there a word of hope. Being a disciple means sometimes choosing trust over logic and good sense. Being a disciple means admitting your shortcomings, but rather than dwelling there, trusting that God will use you despite or even because of your brokenness and failures. Being a disciple means sometimes rocking the boat, even sometimes to the point of it sinking, if doing so will help to further the radical, life-changing, and loving message of the gospel.
And so, my friends, let us not be afraid to live into this call. Let us bring our whole, broken and sinful selves to this work, to the deep, chaotic waters of the world. Let us turn from sin, and above all, let us trust in God’s presence and abundant grace – for us bunch of sinners and failures, and for the whole world.
Let us pray… Lord Jesus, you have called us into the deep waters of discipleship. When we doubt our worthiness, or are overwhelmed by our sin or shortcomings, or think we know better than you, help us to trust that you have called us for a reason. Help us each day to live into that call. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
