St. Luke 5:1-11
February 10, 2019
Epiphany 5C
Dear Saints of Our Savior~
It’s probably not the kind of art that you would hang on your living room wall, but the little sketch on the cover of this morning’s bulletin is a real gem. Grab a bulletin and take a look with me. It’s a snapshot of a moment recorded in today’s holy Gospel. It’s the call of Saint Peter; and Peter is at the center of the sketch. That’s Jesus on the left and a fellow fisherman on the right—perhaps Andrew, James or John.
Let’s start with the fisherman on the right. His face is darkened and downcast. He looks slightly stooped over and fatigued.
Now look at Jesus on the left. Jesus has just ordered Peter to get back in his boat, head out to the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch. Look at the Lord’s face: humble, gentle, earnest. The eyes of Jesus seem like a window to His soul; and they’re looking directly at Peter. It’s interesting that Jesus has placed His hands on Peter. St. Luke doesn’t give us that detail. But if you’ve been following along in recent weeks, then you know the type of people Jesus did make a habit of touching—the sick, the fevered, all those in need of healing. Just a few verses earlier Luke wrote, “He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them” (4:40). Perhaps the artist wants us to see Peter’s transition from unbelief to faith as a kind of healing.
Finally, look at Peter in the center. Look at the look He’s giving Jesus. What would you call that look? The stink eye? The skunk eye? Extreme skepticism? The annoyance of someone who hasn’t slept in 24 hours but has nothing to show for it? “You want me to do what?” It’s probably the same look you would give me if I showed up where you work and started telling you how to do your job. Peter is a professional fisherman—a card-carrying member of fisherman’s local #448. Jesus is a rabbi—a teacher—who might have some carpentry skills from earlier in life, but who doesn’t know the first thing about the fine art of fishing on the Sea of Galilee.
“Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” Peter knew that night time was the right time to catch fish on the Sea of Galilee, and that venturing into the deep water in the middle of the day was a complete waste of time. But Peter also knows this: When Jesus says something, it pays to listen. Peter has listened to Jesus rebuke demons and send them scurrying. Peter has seen his own mother-in-law healed by Jesus—as well as scores of sick people in his own front yard in Capernaum. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Because you say so, I will do what you say.” This is the key to the whole episode. This is the faith point—the point of the miracle that follows: Trust the Word of Jesus.
Will we? Will we trust Jesus, and take Him at His Word, even when He asks the illogical thing—the unreasonable thing—the thing that makes no sense based upon our own personal experience and intelligence?
Jesus works this kind of trust-building in us all the time. Will you do what Peter did? Will you take Jesus at His Word? Do you believe that God is for you, even when it feels like He’s working against you? Do you believe that you are valuable and precious even though you feel depressed and worthless? Will you speak a word of forgiveness to that person who has hurt you, even though every cell in your body screams out for revenge and retribution? Will you treat your spouse and marriage as something holy and sacred—as a union created by God—or will you dishonor and despise that gift by your words and actions? Will you believe Jesus? Will you trust Him? Will you do what He says? Will you follow His Word even when it feels like a huge waste of time—or worse?
That’s what Peter did. Peter let down the nets in deep water, in broad daylight—and the result was a net-busting, boat-sinking load of fish! In fact, it took two boats to haul in the schools of fish that apparently swam to their ultimate demise at the command of Jesus.
But for Peter, the thrill and the euphoria of the ultimate catch quickly gave way to fear and guilt. Peter falls down at Jesus’ feet and declares, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” And this, too, is the voice of faith. Faith recognizes when we stand in the presence of the holy God. Faith recognizes that in Jesus the holy God has become one of us and stands in our midst—that He is the Lord of creation whom the wind and the waves (and even the fish) obey.
Faith leads us to know and confess our sinfulness. Can you, together with Peter, confess that you are a sinful man or woman? That your problem isn’t just a curse word here and a little bickering there and an occasional moment of lust or greed or whatever? Can you ‘fess up that you are by nature—down to your core—sinful and unclean?
Peter sounds a lot like Isaiah did when he came face to face with the Lord in today’s OT reading. Isaiah knew what it meant for someone like Him to be standing before the holy God: Woe is me! For I am lost. I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But Isaiah quickly learns that the God who is “Holy, Holy, Holy” is also gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. A burning coal from the altar is applied to Isaiah’s lips and Isaiah is purified: Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.
This is how sinners can stand in the presence of the Holy, Almighty God and live: Your guilt must be taken away. You sin must be atoned for. Your debt must be paid for you. That Jesus standing on the lakeshore—that humble, gentle man with His hand on Simon Peter’s shoulder—He’s the one. He’s the atoning sacrifice. He’s the guilt-bearer. He’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and washes you white as snow in His bright red blood.
Like Peter—like Isaiah—we are people of unclean lips and lives—sinful down to our DNA, sinful from when we were conceived. And when it comes to that sin, all we can do is follow the lead of Isaiah and Peter: admit it, own it, confess it. Don’t pretend it ain’t so. Don’t say, “Well, I’m not so bad.” You know it’s not right with you—whether on your lips or in your life. And no matter how hard you try, you can’t make it right.
What happened to Isaiah in the temple happens to you here today. Isaiah’s sinful life and lips were purified by a burning coal taken from the altar. And from this altar the Lord Jesus purifies your lips and life with His body given into death to save you, and with His blood, shed for you as the atoning sacrifice for your sins. Through the lips of His called and ordained servant, He puts the forgiving words of absolution into your ears and heart: Do not be afraid. Your guilt is taken away. Your sin is atoned for. I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Peter and his fishing buddies received a whole new vocation that day: “Don’t be afraid,” Jesus said, “from now on you will be catching men.” They used to catch fish in nets, but now they will catch men and women in the nets of Jesus’ death and resurrection. In fact, if I could persuade you to take just one more look at the sketch on the bulletin cover, notice that there are no fish to be found in the sketch. But look at the net. Are Peter and his crew-mate merely holding onto the net? Or is the net rising up to catch them? Are they about to be caught by Jesus? Either way, Jesus was at work to snag Himself some new disciples, creating faith in the hearts of crusty, skeptical, stink-eyed fishermen.
We too have been caught in the net of Jesus—baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But unlike the thousands of fish who lost their lives that day in the Sea of Galilee, to be caught like us in the net of Jesus—is actually to live forever in Him. To live is Christ; to die is gain. Whoever loses his live for Jesus’s sake will certainly find it. In your baptism you were caught—you died a watery death to sin. And then you were dragged out of the depths of that sin and right into the boat of Jesus—this boat we call the church. You’ve been caught by Jesus. And that’s the best of news on this 5th Sunday after the Epiphany in the year of our Lord 2019.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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