Becoming Fishers of Men – Trinity 5

Becoming Fishers of Men

Trinity 5 T Luke 5:1-11

INI

Our heavenly Father gathers up His Church, and makes us one. He makes us His sons and daughters through the incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension of His only-begotten Son, Jesus. By this miraculous act of God, we’re made a church. We’re delivered from death to life. From sorrow to joy. From foolishness of the world to the wisdom of God. All because God has rebirthed us into a new life, marked by Jesus. As the church, this is the good news we’re all about. Without the good news of Jesus’ incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection, humanity would remain hidden in the chaotic places of the world. We’d be sheep without a shepherd. We’d be ignorant of the truth. But through this good news of Christ crucified, we’re brought into faith in Christ. We’re made to be sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

            In the Gospel lesson, we hear of Peter’s miraculous catch. But by it, we’re showed how the Church is gathered together at Christ’s Word. Early on in His ministry, Jesus was preaching to a great crowd by the lake of Gennesaret in the northern parts of Israel. The crowd was so large, Jesus needed to distance himself from them, so that all could hear. So, Jesus found a boat, which belonged to Peter. He drifted out into the water a ways, so that everyone could hear him.

            But when Jesus was done preaching, He surprised everyone with an unbelievable miracle. He told Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” This confused Simon Peter. Because he and his crew were just up the night before trying to catch some fish. Now, Simon was no slouch fisherman. If there was something in the water, he would’ve found it.

            Having received Jesus command, Peter could’ve responded in one of two ways: faith, or unbelief. He could’ve responded to God’s Word with pride and a self-righteous attitude, saying, “I’m the fisherman here! You’re just a preacher. You believe me, there’s no fish here to catch.” Any self-respected fisherman would have thought Jesus command to be foolish. But this just goes to show, Jesus uses that which is foolish to shame those who are presumably ‘wise’ in their craft.

            Thankfully, Peter didn’t act with pride and presumption toward the living God made flesh. Instead, he said, “but at your word I will let down the nets.” Peter responded to God’s Word with faith and obedience.

            When God’s Word comes to sinners, we act in one of two ways. We either act with pride and arrogance. Dismissing the possibility of miracles, or that God controls the heavens and the earth for His purposes. Or we act in faith. And faith isn’t something that just believes secretly in the heart, a privately held belief. Rather, God’s word is put to action, because disciples truly believe in God’s powerful activity. But by the call of the Holy Spirit, true disciples are made, and respond to God’s call in faith.

            Peter demonstrates that God’s Word should be responded to in obedience and humility. For when Peter put out into the deep, which is the place of chaos and evil in Jewish thought, his catch of fish was so great that his partners had to come in another boat to help him reel it in.

            Now this scene teaches us many things about the church. For example, where should the holy Christian church be proclaiming the good news of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection of the dead? Certainly, preaching begins here. Your faith is strengthened and edified by this proclamation. It’s nurtured and sustained by the grace and mercy of Christ when you partake in His body and His blood. But this proclamation is meant to go out into the world where pride, arrogance, and evil are. And just as Jesus called Peter to this important task, so has Christ called you, the Church, to share in the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus. Together as a church body, we go to the deep places, obeying God’s Word who has told us to “Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them everything I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

            Many fear to witness to unbelievers because they don’t think they have enough skill or knowledge. But remember, Peter didn’t catch that great haul of fish because he had some kind of skill or knowledge as a fisherman. He caught that great haul because He had faith in the words of Jesus. He knew that Jesus made that great catch possible! Likewise, disciples are made not because I’m some kind of clever preacher. People don’t come to church because you are some kind of clever evangelist. They come to hear the Word of God, to grow in it, and learn how to live in it as a disciple of Jesus.

            Peter got his lesson rather quickly from Jesus. After catching the large haul, Peter experienced and saw what He believed. He saw the miraculous work of God in the person of Jesus. At that point, He could do no other than confess a right confession, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Knowing that Jesus was not just some preacher, but was truly the Son of God, the King of Creation who could command the fish to gather into Peter’s net, Peter responded in further humility. He knew his sin. He knew that Jesus was holy, and therefore, hated Peter’s sin. But Peter acted rightly, for he bowed in humility to Jesus.

            And this is the action of true faith. True faith recognizes our sinfulness, and our need for Christ to call us up. We call that absolution, where are sins are absolved by Christ. Not because we deserve it, but because Christ has taken the punishment of our sin into Himself. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted. This is the true sacrifice the Lord desires from each of us! Psalm 51:17 makes that plain – “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite Spirit, O God, you will not despise.”

            God can’t work with pride, arrogant hearts. But He can, and does, work with hearts that recognize their need for Him. That’s why Jesus then calls Peter into service of spreading the good news of Christ, urging sinful man to repent of their sins and be absolved by the word of Jesus. He said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” God called Peter out of his vocation as a fisherman into a new one: a proclaimer of the good news of Jesus. For Peter left his boat and his large catch of fish for his business partners to deal with, and he followed Jesus.

            As we well know from the rest of the Gospel story, Peter wasn’t perfect in His discipleship. He denied Jesus three times before His crucifixion. Yet, after Jesus resurrected from the dead, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” In response, Peter said, “Lord, you know everything, you know that I love you.” Though Peter’s discipleship wasn’t perfect, the Lord restored Him and set him back on the mission to go preach the Gospel to sinners. For Jesus gave him this command three times, “Feed my sheep”, concluding with the command to “follow me.”

            As followers of Christ, we will fall. We will act out of the weakness of our flesh. Yet, when we repent of our ways and come to Christ, He will restore us by His grace and mercy to continue the work of Church, which is to go and become fishers of men.

Let us embrace our calling as the Church, united and strengthened by the miraculous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Just as Peter was called from the depths of his doubt into the fruitful labor of faith, so are we invited to cast aside our fears and inadequacies, trusting in the powerful word of God. We are His sons and daughters, redeemed and renewed to proclaim the good news of salvation. Though we may stumble and fall, His mercy remains steadfast, restoring us to the mission of spreading His love and truth. Let us, with humble hearts and obedient spirits, go forth into the world, sharing the life-changing message of Christ crucified and risen. May we continually be fishers of men, drawing many into the embrace of our heavenly Father, and living out the transformative power of the Gospel.

INI

Pastor Joshua Ralston