February 9th, 2025 Luke 5:1-11
Grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I really like Luke’s version of our Lord’s call of Simon Peter, James and John to be his disciples, much better than the way Matthew and Mark describe it. In Matthew and Mark, we are told that right at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is walking by the shore of Lake Galilee, spots these fishermen cleaning or mending their nets. Jesus simply says to them “Follow me,” and they immediately drop everything and fall in line behind Jesus as he continues to stroll down the beach. It just doesn’t seem plausible.
According to Luke, Jesus has already been about his ministry for some time, and has developed quite a reputation. He has been preaching in the synagogues around the area, and has performed many miracles of healing, so that a large crowd has begun to follow him. So as Jesus was walking beside the lake of Gennesaret, he spotted two boats, got into one asked Simon Peter if he would put out a short distance from the shore, where Jesus sat and taught the crowd. Of course, the implication is that Simon Peter would also have heard Jesus’ message.
When Jesus had finished, he suggested to Simon that he put out into the deep, and let down his nets for a catch. Of course, Simon was quick to point out that he and his partners had fished all night and had not caught a single fish. Yet, he agreed. And so Simon and Jesus, who was still in the boat, went out to deeper water and let down the nets. And they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.
In desperation, Simon called out to James and John, his partners, who came in their boat to help haul in the catch. And they filled both boats, to the point that they were beginning to sink. These three fishermen were simply amazed at the number of fish that they had caught. It was surely an epiphany, a manifestation that Jesus more than simply a great teacher and preacher.
One Commentator says this about this account, “It is easy to miss the frightful excess and chaos of catching so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. According to the narrative, the catch was so large that both of their boats began to sink. Something strange and mysterious was happening, and Simon Peter was observant enough not to miss it. Like Isaiah who calls out ‘Woe is me!’ he falls down at Jesus’ knees saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’
Jesus then acknowledges that this is fearful for Peter, James and John. And so, looking at Peter he attempts to calm his fears: ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ This event was powerful enough for these three men, when they got to shore, to leave everything and follow him. No ordinary event! No ordinary prophet! No ordinary mission – to catch people!”
This leads me to believe that the real Epiphany in this text is not just the authority and ability of Jesus to teach and preach with conviction. Nor is it his success as a fisherman, to know where the fish are at a particular time of day. The real epiphany is that through these two events, Peter, James and John came to realize that in Jesus, the presence of God was at work to bring God’s kingdom into their lives.
And this can be an extremely humbling, even frightening experience. Any time that God’s Spirit leads us to see God’s glory, to come to realize that we owe our very existence to God, leads to humility.
William H Willimon, in his commentary on our lessons for this morning, put it this way: “Let’s be clear; Isaiah’s ‘Woe is me!’ and Peter’s ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ have little to do with our conventional definitions of sin. The sin being confessed here, does not have to do with the occasional peccadillo, what Mommy told you not to do, but rather the gaping chasm between who you are and who God is. We have counselors, therapists, and Dr. Ruth to help you handle sin as misdeed. But what if our sin, with a capital ‘S,’ our real uncleanness, is not what we did in the backseat of a Chevy in high school, but the gap between ourselves and God?…
Today, we have come to worship God, and His revelation of His redeeming word and grace that comes to us through Jesus the Christ. We have come looking for God to be manifest to us through the proclamation of His word and in receiving His grace through the sacrament of Communion. Through our worship, God’s Spirit leads us to stand with Jesus and Simon, James and John, in their sinking boats, and in spite of our fears, to hear his words, “Fear not, follow me. For I have something for you to do.”
The truth is, none of us are ever worthy to be our Lord’s disciples. As God’s Spirit opens our hearts to perceive his presence and redeeming grace in Jesus the Christ, we can only confess, as Simon Peter did, “Lord, I am a sinful person.” And yet, Jesus invites us to follow him, to serve him, and to receive his saving grace.
Today, we are in God’s presence. God is here to manifest his redeeming grace in Jesus the Christ. And it is not his fishing skills that we marvel at, but his amazing love, which led him to give his life on a cross for our sins, that he might truly manifest God’s grace for our lives. to enter into his presence among us, let us do so, as people who acknowledge our sinfulness, yet as people whom Christ calls to “fear not,” and follow him.
Amen.