Sermon for 5th Sunday after Epiphany
Following Jesus
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
There is a lot going on in today’s lesson from St. Luke’s Gospel, the story of the calling of three of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, James and John.
First off, Jesus is desperate for a little space from which to speak to the crowds pressing upon him. So, what does he do? Jesus just commandeers, takes, Peter’s boat. He does not make a polite inquiry or subtle request. Jesus sees two boats that are empty because their owners are not in them. We know that the boat owners are not in them because they had just returned from fishing all night without catching anything. So, Jesus just gets into one of their boats.
Sometimes God does not ask our permission to get involved in our lives, to encounter us with God’s grace and love. God does not ask our permission, God just goes ahead and does it.
And when Jesus does get around to asking Peter something — to put out a bit into the water — Peter just does it. Now Peter had been fishing all night and was now cleaning his nets - he probably wanted to finish that job and get home to bed. But Peter takes Jesus out anyway. We do not know why. Maybe Peter knew Jesus and was used to this kind of thing. We already know from earlier in Luke’s gospel that Jesus had stayed at Peter’s house. Or maybe Peter is so grateful that Jesus healed his mother-in-law, which we also know from earlier in Luke’s Gospel, maybe Peter is so grateful that Jesus healed his mother-in-law that there is not much Peter would not do for Jesus. Or maybe Peter was just that kind of a guy, the kind of guy who would push out from shore even though he was dead tired just because you asked. We do not know. Peter just does it.
And then, when Jesus appears to be finished with his teaching, we learn that Jesus is not actually done at all. In fact, that Jesus is just getting started. Because God is like that, always up to more than we imagine.
And then, Peter again does something that just does not make sense. Peter lets down his nets, the nets that he had just finished cleaning. Peter lets down his nets again even after he had been fishing all night and caught nothing.
Luke does not tell us that Jesus provides any new nets or leads Peter to a new special spot on the lake. Jesus does not provide these fishermen with new fishing technique or gimmick. It appears they have returned at or near the spot where they caught no fish all night. Nothing is different from what they had been doing all night. Except, of course, that Jesus spoke to them and they do what he says and the word Jesus spoke makes it different, because God’s Word always does what it says, even when those hearing that Word fall short or even have a hard time believing it.
You know what happens next, the fishermen struggle to haul in this unexpected catch, they call their friends to help, and barely get their nets to shore. They must have been filled with wonder and delight, a touch of awe and probably a bit of fear. These are usually the things that accompany an encounter with the Lord. Who is this Jesus?
Before this encounter, Peter might have thought he knew Jesus, but now Peter realizes that he really does not know Jesus, that he is only just beginning to realize who and what Jesus is, and all that it scares Peter a little.
“Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” Peter exclaims.
It is easy for us to attribute Peter’s confession to a lack of self-esteem, or an appropriate confession of sinfulness in the presence of the sinless One.
The sheer grace and love of God is often such a surprise. We are simultaneously joyful and a little afraid, struck by how much more we’ve received than we deserve or even imagined. We wonder how such blessings came our way and realize we are caught up in something so much bigger than ourselves.
Jesus responds to Peter, “Do not be afraid.” Even though Peter has just confessed his sinfulness, Jesus does not say, “you are forgiven.” Instead Jesus tells Peter not to be afraid, reminding him, and us, that Jesus certainly forgives sin, but he also offers so much more. In this case, comfort and encouragement.
“Do not be afraid” appears about 120 times throughout the Bible and nowhere more often than Luke’s gospel. “Do not be afraid” is the hallmark of Luke’s gospel.
“Do not be afraid.” Jesus comes so that we – Peter, you and me – so that we do not have to be afraid anymore.
And Jesus does not stop only at comfort and encouragement, but moves on to give Peter something to do, something bigger and larger than anything Peter had ever imagined. Jesus calls Peter to catch people up in the unimaginable and life-changing grace of God. Peter has no reason to expect this call and has many reasons to doubt it. Yet Jesus calls Peter anyway.
That is just how God works, always choosing the unlikeliest of characters through whom to work, putting aside all their doubts and fears and excuses and professed shortcomings to do marvelous things through them. Unlikely folks like you and me. To do marvelous things through us.
And, after all of this, the story is still not quite done. Because after these words, these fishermen, Peter, James and John, they give everything up – their professions, their livelihood, their family and friends, they give up everything in order to follow Jesus. They just up and follow Jesus, with little to no idea where Jesus will lead them.
Jesus is not talking only to Peter and his friends. Jesus is talking to us, too. Jesus is asking us to put aside all our doubts and fears and excuses and professed shortcomings. Jesus is asking us to do marvelous things through his love for us.
Would we follow Jesus? Do we follow Jesus? Would we give up everything for Jesus?
These are serious and significant questions. And yet as much as I wonder about those questions and even often wonder about my own adequacy to respond to the Lord’s call, as much as I wonder about these questions, I am reminded that in this respect, too, this story, our story, is not done. Jesus is still coming to us to say, “Do not fear.” Jesus is still coming to us to call us to things we cannot even imagine. Jesus is not finished calling people who know their sins and doubts and fears and inadequacy first hand. And Jesus is still coming and speaking to us, and by his speaking, Jesus accomplishes in us what he has asked. Because that is what the Word of God does.
God has chosen us. Jesus is still coming to you and me, calling us to things we cannot even imagine. That is just what God does.
It is time to put aside our doubts, our fears, our excuses, our shortcomings and follow Jesus.
Jesus say, “Follow me.” Do not fear. God will always be with us. Amen.
(With thanks to the Rev. Dr. David Lose).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
Sunday, February 9 & 10, 2019
