Dear sisters and brothers of Lubeck UMC,
This Sunday’s lectionary gospel text is one that I have been looking forward to preaching for some time. Unfortunately, the weather conditions (and their effects – icy roads, power outages, etc.) will prevent me from preaching this text this week; and I can’t preach this week’s text next Sunday because next Sunday (2/14) is Transfiguration Sunday, the final Sunday before the beginning of Lent, a Sunday which has texts of its own that demand to be investigated in worship.
I can’t help but to at least try to investigate this week’s text in some way. Since we can’t be together in person, this written reflection will have to do. At this point, you are probably wondering what this week’s text is and why it is so important to me. You may be asking why I’ve been looking forward to preaching it.
Read the story for yourself. This Sunday’s gospel text is Luke 5:1-11:
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
When I was in seminary at Methodist Theological School in Ohio, this passage was preached by one who would become a dear mentor, teacher, colleague, and friend during my years of study. Bishop Judy Craig nursed the nuances of this passage like nobody I’d ever heard. Particularly, she lingered on two little words: deep water. I think I was in my second semester (which would have been Fall 2004) and her words have stuck with me ever since. In the years of my seminary journey and in the nearly three years since I graduated, I’ve thought a lot about Bishop Craig’s beautiful words, but even more about this gospel passage’s amazing power. Allow me to explain.
In verse four of the text, after Jesus had asked Simon to let him preach a while from his boat, Jesus speaks again to Simon: “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” (Note that this time Jesus isn’t asking; he’s giving a directive, as only one with authority can do.) Simon’s response is classic. Let me paraphrase: “You’ve got to be kidding! We’ve been out there all night working our tails off and have absolutely nothing to show for it.” Somewhere in the back of Simon’s mind, I would almost guarantee he was wondering how in the world this professional carpenter could have the nerve to tell a bunch of professional fisherman how to do their job. And he was just finishing cleaning the nets, for goodness sakes! But Simon, realizing that Jesus was quite the popular guy with a big following AND that Jesus was speaking with a strange, unearthly authority, agreed to follow Jesus’ strange demand to put out into the deep water.
But is that the end? NO! The real miracle is what happens in verse 11: “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.” Ponder the scenario for a moment. Jesus, who in Luke’s gospel has already been teaching and preaching to crowds, healing the afflicted, exorcising demons, and raising the dead, wanders along the Lake of Gennesaret (aka the Sea of Galilee) when the crowds push in on him so much that he has to preach from a borrowed boat just off shore. And when the impromptu sermon-on-water ends, he gives the fishing pros a lesson on how to bring in the big catch. Their nets are busting with fish – a catch that would have meant big money for the fishermen!
But instead of cashing in on their big catch, instead of questioning Jesus’ fishing expertise, instead of doing all the things that their rational minds would have suggested, Simon and his fishing buddies leave everything they know and love for the sake of following this man Jesus. Their fishing boats don’t matter anymore. Their family can wait. Their reputation as fishing pros is insignificant. Nothing matters in this moment except for following the One who beckoned them into the deep waters for an extraordinary blessing.
Through the deep waters, God proved to the fishermen that in facing their limits (no fish!), God could prove that Jesus had no limits. God offers us the same truth. In facing our limits (and, oh, how many they are!), we can see the limitless love, grace, and power of God in Christ. In the deep water, we find God in abundance.
Simon learned this lesson: the most profound and transformative experiences of God aren’t found in the comfort and safety of the places we know. We experience God when we stop trusting our own ways and start heeding the words of the Master, when we push out to boldly embrace the deep water of life.
Simon models faithful discipleship. He models the only acceptable response after experiencing God’s presence in the deep water of life: he follows Jesus! After experiencing God’s power through Jesus, Simon can never be the same again! Don’t be confused: Jesus doesn’t force Simon to follow. There is no divine puppetry being played out. In fact, Jesus doesn’t even offer a verbal invitation to the fishermen in Luke’s telling of the call. Instead, this call story highlights how God’s presence in Christ is an invitation in and of itself. Simon felt so strongly the power and presence of God in Jesus that he can’t help but to follow him, and to take his fishing buddies along for the life-changing journey.
This is the heart of discipleship: to recognize Jesus is our all in all – above all else – and that he alone is worth following. Recognizing that we belong to Jesus before we belong to anything or anyone else is the beginning of a right understanding of discipleship.
We all know that discipleship in the deep water of life is not easy. Following Jesus in the shallow, non-threatening, familiar water is so much easier than following Jesus is the treacherous, life-threatening, unknown deep water. But when we put out into the deep water of life, we can experience even more profoundly the life-changing love, grace, and power of God! In the deep water, we, like Simon, see more clearly our own brokenness and Jesus’ otherworldliness. And like those disciples on that shoreline so long ago, we will find it only natural to walk away from all the junk of life for the sake of following Jesus, our Master and Lord.
In Christ,
Rev. Mark E. Parsons II, O.S.L.
Posts
