Worthy – A Sermon for Epiphany 5, 2019

Text: Luke 5:1-11

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who calls us as we are.

         I love everything about Peter here, I’m going to call him Peter he’s still called Simon in our text today, since that’s the name we know better, Jesus will change his name from Simon to Peter later. In Simon Peter we can see ourselves, and we also see ways that Jesus cares about who Peter is and who we are.

         So, what’s all going on? Jesus is now just outside of Capernaum, a city on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, our gospel refers to it as Lake of Gennesaret one of a couple different names it’s referred to. And the three disciples that Jesus calls to follow him in this text, Peter, James and John, are on the shore cleaning and mending their nets after a long night of fishing. A big crowd shows up, following Jesus, crowding around him as he taught, so much that he gets into one of the boats, and has Simon put out a little ways from the shore.

         I saw a good visual analogy of this scene last Sunday. At the end of the Super Bowl as one of the sideline reporters was trying to interview Tom Brady a massive crush of other players, security, and photographers and videographers just mobbed around him. This image doesn’t really do it justice, if you were watching all you could here was the reporters mic being bumped and hit, she’s the short lady in the middle of that all, and muffled talking over it all.

         So, Jesus, mobbed by this crowd, goes out to teach from off the shore so they can see and hear better. Then he tells Peter, hey, you should row out deeper and throw your nets again.

         Now, there three things to note here. One, Jesus is not a fisherman, he’s a carpenter and Rabbi; Second, Peter is indeed a fisherman and a good one at that; Third, Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. He’s coming not a fisher, but the messiah trying to do something miraculous. So, Jesus says to throw the nets out, now in the late morning maybe noon, and remember, Peter’s been on the shore mending his nets, he’s done with fishing for the day. “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” There’s some attitude in that response, Peter is sort of humoring Jesus. Sure, thing boss, it’s a crazy idea, this is not the right time to fish, and we’ve already been out all night, but, I’ll do it, it’s easier to just do what you say than fight.

It’s hard to see how crazy Jesus request is, because we take everything so seriously from Jesus. We think, well it’s Jesus, Jesus must know the most about fishing, even more than Peter. Jesus must know that the best fishing time is at noon. But, Jesus isn’t being a fisher here, he’s being the messiah here. Peter knows that this is crazy to do, Jesus knows that this is crazy to do.

Jesus request is as if, me, a pastor who only has basic knowledge of farming, goes up to Kendell or Martin, who’ve farmed their whole lives, and I say, hey, why don’t you send the combine to harvest mid-June. Well, that’s crazy. Peter thinks this fishing idea is crazy, but he does it.

         And, well, something even crazier happens. Peter doesn’t just catch some fish, he catches an overwhelming amount of fish. Such an overwhelming amount of fish that the other boat has to come out to help, and both boats almost sink. This crazy thing that happens is a messianic sign. In this miracle of Jesus, Peter sees a sign that Jesus is the messiah, the one to save the Israelite people.

         In Jewish thought, when the messiah comes, well the world will be flipped around. Not upside down the wrong way, but the flip will make all things right. We’ll talk more about that next week as we read the Beatitudes in the sermon on the mount. But, part of this flipping the right way up is the amazing, seemingly crazy things that will happen. In one ancient commentary, a Jewish rabbi told how when the messiah comes grain will grow so fast that it will grow right up your pant leg as you walk along. Abundance will be so great it will overwhelm.

         Peter knows this, and so when this crazy, miraculous thing happens, all these fish, to many for even one net, too many for even one boat, all occurring at the wrong time of day, well, something is happening. To Peter this is a messianic event, a sign that the messiah is turning the world around.

         And well, Peter can’t really deal with it.

         “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” I see the scene from Wayne’s World where Wayne and Garth meet Alice Cooper. We’re not worthy, we’re not worthy! I’m not worthy!

The word for sinful has at its Jewish roots, since this is coming from Peter, a Jew, the idea of unobservant. Being sinful for a Jewish man is not observing the Torah, the laws. Peter is declaring t0 Jesus, I don’t follow the rules like I should. I work on the sabbath! I don’t go to the synagogue like I should! I don’t pray like I should! In our usage, I do work when others are doing church things, I don’t go to church service like I should, I don’t pray like I should. I don’t do all the things that the law and others say I should.

         So, why are you showing this messianic sign to me, a poor sinful, unobservant person. I’m not worthy.

         To which Jesus simply responds, don’t be afraid, from now on you’ll be catching people.

         I love this text, because it represents us. Like Simon Peter, we don’t always understand what Jesus is doing, we don’t think we’re worthy of Jesus working through us. And yet Jesus does.

         This text is so wonderful exactly because of all of that. Jesus knows that Peter doesn’t get it. Jesus knows that Peter thinks he’s unworthy. Jesus knows that Peter is unobservant and sinful. Jesus knows that Peter isn’t perfect. Jesus knows that Peter thinks some of the things he’s asking him to do are crazy.

         And Jesus still calls Peter. And Jesus still calls us.

         Being a Christian is not being perfect. It’s not showing up at church every Sunday. It’s not saying prayers each and every day. It’s not even immediately trusting and enthusiastically doing what Jesus asks of us.

         It’s hearing that despite everything, Jesus still loves you. Despite everything, Jesus still calls you. That even when you don’t understand what God is up to, God is working in you, to change you, and change the world. People of God, who are loved so much, whether you know it or not, God is calling you and sending you, doing crazy miraculous things through you.

         Let us pray,

God of the miraculous, the crazy, we give thanks that you pick us even though we are not worthy. That while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Work through us to flip the world the right way up, help us to help our neighbors, knowing your love fills us and them. Amen.