What happened to all the fish?
February 7, 2010
Luke 5:1-11, I Corinthians 15, Isaiah 6
Steve Hammond
It was the best day fishing they had ever had though it started out badly enough. All night long and nothing. They had even pulled the boats onto shore and were packing up the nets. But then Jesus told them to go out and try again. Then there we so many fish that they thought the boat was going to sink. They had never dreamed of catching that many fish. But they weren’t thinking about that now. Who was this Jesus guy?
When they got to shore they left the fish behind and went with Jesus. It’s kind of like buying one of those scratch off lottery tickets and winning something like $10,000 and never taking the time to cash it in.
Something very powerful happened when Jesus called those fisherfolk to follow him. But what? You notice how Jesus doesn’t say anything to them other than follow me? We’ve talked about this before around here. There’s no statement of faith Jesus requires them to sign. Jesus doesn’t pull out a blackboard and talk about doctrine. There’s no talk about what’s in it for them. Jesus doesn’t make any promises save the one that he will make them fishers of men and women. Nothing about heaven, hell, or the nature of God, or the way of salvation. But they leave all those fish behind and follow him. Their best day fishing ever and they don’t even care.
“Follow me and I will make you fishers of men and women.” Jesus was inviting them to join a movement, to become part of this thing that he was still trying to figure out. And he was inviting them to help figure it out with him.
What he was trying to figure out, of course, was the thing he was always talking about–the Kingdom of God, or God’s Realm. And even though the disciples were so surprisingly willing to go with him, they were always dragging their feet. They believed with all their hearts that they should go with Jesus wherever he was going, but this path that Jesus said was God’s Realm made no sense to them. So they were always suggesting an alternative route. “We’ll follow you Jesus, wherever you are going. But just maybe, that gps thing isn’t working.”
Love your enemies. Do good to those who treat you badly. Forgive others. Don’t take revenge. Give up on violence. Invite the outsiders in. Look for God in the people on the margins, not in the center. Trust God to provide what you need. Worship. Pray. Seek God’s ways. Compassion, mercy, and love count more than power, prestige, and possessions. Your love account is far more significant than your bank account. Tear down walls that divide nations, race, religion, gender, class. Love God with every bit of your being, and also everybody who shares this planet with you. And let God love you. Turn it all upside down, your lives, this world, and find God in the mess.
That was the path Jesus had them on. This was the journey they left all those fish on the shore to take. And they weren’t all that convinced. But they kept going.
This, I think is what the call, always is. Jesus takes us to places that don’t make any sense, but we sense wherever it is, God is there. And his call isn’t simply a call away from something but towards something.
And when we are looking for God’s Realm ourselves, turning toward it, we help others find it. Our experiences with God and God’s Realm shape the lives of others as well as ourselves. When we follow Jesus along the path of mercy, hope, peace, and trust in God’s ways, it opens a way not just for us, but for others. When we are living in different ways, others can live differently, too. When we disarm others can disarm.
But what about those fishermen? Peter said it well. “We’re nothing but a bunch of sinners.” Peter knew Jesus was up to something big, but couldn’t imagine he or his companions would have anything to contribute. “Don’t be afraid, Peter. I wouldn’t ask you, if I didn’t think you, and your friends, and all the men and women who are going to be a part of this thing couldn’t do it.”
So, of course, the question is can we do it? Are we any more convinced Jesus could use us than Peter was? When God called Isaiah what was Isaiah’s response? “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” But God said to Isaiah, “I can help with that.”
And then there’s the Apostle Paul. When he gets his call he is on the way to arrest Christians. He was an avowed enemy of Jesus. But he got the call anyway.
What I like about the passage in 1 Corinthians is how Paul starts out with what he had been told about Jesus. He was passing on what he had received. But what made the most difference for Paul was that Jesus appeared to him, the least of them; the persecutor, the one who stood and held the coats while his companions made Stephen the first Christian martyr.
What about Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Rahab, that shepherd boy David, Mary the Mother of Jesus? Time after time in the scriptures, God calls the most unlikely of people, and God is revealed through them.
So if the qualifications for following Jesus include being people of unclean lips, surrounded by people of unclean lips, being sinners and clueless as to what Jesus is talking about, or even dead set against the whole thing, then most of us qualify. We’re who Jesus is looking for. We’re the guy. We are who this world needs.
Here’s how one of my favorite preachers, Ralph Milton sums up today’s gospel story.
“Peter doesn’t take that haul of fish to the market to sell so he doesn’t benefit from the bonanza. He and his partners, James and John, just leave everything there and follow Jesus. Which makes no economic sense.
It doesn’t make economic sense for a smart person with good people skills to go into the ministry, either. There’s way more money to be made selling something. Nor does it make economic sense for dedicated laypeople to spend all that time studying their faith and working in the outreach ministry of the church.
But three men go stumbling over their nets and boats and follow Jesus, and the crowd that saw all this witnessed a sermon in action that was more powerful than the one Jesus preached. Luke doesn’t tell us a thing that Jesus said in that sermon. Nor does he say whether Simon and his buds were paying attention. He tells us what they did. And we’ve been talking about it ever since.”
Someone pointed out that Jesus called the disciples more than once. That story at the beginning of Acts where Jesus sends the disciples into all the world is another call, after they had failed him so miserably.
And Jesus keeps calling us, day after day. It’s like fishing back in those days with no refrigeration. The fish were only good for one day. You had to go out the next day. Each day we go out trusting God’s call in our lives, following Jesus to wherever he’s going, leaving the fish behind. And like the Apostle Paul we find that we are no longer passing on what we have received, but telling our own story of following Jesus and being alive in him.