Trinity 5
Lk
5:1-11
7/5/26
During May we realized that our hot
water heater was not working. On a
Wednesday we noticed a change – the water didn’t seem to be as hot as it
normally was. On Thursday there was no hot water, and we clearly had a problem.
The timing was less than ideal. I
wouldn’t be able to get the plumber to come out that very day. On Friday we
were going to the state track meet to watch Michael throw the discus, and then Saturday
as well in the finals. I wasn’t going to pay the rates for emergency service on
a Sunday. So we were without hot water for four days before the plumber could
come out and work on things on Monday.
It felt like I was back in South Sudan.
I was thrilled when the plumber
finally came on Monday. But you know what I didn’t do? I didn’t go down into
the basement and tell him what to do as he assessed the problem. When he
discovered that the issue was the hot water heater itself – an item that
thankfully was still under warranty – I didn’t tell him how he should
disconnect it and install a new one.
I didn’t do this because I am not a
plumber. I don’t have the knowledge about how to figure out problems. I don’t have the expertise about how to do
the work to fix things. It would be foolish for me to start telling the plumber
how to do his job.
Jesus was not a fisherman. But in
our Gospel lesson this morning he tells the experts how to do their job. He
gives them instructions that demonstrate he has no idea what he is talking
about. But he uses these circumstances to reveal who he is. And then in his
words to Peter we learn what he means for us.
In the previous chapter Luke tells
us about the temptation of Jesus. Next he narrates the beginning of our Lord’s
ministry. The Holy Spirit had descended upon Jesus at his baptism. Now Luke
tells us, “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee,
and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”
The people were astonished at
Christ’s teaching, because his word possessed authority. Jesus himself
demonstrated his authority as he cast out demons. The people were amazed and
said, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the
unclean spirits, and they come out!” Luke tells us that reports about him went
out into every place in the surrounding region.
This authority extended to Jesus’
ability to heal people. We learn that Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. Then
Luke adds, “Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick
with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every
one of them and healed them.”
Because of his teaching and healing,
people sought out Jesus. Just before our text we hear about how people didn’t
want Jesus to leave. But he said, “I must preach the good news of the
kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
In our Gospel lesson we hear about
an instance when a large crowd was there to hear Jesus. We learn, “On one
occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he
was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake,
but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.”
The crowd was pressing in on Jesus
as he was standing on the shore of the lake. So he got into one of the boats
that belonged to Peter, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Jesus
sat down in the boat and taught the people on the shore.
We learn from John’s Gospel that
this wasn’t Peter’s first interaction with Jesus. There we find that Peter and
his brother Andrew had been associated with John the Baptist in Judea. John the
Baptist had seen Jesus walking by and he declared, “Behold, the Lamb of
God!” Andrew was one of the disciples
with John, and he went to get Peter and brought him to Jesus. When they met
Jesus he said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be
called Cephas”(which means Peter).
The fact that Andrew and Peter had
been in Judea around John the Baptist and his work tells us a lot about them.
They were obviously concerned about spiritual matters. Now they were back in
Galilee, and here they once again encountered Jesus.
This background from John is helpful because we learn that it
wasn’t a random stranger who asked Peter to put out from the shore so that he
could teach. He had met Jesus before and
understood that he was different and special. It also helps us to understand
what happened next.
When Jesus had finished speaking he said to Simon, “Put out
into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Jesus, the son of a
carpenter, gave instructions to Peter the fisherman about how to fish. Peter
answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word
I will let down the nets.”
Peter’s response was a polite way of saying that Jesus’ instruction
made no sense. He didn’t know what he
was talking about. Fisherman on the Sea of Galilee fished at night close to the
shore. They knew that this was the best way to catch fish. Peter and his
companions had done this the previous night and had caught nothing. Yet now
Jesus told Peter to go out into the deep during the day and let down his nets.
Our Lord’s instruction made no sense. But it was direction that
came from Jesus and so Peter replied, “But at your word I will let down the
nets.” When they did so they enclosed
such a larger number of fish that their nets were breaking. They signaled to
their partners James and John in the other boat to come and help
them. When they came they filled both of the boats with so many fish that
they began to sink.
Peter and those with him were astonished at what had happened. In
particular, Peter was overwhelmed by what it meant. We hear in our text that
when he saw the catch of fish he fell down at Jesus’ knees,
saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Peter realized that he was in the presence of the divine. And this
recognition led him to the acute perception of his own sinfulness. His response was, “Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord.” This is a fundamental biblical truth. God is the holy
God. Sinners cannot exist in God’s presence, for sin evokes God’s wrath and
judgment. When Isaiah found himself before Yahweh he said, “Woe is me! For
I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts!”
Scripture teaches that we are sinners from the moment of our
conception. Jesus told Nicodemus, “That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit.” Sinful nature brings forth more sinful nature. No one has ever had
to teach their child how to be jealous or angry. It’s just there in them. Paul told the
Ephesians that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and were under the
power of the devil. He added that we “were by nature children of wrath like the
rest of mankind.”
This is what we are by nature, and then it shows forth in our
lives. We see sin happening as we have jealous and covetous thoughts. We speak
angry words. We lust and indulge that lust through the use of pornography or
even fornication itself. We do not trust
God to provide for us. We doubt his love and care when difficulties arise.
Peter knew his sin and so he wanted to flee from God’s presence.
But Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching
men.” Peter acknowledged his sin. But Christ’s response was not one of judgment
and condemnation. Instead, he said, “Do
not be afraid.”
Jesus said “Do not be afraid” because as the Son of God he had not
entered into the world in order to bring God’s judgment. Instead, he was here
to brings God’s forgiveness and salvation.
In the previous chapter Jesus was at
his hometown of Nazareth on the Sabbath. He went to the synagogue and the
people were eager to hear from this well known teacher from their own town.
Jesus took the scroll of Isaiah and read this text: “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to
the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he said, “Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus had been anointed by the Holy Spirit at
his baptism. He was the Servant of the Lord who had come to proclaim good news
– Gospel – to those who are trapped in sin. He had come to give liberty to the
captives of sin and all that it does in our lives.
Jesus Christ was numbered with the
transgressors. True God and true man, he was the holy Son of God who committed
no sin. But he took our sins – he became sin for us as he died on the cross and
received God’s judgment. The holy and
just God judged your sin in Christ.
Sin brings death. It did for Adam.
It has for everyone since. Paul told the Romans that the wages of sin is death.
Our sin caused Jesus to die. But Jesus was the second Adam through whom God has
given us not only forgiveness, but also rescue from death because Jesus rose
from the dead on Easter.
In our Gospel lesson we hear about
how Jesus causes a miraculous catch of fish. During the forty days after Easter
seven of the disciples once again went fishing on the Sea of Galilee at night
but caught nothing. Then as day was breaking Jesus stood on the shore and
enquired about whether they had caught any fish. When they said no, he replied,
“Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” They did
so and then caught so many fish that they could not haul the net in. The event
caused John to exclaim in recognition, “It is the Lord!”
In our text Jesus says to Peter, “Do
not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Then Luke adds, “And when
they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed
him.” The disciples – who would become apostles – left everything and followed
Jesus. Jesus was crucified and buried on Good Friday. But then the apostles kept
following Jesus.
They did so because they had encountered the risen Lord at so many
times, in so many different places, and in so many different groups that they
knew for sure that Jesus had risen from the dead. In the resurrection of Jesus
they had come to understand what his death on the cross meant for them. As
Peter went on to write, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that
we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you
have been healed.” They also understood that in the resurrection of Jesus they
had the hope of eternal life. Peter wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us
to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.”
Jesus told Peter, “from now on you will be catching men.” Fishing
is a good metaphor for the work of sharing the Gospel. There is certainly a
skill involved – there are techniques and equipment. There is a knowledge base
about how to do it. But it is still something that you can’t control. Some
days, for whatever reason, the fish aren’t biting. All one can do is keep
fishing the next day.
In the same way, we recognize that we can’t control the process by
which people are called to faith. Only the Holy Spirit can create faith in
Christ. He does so where and when he pleases. But we do know the means by which
he does so. He does it through the Gospel – the good news that Jesus Christ
died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. Paul told the Romans,
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” We
speak this word. And then the next day, we speak this word again. We keep
speaking about what Jesus Christ has done for us because we know that through
faith in Christ we are saints – we are forgiven and holy in God’s eyes.
You came here this morning to hear the Gospel. You came because
here the Lord delivers the Gospel to you through the Means of Grace. He did in
the word of absolution. He did in the reading of his word – the
Scriptures. He is right now in the proclamation
of the sermon. He will in a few moments in the Sacrament of the Altar. Through
these means the Spirit delivers forgiveness and strengthens you in faith.
You keep coming back here because it is the Gospel place. And
because it is, the simplest way to catch men and women for Christ is to invite
them to come here. In this place they will hear the Gospel through which the
Spirit creates faith in Christ. Here they will be called to be united with
other sinners, who are repentant sinners and therefore are forgiven sinners.
Here Christ makes us saints.
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