Fifth Sunday After Trinity [Luke 5:1-11]
Sermon From July 4, 2010

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit;

     I've been around fishermen in my life, and done some fishin' myself. What do fishermen do when they take a great catch or finally get the big one that got away all those years? They talk about it. They brag about it. It usually goes into a photo-album or becomes a trophy that sits on your wall. ...Well, sport-fishing certainly involves a lot of skill and technique if you're gonna be good at it consistently. Fish have certain habits and tendencies it helps to know about. And you need to have knowledge and skill as to where to go, what bait to use, and how to get it to the fish, and how to bring 'em in. ...But still, every fisherman should know that as much as he will show off his trophies, these were not his by skill alone. No, it's unpredictable what will happen. Fish are temperamental. Some days anyone might just get skunked. And any novice might land a bigger trophy than any seasoned veteran on any given day.

     You might not think that God would be interested in something like fishing. But in fact, instead of telling us that this great catch simply happened, we're given us a few more details of how this great catch came about. First of all, this was net-fishing. There was no bait involved. The fish just happened to swim where the net gets cast. The fishermen hadn't caught anything all night, the best time to catch. But then, after they listen to Jesus, they went out during the day, when it usually would have been futile. Suddenly they enclosed a big number, so big the nets were breaking, and they even need their partners to come and help. And even then they almost sink. And like this, Peter is humbled.

     But indeed, how to fish better is not the point, as Peter quickly came to discern. All these fish came, after all, because Jesus miraculously provided. All those details are here because they're telling us of the mystery of the church - about Jesus, and how men are caught and brought to Him. As Jesus told Peter, "from now on you will be catching men alive." This was about how Jesus saves people from "the deep blue unknown of the world" and gathers them into His church.

     Before Jesus began His fishing mission with Peter, He first had to catch and bring him into the boat first. Let's take a look at how this happened again: As we look at the incident we see it was kinda like how a fish might swim up to an innocent-looking net. At first they don't think this is anything that could really affect its life and destiny. But then He suddenly gets caught. Peter didn't think there was anything about Jesus that would pluck him away from His vocation and the life he had rather comfortably established for himself. Peter really didn't think there was anything Jesus could really tell him about fishing; and certainly nothing life-changing would happen with this simple request to go and put out his nets here.

     But you know the rest of the story. ...There may have been a great catch, but a greater net was really enclosing around Peter. He was caught. He had been acting haughty and prideful in the presence of who He soon realized to be the Lord. Now his life and eternal destiny was in danger. "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" He says. ...But then, what did Jesus do? He took this humbled sinner, and tells him, "do not be afraid." -In other words, the Lord wanted to be there with Peter and everyone there, even though he was a sinner. He wanted to have mercy on them.

     ...And then Jesus even says, "From now on you will be catching men." -In other words, not only that, He made this humbled sinner who sees that He has no power of his own, to be His disciple and apostle. He calls Him to be a part of a greater life and mission.

     Would Peter ever go boasting about this catch of fish he brought in? It would be ridiculously foolish to even think of it. No, he left the fishing business, because now the Lord, on whom everything depended, had something different for him.

     In this new kind of fishing, would there be anything he could say came from his own talent and skills? Certainly not. It all the more depends on Jesus - His will, His word, His way, His doing alone are how people are caught and saved. "Lord, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; but at your word...."

     Like a free-floating net before a fish, the ways of the Lord, the Gospel that is preached, always appears weak and foolish in this sight of men. And yet like this He brings many, quite miraculously, to His salvation.

     Why would, for example, God ever approach sinners, who mess up His world so badly, in such a mild way, with patience instead of immediately harpooning them in His power and wrath? Why choose simple unlearned fishermen to be His first apostles, instead of a club of great philosophers and rhetoricians who could impress the world according to its standards? Why not an earthquake or fire, but mere a quiet whisper to call out an Elijah who is frustrated with God? Why does He bring His people to the edge of the sea, before parting it, opening a totally with a new path? Why does He bring to despair before raising up all the more gloriously? ...It is not ours to know all the reasons. We can only reflect on what He's brought us to hear, see, and know.

     But it is like this that He gathers His people, and works His wonders among them, even as He has now for centuries. Why simple water, bread, and wine to be the means thru which He presents Himself to us, instead of fireworks, artillery, and flashy light displays? Why choose to do His work thru an everyday kind of man, preaching about what happened on a cross two thousand years ago, of all things? Again, we can hardly say all the reasons. But we do see that thru such the all-powerful Lord of heaven and earth is still gently and mildly approaching us. He Himself comes mildly; but like this our false pride and our sins get exposed when compared to Him. ...But then, yet He has forgiven us. And then like this He continues to His great, humanly-impossible saving, renewing, life-giving, heaven-bridging work in our midst today.

     And then, not only with Peter, James, and John, but also with you - once the Lord has caught you, He does not merely leave you in the boat. You are "caught alive" as the original Greek shows better than our English translation. When you are caught by Jesus in holy Baptism, out of the futile life you were destined for, your life also now has a whole new dimension to it that others don't know of, and don't see. ...Kinda like when a fish comes out of the water, to see that the world is a whole lot bigger and has a whole new world it didn't see before. You now have a role in the kingdom of God. Your life and labor now is for Jesus, and goes to support the work of the ministry - God's kingdom work here on earth in this place.

     Think of this man who is often overlooked, for example - Zebedee, the father of James and John. There would be no point of mentioning him in the Scriptures if we weren't called to see that even though James and John were called to be apostles, i.e., pastors, missionaries, the Lord's fishermen - that they still had an earthly father. We never hear much about Zebedee, other than this fact. We assume he was a regular fisherman like before, because most sons did what their fathers did in those days. But Zebedee wasn't called to be an apostle, like his sons. But that didn't mean he didn't have a very important role in the kingdom of God. No, he was one who would have been much acquainted with the miraculous catch that just happened. He also knew of much of Jesus. He now was one who would have fished to provide for his sons and Jesus Himself as they did their kind of fishing. And He would tell his friends and neighbors about what God was doing in Jesus, and how He indeed would suffer and die for us. In the future Zebedee would very much worship and pray for Jesus' church and mission. He very much had a purpose in his life and vocation. It was not just labor and drudgery thru this temporal life. Now he served the Lord, who was bringing salvation and eternal life to many.

     So it is with you. Jesus didn't choose to obtain His daily meals by making fish jump out of the water or turning stones into bread. He wanted to live like us, obtaining regular meat and drink that comes thru labor and toil like us, in a world like this... all so that He could redeem more people like you, and give you hope and new a new dimension to our lives and labor. Underneath the everyday visible things that you do much like anyone else in the world, Jesus has made you a part of His kingdom in a life that is for eternity.

     Consider yourself caught. You are Baptized. But because Jesus has died so you could live, and is with you now, you're very much alive. He's feeding you for eternal life. Amen.