This is the sermon I preached at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Beatrice, Neb., on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 6–7, 2010, for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany.

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Readings

Isaiah 6:1–13
Psalm 138 (antiphon v. 2)
1 Corinthians 15:1–11
Luke 5:1–11

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Prayer

Gracious God, open our eyes to the life-giving light that shines through your Son, Jesus Christ, so that your Holy Spirit may empower us to share your Good News with others. Amen.

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Message

If you stop to think about it,
right now we are in the midst
of doing something really strange.

We have come together
and have just finished listening
to a reading from a text
that is almost two thousand years old.

And for most of us,
we’re here listening
not because we are history buffs who love a good account
from first-century Palestine.

We’re not ancient language scholars,
curious about the forms of Koine Greek
and the challenges of translating the gospels
into understandable modern English.

Instead, we have come together in faith.
We have heard a call from God our Father
to gather in this place to worship him.
We have committed ourselves
to following his Son, Jesus Christ, in obedience.
We trust their Holy Spirit to guide us in witness and service.

This is why we are here,
why we assemble to hear this reading,
why we believe that this gospel is more than a history lesson,
more than an ancient text to be dissected.

We believe it is—
somehow, in some way beyond our understanding,
in some fashion we cannot fully grasp—
God’s Word for us,
so that through its reading and hearing and interpreting
he comes into our midst.

We believe that he speaks to us through what the text tells us.
We trust that in some roundabout—but real—way
this reading is a word for us,
a word that comes through what we hear
that God has said to our ancestors in the faith.

And because this is true,
when we hear about one of those ancestors,
we will not go wrong when we envision ourselves
in his or her place in the text.

And of all the disciples—Jesus’ companions in his ministry—
Peter is the one in whose place
we can most easily see ourselves.

We know the most about him.
He was a fisherman, married,
brother to Andrew, a fellow disciple.
He was a close companion of Jesus,
but had something of a temper
and a way with a sword.

He confessed that Jesus was the Messiah.
He underwent a name change from Simon to Peter,
and became known as the Rock
upon which Christ would build his Church.

He denied his Lord three times.
But then he told the risen Christ three times that he loved him
and was made shepherd of the Lord’s sheep.
He emerged as the leader of the apostles
and spread the Gospel far beyond his Galilean homeland.

He conferred with Paul
on the question of evangelizing the Gentiles,
the children of God born outside of Judaism.

And finally, tradition has it that he died by Roman hands,
crucified upside down.

And in today’s Gospel,
we catch a glimpse of Simon—
as he is called here—
caught in a time of transition
between his life as a fisherman
and his calling as a disciple.

A little bit earlier in the story
Luke tells us that Jesus visited Simon
and healed his mother-in-law from a high fever.

So Simon, or Peter, knows a little about Jesus,
that he is a worker of miracles,
a healer of the sick.

And in the story we heard today,
Simon shares his boat with Jesus
and hears him teach the crowds
about the word from God.

And then, when Jesus finishes,
he offers Simon, the fisherman, a fishing tip.

And from Simon’s reaction,
we learn he is hardworking,
but also humble enough to take Jesus at his word.

And then the amazing catch nearly sinks the boats
as Simon calls over his fellow fishermen
to help land the haul that filled their nets.

We might think that Simon would be shouting for joy,
exchanging some first-century version
of the high-five with his companions.

But instead, he is moved to fall to his knees
and to confess to Jesus,
“Go away from me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man.” (Luke 5:8, NRSV)

In the light of seeing who Jesus is,
Simon recognizes his own sinfulness,
and confesses it to Jesus Christ, his Lord.

This is honesty and truth at work.
And when we hear this account
and slip on the mask of Simon,
we hear a clear message for us: Confess.

And then a surprising thing happens.
Jesus ignores Simon’s plea,
when he asks Jesus to leave.
Rather, Jesus says to Simon,
“Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching people.” (Luke 5:10b, NRSV)

Jesus speaks a word of power that grants what it says.
This means that when he says to Simon,
“Do not be afraid,”
he is not suggesting that Simon simply will himself to be free from fear.
Rather, Jesus speaks a word that grants freedom from fear,
just the way his healing word banished the fever from Simon’s mother-in-law.

This is the Good News at work.
And when we listen to this story and put ourselves in Simon’s place,
we hear Jesus speak clearly to us: Fear not.

And then an even more astounding thing happens.
Simon and Andrew, his brother,
along with their friends,
James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
bring their boats to the shore,
the boats laden with the catch of a lifetime.

And they just walk away,
leaving those fish flopping in the sun,
as Luke tells us:
“…they left everything and followed him.” (Luke 5:11, NRSV)

This is the proof that Jesus’ word has done its work.
They are not fearful, but believing,
and so they turn from casting nets for fish
to catching people with the Good News.

This is what the Spirit of God does in people’s lives.
And when we dwell in this Gospel
and know that we are one with Simon,
we feel the touch of the Spirit blowing upon us,
and our ears ring with Jesus’ clear word: Follow me.

The order of events makes all the difference.
Confess—Fear not—Follow me.
For Simon to become the disciple, the apostle, the Rock,
he had to begin with confession,
with seeing himself as really was,
revealed in the light of Jesus Christ and his truth.

And then, fresh from his confession of sin,
he was ready to receive the gift of faith,
to hear the word that banished fear
and filled him with trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, liberated from sin and filled with faith,
he was ready, willing, and able
to follow Jesus Christ wherever that might lead.

It’s the same for us.
We might be tempted to throw up our hands
and say we can never become master anglers,
fishermen and fisherwomen who know instinctively how to catch people for Christ.

But if we back up,
if we remember Simon’s example,
and begin by confessing our sins,
by telling God we know we are broken,
then he will forgive us our sins and give us faith,
changing our ears, our hearts, our wills, and our minds
so that we can follow his Son, Jesus Christ.

Look what he did with some simple Palestinian fishermen.
What do we imagine he can do with us?

If you stop to think about it,
right now we are in the midst
of doing something really strange.
But stranger still, and even more amazing,
is what God is doing in our midst. Amen.