Let the Word of God Go First
Preacher: The Rev. Andrew Van Kirk
Passage: Luke 5:1-11
One of my favorite things about the gospel writer Luke is how manifestly unimpressed he is with the body of water we know as the Sea of Galilee. He refuses to call it that. “Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret...” The “lake of Gennesaret.” Same body of water. Much less impressive name.
The Sea of Galilee is, in fact, a largish freshwater lake; it holds a little more water than Lake Texoma. Luke is just not putting up with calling that a ‘sea.’ Fair enough. I think that Luke’s reticence towards exaggerated language lends credence to the rest of what Luke says about Jesus.
This means that despite the images in my children’s Bible growing up, fishing on the Sea of Galilee is not exactly an episode of Deadliest Catch (though it would have been fun if the disciples, instead of Simon and James and John, had used reality show nicknames like “Wild Bill” and “Whip”; alas).
Still though, they were commercial fishermen. Heading out to sea and catching fish was what they did for a living. They were probably a bit rough; rather smelly. And on this morning, the time when “Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret,” they were also frustrated, tired, and empty-handed. We probably can even imagine that, had the Deadliest Catch cameras been there to film them taking up those empty nets one last time as the dawn began to grasp at the horizon, there would have been a lot of bleeping out to do in the audio edit.
That doesn’t stop Jesus from commandeering Peter’s boat. And though I wish I could imagine him standing there like some hero, like Washington crossing the Delaware or Captain Morgan, Luke tells us he just sat down, which is the proper position, in the ancient world for a teacher. And he taught them the word of God. That, after all, is the reason Luke gives for people pressing in on him, they wanted to hear the word of God. And we’re going to come back to this word of God piece.
When he’s done teaching, he tells Simon (whom we also know as Peter) to put out into deeper water to catch some fish, which is the very thing Simon had spent the entire night prior trying to do, but without success, despite his being a literal professional. Simon Peter expresses this objection, but complies anyway, and catches so many fish that his nets start to break. He gets help — another boat, more nets — and it’s so many fish the boat starts to sink.
Here we have an example of the phenomenon of disastrous abundance. It’s a real thing; lottery winners suffer from it frequently. Their lives sink after winning. Which is why I want to remind you, when you when the Powerball (you know, because I wouldn’t want you to suffer from disastrous abundance) that this church needs a Nave. Just keep that in mind.
I wonder why all the fish were there. It’s a miracle, obviously, but how did it work? Did they come to hear the word of God? Did the fish just like being in the presence of one through whom earth was made? Was putting Jesus in a boat like throwing chum in the water. Did he always make the fishing really good when he was around?
I can’t answer any of these questions. I can only wonder about them with you. However Jesus made it happen, it sets up this pattern: (a) try really hard on your own —> no fish (b) the word of God —> lots of fish
As a strategy for actual fishing, this is suspect. I tried it last weekend at Lake Texoma. I was out with a couple dads and our six-year-old boys fishing. The fishing wasn’t great. I got out my Bible, read some of the word of God. And the fishing remained not great.
But of course, Jesus isn’t teaching this pattern to show Peter how to fish for fish. That’s not going to be Peter’s job going forward. Going forward, Peter is going to be “catching people.” Which sounds aggressive. But he’s going to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus, sharing the good news. And as a disciples, this pattern matters quite a lot: (a) try really hard on your own —> no success (b) the word of God —> lots of success
Jesus, though a “deed of power” involving catching fish with fins, is modeling the very pattern of discipleship to which he is calling these fishermen.
Peter will go people-fishing for the very first time on his own in the book of Acts. Luke — the gospel writer who unimpressed with the size of the lake in Galilee — also wrote Acts as the second volume of the same story. In Acts, the apostles travel all over the Mediterranean — and that, Luke agrees, is a sea.
It is in Acts, after Jesus has ascended, Peter gives his first sermon at Pentecost. He is called to discipleship here in the gospel of Luke, in today’s reading — in book of Acts he finally puts into practice what he has learned on his own. He puts out into deeper waters, if you will, and lets down his nets for a catch.
I’ve included Peter’s sermon as a half-page color-coded leaflet in your bulletin; or if you’re online you can see it on the screen. I’m not really interested in the words; so if it’s too small to read, don’t worry. You just need to be able to see the colored blocks. I’ve given it the title, “Peter’s First Fishing Expedition.”
The magenta blocks are all quotations from scripture, from what we would call the Old Testament. When Peter talks about his faith, he speaks extensively in the words of scripture. He lets the Word of God be the Word of God. Three different times.
Jesus, when he preached, also used scripture. But being the Son of God, the Word of God incarnate, Jesus also had this unique ability to speak scripture. He’d sit down to teach the crowd, and out of his mouth came Bible, right? But you and I, and Peter, aren’t like that. For us to share the word of God, we have to share scripture. And this word of God does things to its hearers — it is active, sharper than a two-edged sword. Scripture is the best way we have to talk about God because scripture is the word of God.
The green sections are the parts where Peter testifies to what God has done; how Peter specifically has seen God at work through Jesus. These are words of God too, but not in the scripture sense. These are words of God in the content sense. These are words about God and God’s work.
These sorts of words are also always powerful and effective to hear. Without doubt, the highlight of my week two weeks ago was visiting with someone in my office and hearing them tell me about the miracle God did in their life. How it felt like God pushed the car into the turn lane without them doing anything. How that left turn changed things. How they’ve never felt so excited for it to be Sunday, to come to church, to see their friends as they do now. “God worked a miracle, father.”
Now Peter’s sermon has word of God in both senses: scripture and words about God’s work. Peter makes sense of what he says God is doing in the words of scripture. Peter explains what God’s action in the words of the Word of God. His fishing trip, if you will, is double the word of God: it’s words about what he has seen God do in the words of the Word of God in scripture.
And that day, Peter caught 3000 people in the net of faith in Jesus Christ. Peter learned his lesson from that morning on the beach with Jesus that we read about in our gospel: the word of God first —> then lots of success.
This matters for us because we too are called to follow Jesus. Jesus is enacting a basic pattern of discipleship by getting in the boat, first sharing the word of God and then catching fish. It’s an enacted parable, for us as his disciples to learn from as much as for his disciple Simon Peter.
And even if you don’t go out into the streets and convert 3000 people, you too will have opportunities to share your faith. It may be with your kids or grandkids, when they ask you what you think about something. To respond with just your thoughts may turn out like Peter going fishing in the night. But adding in words of from scripture that you know by heart, that’s different. It may not work in a moment, but it is more powerful answer for them to digest.
I’ll confess that often, when I’m asked a tough theological question, my first instinct is to load up all my intellectual fishing tackle and shove off from shore. Better, assuredly, is having some words of scripture to apply to the question. To show that even if there are no easy answers, the question itself is part of word of God.
Sharing our faith is not made easier by thinking we have to do it in our own words. God’s given us a whole book of good words to use.
The other thing is to make God the subject of verbs. I recently watched the Disney movie Encanto. And the matriarch of the story, Abuela, she refers again and again to how their family has “been blessed.” And I found myself wanting to yell at the TV, “By whom?” “¿Quién te bendijo, abeula?” Put a subject in that passive sentence, grandma.
As far as I could figure, it was the yellow butterflies blessed the family — not God. To my knowledge, God doesn’t bless people with magic candles and dancing houses.
But that thing Abeula says is so recognizable, right? She does something we all do. We fail to attribute to God the blessings in our lives. We fail to make God the subject of our verbs. Or sometimes, we acknowledge the miracle or blessing to ourselves, but get too shy or uncomfortable to speak about it to others.
And yet, sharing what God has done in our lives is such a powerful way to share the word of God with people. When do so, we live into our calling to “catch people.”
Jesus gives us this pattern in our lives of discipleship: let the word of God go first, then catch the fish...bring in the harvest...bring the people to God. Let the word of God have its moment in the boat first. Jesus did. Peter did. And look what happened! Amen.
