Sermon for February 9, 2025
Epiphany 5 C
Luke 5:1-11; Isaiah 6:1-13
Rev. Karl-John N. Stone
For most people, fishing is a leisure activity or sport. Whether you do it by drilling a hole in the ice, casting a line from shore, or trolling the lake in your boat, it’s about fun or relaxation. But for most of history, including biblical history, fishing was a job, and it was hard and dangerous work. That hard-work-kind of fishing provided a turning point in my own family’s history. My great-grandpa Nordos was growing up in Norway in the days when it was a very poor country, not a lot of opportunity. But when he was 16 years old he did find one opportunity—he signed on to the crew of a fishing boat. One day while plying the cold, deep waters of the North Sea their boat ran into a bumper catch of herring. They caught so many fish that all the sailors were given bonus pay. Because of that one day of fishing, my 16-year-old great-grandpa earned enough money to buy passage on a ship bound for America—the land of opportunity.
Whether you are fishing for work or for leisure, it involves taking whatever knowledge and skill you’ve developed, and using them to navigate the waters, casting your lines or nets into the deep unknown, and doing so in faith, hoping that your efforts will yield some results. And even if you do end up catching some fish, you can’t foresee exactly what they will be until you pull them up. What will you catch? Walleye? Bluegill? Muskie? Maybe even a bumper catch of herring? But it’s the faithful act of going out and fishing again and again, observing, learning, trying different approaches, going to different places on the water, experimenting with different equipment or techniques. All of that gives you, not a guarantee, but simply the opportunity to catch fish.
It can be discouraging, having no guarantee that you’ll catch the fish you’ve planned and worked for. Simon Peter knew this all too well. He and his partners in the fishing business had worked all night long on the lake of Gennesaret (what we usually call the Sea of Galilee), but they’d caught nothing, and it wasn’t for lack of effort or knowledge. Now they were done for the day, washing their nets on shore, and listening to Jesus teaching the crowds as he borrowed Simon’s own boat, and put out a little way from shore so his words would be amplified and carry enough of a distance for everyone to hear.
After teaching the crowd, Jesus stayed behind to give an invitation specifically for Simon Peter: “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter is skeptical; after all, he’s a professional, he’s experienced, he’s a hard worker—and he’s caught nothing. Still, he is willing to give it one more try. Was it something he heard in Jesus’ teaching that gave him a sliver of hope? Was it because Jesus reached out personally to Peter? Or that Jesus didn’t use Peter’s failure as an excuse to go find a more accomplished fisherman? Or maybe it was Jesus being willing to meet Peter in Peter’s own place, on his own boat?
Whatever the reason, whether it was simply being polite because Jesus was popular guest, or having faith that this guest might accomplish what Peter himself was unable to, Peter sails out to the deep water. Kind of like faith itself, Peter went out to a place where, by nature, you cannot see to the bottom of it or really know what’s there waiting for you ahead of time. The opportunity to find out what God just might provide—whether it be fish, or something else entirely—can only by discovered by going out to the deep, in faith; experimenting with the knowledge and abilities and resources that God has already provided to you; and then (after venturing to the unknown) sharing what you find.
Peter went out to the deep water because he listened for Jesus to speak into his life, and he trusted the Lord to be present with him personally—but he had no preconceived expectation of what he might find. And when the Lord provided a bumper catch of fish in those deep and unexplored waters, Peter didn’t keep these gifts to himself. In fact, if he had tried to do it all on his own, he would surely have lost most of the fish because the job was too big for one person. He relied on his friends James and John to sail out and help, and by working together they filled both boats with fish.
So now that they’ve accomplished their wildest dreams as fishermen, what does Jesus do? He invites them to continue learning, exploring, and experimenting in even deeper waters—that is, he calls them to be disciples, and gives their skills a new purpose: “From now on you will be catching people.” This is different than catching fish. Catching fish involves forcibly taking the fish out of the water and up on the boat or the land. Catching people looks more like the kind of thing Jesus had been doing with Peter all along: meeting people where they are, reaching out personally, sharing a word of hope, inviting them to give things a try with no preconceived result in mind—other than that the Lord has something to reveal.
Sometimes what the Lord reveals is not as inspiring or tangible as a bumper catch of fish. Look at our Old Testament reading about God calling Isaiah to be a prophet. He’s overwhelmed by a sense of God’s holiness, and humbled by God’s forgiveness of his sins. In response, when the Lord asks “whom shall I send?” Isaiah responds enthusiastically, “Here am I, send me!” Isaiah had just put out into the deep waters in faith, and there God reveals his purpose for Isaiah: People will listen but not comprehend, look but not understand. They will close their ears and shut their eyes and refuse to turn and be healed. And it only gets worse from there as the people are scattered and their land becomes empty. God’s Word is not always comfort; it is also a Word of challenge. And God has given people the free will to pay attention or to ignore it. So, what is the value of God calling Isaiah to speak this Word, with so little to show for it?
Isaiah’s ministry shows us what it looks like to endure through difficulties while keeping our faith in God; to keep God’s message alive even in the midst of desolation and death; to live with integrity even when everything around you is falling down; to realize that the fruit of your efforts on behalf of God may not be obvious right away, or even known to you. Yet even when things seem to be at their lowest, God is still present with you; you do not face your challenges alone. After speaking this rather depressing call to Isaiah, God does end on a note of hope, however. God promises to Isaiah that when the mighty oak is felled and only the stump remains, then “the holy seed is its stump”. This is God’s promise to grow new life out of death. In the case of Isaiah it took 200 years! 200 years after God called Isaiah, after the Israelites were exiled to Babylon, after they returned home to rebuild Jerusalem that God gave the hope and comfort of new life. In the case of Jesus, he gave his life on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, but after three days he rose again, and opened the door to salvation!
As people of God today, God calls us to “go out into the deep water and let down our nets.” As we go into that deep water, venturing into things that we cannot fully understand or see, by definition we cannot know what God has waiting for us. It might be inspiring; it might be comforting; it might be challenging; it might be all-of-the-above or something else entirely. But whatever it is, God is with you; with us all. And God is faithful. God makes the holy seed grow from the stump. God provides so many fish, that we need to call over for help from our friends. God reveals new opportunities, new possibilities, new things to try and to learn, new people to meet with whom we can share hope, faith, and love. Amen.