February 9, 2025 Sermon
Sermon Title: “Fishers of People”
Scripture: Luke 5:1-11
(Other lectionary suggestions include Isaiah 6:1-8, Psalm 138, and I Corinthians 15:1-11.)
Luke 5:1-11
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
When I have preached on this topic before, I have sung a few bars of “Fishers of Men,” which some of us learned in Sunday School. (And here is what it sounds like! Hum a few bars....) The sermon title is “Fishers of People” because we don’t want to be sexist! And, truly, those who became followers of Jesus were of both sexes, not male only. But think of what is involved here. We are told that after they had brought their boats to shore, “They left everything and followed him.” That’s quite a statement, but that’s what Luke says. Did they think about it for a while, or did they simply leave everything and follow Jesus? And does it really matter how it happened? Probably not. The point is these fishermen decided to follow Jesus, whether they had been thinking about it for weeks or if they decided at that moment. And I think one of the assumptions is that once you decide to follow Jesus, there is no turning back. Now you might have some second thoughts - Peter did after the Resurrection! He said, “I’m going fishing!” But Jesus came to get him in that famous passage at the end of the Gospel of John.
I looked up what other preachers said about this passage, and one composite said this. It was labeled an “AI Overview,” which I suppose means a lot of hands went into this description: This is “the transformative power of following Jesus, even when it means stepping outside your comfort zone and trusting in God’s provision, as exemplified by Peter’s call to leave behind his familiar life as a fisherman to become a ‘fisher of men’: highlighting the idea that when we fully surrender to Jesus’ call, we can experience incredible results beyond our own capabilities. leading to a life of profound service and transformation.”
What were your first thoughts when you first heard this passage? Did Jesus’ miracle -if that was what it was - make you think THAT was what did it? What I find particularly moving is that Peter says they have fished all night long and caught nothing - but he DOES follow Jesus’ suggestion about letting down the nets one more time. And THIS time, when there are so many fish that they can hardly bring them in, Peter somehow realizes that he is not in the presence of any normal human being! And he even says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” That is a strange response, if you think about it - but maybe it’s similar to when Peter declared to Jesus in another context, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Peter realized that this was indeed someone special, and his own sense of unworthiness comes to the fore. In a way it is reminiscent of what the prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 6, which is also part of today’s lectionary suggestions. ((Read Isaiah 6:1-5 -- 1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”}} Both Peter and Isaiah have this realization that God and Jesus are so much different from themselves.
One preacher suggests that what is happening here is a frustrated Peter, and he says when God pursues the frustrated, He convinces us of His power. Jesus was able to do in seconds what Peter could not do all night! And note that it wasn’t only Peter who decided to follow Jesus, but also James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
N. T. Wright, in his “Luke for Everyone” commentary, puts it this way: “Jesus doesn’t want to leave anybody out. His call to Peter and the others - that they should now help him in catching people - came precisely in order that the good news would go out wider and wider, reaching as many as possible. Ultimately, there are no bystanders in the kingdom of God. We are reading Luke’s gospel today because Jesus kept his promise to Peter, despite Peter’s initial reluctance and subsequent failures. When Jesus calls, he certainly does demand everything, but only because he has already given everything himself, and has plans in store, for us and the world, that we would never have dreamed of.”
Earlier, Wright quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the pastor who was hanged by the Nazis. Bonhoeffer had said, “When Christ calls a person, he calls him to come and die.” Do you think Peter realized that when Jesus said to follow him? Probably not....but he clearly realized that life wasn’t going to be the same for him again.
How about for you and me? Has following Jesus been a good thing or a bad thing? And is there more we should do? Amen.
Pastor Skip
