How many of you have ever been hooked while fishing? It’s the worst, isn’t it? I needed a strong sedative and a chair with straps just to get my H1N1 shot last week. But, I would rather sit through 100 vaccinations than sit on one fishhook!
Why is that? What’s the difference?
Well, a needle just goes straight in and comes straight out. As soon as you pull, it pops out with no resistance. A fishing hook, on the other hand, has a barb. It goes straight in, but it sure doesn’t come straight out. If you pull a hook straight out, it’s gonna leave a big hole.
Today’s Gospel lesson is from the 5th chapter of Luke. Jesus is just getting started with his public ministry; he doesn’t have any disciples yet, and he’s new to the area.
As he walks along the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a crowd gathers round him. Now, we don’t know for a fact that Jesus was claustrophobic or agoraphobic, but if he was, he was in the wrong line of work. Saviors tend to draw quite a crowd.
Eventually, there are too many people for him to speak to, so he has to commandeer a nearby fishing boat. Using the boat as a platform, he addresses the crowd, planting the Word of God in many waiting hearts.
Maybe it’s the crowd, maybe it’s the logistical problem of getting the word out to so many, or maybe it’s that feeling of loneliness that comes when you’re One amongst Many. Whatever the reason, it’s at this point that Jesus decides to begin recruiting disciples; he begins to build his ministry family.
And how does Luke tell us this story? For starters, he tells it differently from the other three Gospel authors. According to the other accounts (from Matthew, Mark, and John), Jesus walks up to Peter while he’s fishing, says to him, “Follow me,” and Peter drops everything immediately.
In Luke’s account, Peter is idle. He is resting after having worked the night before, with no fish to show for it. So, Jesus puts him to work, commanding him to throw his nets into the water. How would you feel? You’ve just fished these waters, and caught nothing! Now this Jesus character starts telling you how to do your job.
Peter grumbles, and humors Jesus. He throws the nets into the water, and watches as they fill to their breaking point with the fish he couldn’t catch by himself! And Jesus says, “Follow me and I will make you _______ (the other authors say “Fisher.” The author of Luke says, “I will make you Catch.”)
My dad grew up in a rural farming community in central Minnesota. Since a farm is quite a bit bigger than your average city lot, the community was pretty spread out. In an area where your closest neighbor could be a mile or two down the road, Immanuel Lutheran Church had members that could live 30-40 miles away. With a spread like that, just visiting members in their home could feel like missionary outreach.
It was in that context that my Grandpa Harlan served as the Sunday School Superintendent.
Grandpa Harlan considered it his responsibility as superintendent to make sure that all Sunday School-aged kids would get to church for class and worship. So, he would head out the door at 6:00 in the morning and drive all over the county, picking up kids whose parents couldn’t get them there.
The ministry of God, Christ, and Spirit had made Grandpa into a “Catcherman,” not just a fisherman. He was now a barbed hook that had gone into the lives of these kids. If he got yanked out, they would feel a pretty big hole.
And, that’s the point, isn’t it? Jesus chooses to use the metaphor of a caught fish to represent those who hear the Word. He could have used something else! He could have said, “Follow me, and I will make you persuasive lawyers.” Or, he might have said, “Follow me, and I will make you appealing role models.” But, he didn’t. Jesus said, “Follow me and you will catch people.”
The thing about being caught is that it’s sometimes painful, and it’s never voluntary. Jesus was training his disciples to grab hold of us, to grab hold of people who didn’t want to be held onto. Jesus was teaching Peter—not to slip into someone’s life and then slip out just as easily, but to enter in and then stick there, sometimes painfully.
Now, when does the hook hurt? When we tug on it; when we pull away. And, even though our fishy brothers and sisters wouldn’t agree, this is when the hook is doing us the most good. We can’t blame the fish for their skepticism on this point. After all, when a fisherwoman reels in her catch, she does so to kill the fish.
It’s not as if Jesus reels us in just to kill us is it? Well, actually, it is. The Holy Spirit goes out to us with and in the Word of God; it latches into our hearts and pulls us into a place just like this place. And, we come here to die. We had to be caught because we would not come to Christ of our own accord. But luckily, once he’s got us, Christ puts us to death and raises us to new life. Luckily??
In our baptisms, we are drowned into death with Christ; and in His resurrection, we are raised with him, but we are not raised exactly as we were before. Some things stay dead; part of us stays drowned, all those slippery parts that want to wriggle away from Christ.
But, not yet! No, for now we live in the promise. For now we are in a time of waiting. For now we are still a bunch of wrigglers that need to be caught.
And, so we are in the peculiar predicament of fish being called to catch fish. Jesus calls Peter, James, and John in our lesson for today, not because they are any different. They are exactly as slippery and sinful as the rest of us. Even as Jesus is inviting him into his inner circle, Peter falls on his knees and begs to be let go! “Leave me, Jesus, for I am a sinner!”
How does Jesus answer him? Does he say, “Oh, Peter, you’re not a sinner! You’re a pretty good guy, and one heck of a fisherman?” No. Jesus simply says, “Do not be afraid. From now on, you will catch men and women.”
So, it is with us. All of us need to be caught, but Jesus must use all of us to do the catching. And we are scared, just like Peter.
After all, it sounds like a big responsibility, and it can be intimidating. Who are we, with all our flaws and shortcomings, to suppose that we can have such an influence? Who are we to drive around and pick up someone else’s kids? Who are we to offer God’s forgiveness when we need it as much as anybody else! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
What does the Gospel of Luke have to say about this? In short, the Gospel tells us that we do nothing without Christ, and that—with Christ—even the Pot can serve the Kettle. It says that Peter keeps pulling up empty nets until Jesus guides his boat! It says that the ministry of “Me” is empty, but the ministry of the Holy Spirit is full of God’s promise.
And what is that promise? Jesus promises that the nets will be full; the fishing will be good. That wherever the Word goes out, it will not return empty. That whenever the seed is planted it will bear fruit.
Now, surely we won’t be perfect in our work. Some people will slip through our nets. And that’s the advantage of having Christ as our Guide. When we miss one, Christ makes the catch. Even if Grandpa Harlan had forgotten anyone on his Sunday morning rounds, Christ would have been sure to remember them.
How have you been caught? Who has been a “Catcher” in your life? In whose life can you be a “Catcher”?
“Follow me,” says Christ, “And you will catch.” Christ catches us again and again through the work of others. Others like Pastor Scott, Sonia, and Rick who share the Word with us. Others like you, each of you, who make Gloria Dei’s ministry possible!
So, like Peter, let us leave our fear behind, and move ahead in our Sin and our Goodness to be Catchers for Christ. Amen.
Intern Mark Dixon