Let us
pray, Gracious heavenly Father. It is
clear that Your Word divinely inspired is given to us to read, mark and
inwardly digest, yet until we hear it taught to us like Jesus did from the boat
we refuse to understand. May we gather
to hear Your Word and Message of salvation offered for us and hear God’s call
for all of us to be fisher’s of men. For
the message is clear, Jesus Christ came into this World to freely offer us
eternal life through His life, death and resurrection for all of us saints
gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.
AMEN.
As the
wildfires burned this summer in Colorado and being able to watch them first
hand while at camp our Gospel lesson of fishing on a lake reminds me of a movie
I enjoyed in college. In the movie
Always the opening scene is two fisherman casting on a serene lake with not a
care in the world. Relaxing and enjoying
themselves they are apparently oblivious to what is in the distance. In the distance is a float plane scooping
water to be dropped on the fires ravaging another forest and those two
fisherman are right in the path of the plane.
We are
not unlike those fishermen out in the middle of the lake oblivious to the world
and what is occurring around us. As a
result of the fall with Adam and Eve we ignore things around us and sometimes
only concentrate on what is right in front of us. The disciples from our lesson this morning
are no different. After spending a night
out in the fishing boat because it is cooler at night and the fish come to the
surface to feed, and catching nothing, the disciples are sitting on the shore
of the lake cleaning up after an uneventful evening. And Jesus comes by and asks to be taken out
so He could teach the people that were following Him. So Simon, whose boat Jesus had gotten into,
dutiful and hospitable as he was took Jesus out into the shallows so He could
teach the people and everyone could listen without being crowded.
What Jesus
taught is not recorded, nor is there any indication of its relevance, but what
occurs next is a greater lesson for Simon, the people Jesus had just taught and
we God’s people today. Jesus tells Simon
to put out a little further and go fishing with his nets again just as he did
the previous night. And you can imagine
Simon’s reaction, “Come on Jesus, we just got done from fishing all night, we
are tired and I just want to go home and relax”. But dutiful Simon relents and lets down the
nets.
In faith
Simon let down the nets and Jesus Christ in exercising Simon’s faith causes ‘a
great quantity of fish’ to be caught and fill both of the boats. Simon’s reaction is not unlike ours when we
experience something that defies logic, like a hail Mary touchdown by the
Goodland Cowboys or getting 150 bushel per acre corn on dry land after a summer
without any rain. Simon in hauling in a
boat full of fish experienced the Grace of God in the most tangible way. And what was his reaction, “For amazement had
seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had
taken”. Simon and the other fisherman
were amazed that in the same waters they had fished all night, now in the
daylight their nets were filled.
But what
is more surprising is Simon’s next reaction.
Our text doesn’t tell us what it is, but Jesus Words tell us
differently. Simon not only was caught
in amazement, but now great fear. Jesus
says to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” No longer would they rely upon the uncertain trade
of fishing in a boat in turbulent waters upon the Sea of Galilee, Jesus was
calling Simon, James and John his business partners to fish, not for creatures
under the water, but for men.
This
call of Simon, James and John is also the call Jesus Christ makes to us
today. We the people of Emmanuel are
called to fish for men. But I can hear
clearly, ‘but Pastor, I don’t have time’, ‘but Pastor, that’s your job, that’s
what we called you for’, ‘but Pastor, I don’t know how’. Brother’s and Sister’s God does not call us
because we are able, God calls us to enable us to do great things by trusting
in Him and what He can and does through us.
We like
Simon from our lesson fear what will occur and that we won’t know what to say,
if given the opportunity. We doubt God
and that is exactly what Satan wants us to do.
Satan doesn’t want us to trust God to enable us through the work of the
Holy Spirit. Satan wants us to question
God and deny giving glory to God. But
God in His infinite wisdom wants us to rely solely upon Him and trust in Him
like Simon did in the boat and ‘cast the net’, and let God bring us to the
place where we can minister where we are needed. God will equip us, God will give us the words
to speak, God will enable each of us to minister and proclaim the Gospel of
Salvation that we have through what Jesus Christ has done on Calvary. God will give the Holy Spirit to enable us to
be the bold witness and not to fear and be ‘fishers of men’. That is the promise of God not only to Simon
in our Gospel lesson, but to and for us today.
In the
most recent installment of Alvin and the Chipmunks, “Chipwrecked”, the six
chipmunks are marooned on a volcanic island.
While there, Simon is bitten by a venomous spider and in a delirious
state assumes the personality of Simone a care free, out going free spirit who
is not afraid of anything, the complete opposite of who he typically is. Alvin, the usual jock character, fearful of
nothing, not even Dave’s wrath, when faced with the daunting reality that
survival depends upon him, becomes the ‘serious’ chipmunk. What is ironic is that both Simon and Alvin
had these two natures in both of them of seriousness and care-free, but they in
the face of fear that had placed them on the island were empowered to ‘change’.
God in and through
the Work of the Holy Spirit can change each of us as well. We have our marching orders, we can be changed
and empowered to proclaim the message of salvation. For the message of salvation that Jesus
Christ died on the Cross of Calvary for you and for me is our battle cry. That message of salvation isn’t only for
these four walls of Emmanuel or any church, that message of salvation is what
we have been called to proclaim in our daily lives for all the saints of the
World. God has called you and me like
Simon, James and John to be fisher’s of men because of what Jesus Christ has
done on Calvary for all of mankind, including we the saints gathered here at
Emmanuel this morning. AMEN.
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