Sunday 7 February 2016 -The Calling of the Fishermen

Theme

If God says so, will we let down the nets? / Change is possible when Jesus speaks  

Sentence       

The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14; NZPB, p. 568).

Collect                

Lord Jesus Christ,

before whose judgment seat we shall appear

enable us to see ourselves as you see us,

to repent and to change,

and to be found worthy to bear your name.

Readings                                            

Isaiah 6:1-8 The call and commissioning of Isaiah

Psalm 138 David praises God

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 The resurrection

Luke 5:1-11 The call of the fishermen

If we begin with our gospel reading, Luke 5:1-11, then we have a story of call, commissioning and change, with each’s theme illuminated by the other readings.

Luke offers a variant to the calling of the (fishermen) disciples in Matthew's and Mark's gospels. He tells us that when Simon Peter, James and John were called to be disciples of Jesus, they had an unusual encounter with Jesus.

Plying their trade as fishermen, they found Jesus in one of their boats. After teaching the crowds, he suggested to the fishermen that they catch some fish. The fishermen, to say the least, were not impressed.

They had just finished a forlorn night catching nothing. Nevertheless they honoured (or even humoured) Jesus by following his suggestion. We can only imagine their surprise at the haul they brought up, and their consternation that it threatened to capsize their boats.

The shock of this unexpected and surprising outcome (a miraculous event) drives Peter to his knees to express his confession: Jesus should leave him, for he was a sinful man.

We do not know what sin Peter had in mind, or the extent of his awareness of his sinfulness. But at the least we can imagine Peter confessing his failure to honour Jesus, by implicitly trusting him, instead of querulously saying that they had fished all night without success.

The catch of fish leads neatly into Jesus' commissioning the disciples: their call is to follow him, their commission from now on is to catch people. This call and commission is decisive for their lives and livelihoods: 'they left everything and followed him' (v. 11).

Psalm 138 illuminates the occasion: the God of Jesus Christ is a God who has regard for the lowly (in this world's eyes).

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 is about change from death to life, and underlines the dramatic change in the fishing story.

In that story, a night without fish becomes a day with a super-abundant catch. Put another way, in the gospel reading we meet humanity in despair: great effort has met with no success. Surely all is lost and only despair is possible. But Jesus comes and turns the situation upside down: many fish are caught and hope for a flourishing life is restored.

Resurrection, the change from death to life, is a parallel change from despair to hope. Wherever Jesus is  ̶  the One Raised By God  ̶  there is hope. What situations do we encounter, where all seems lost and continuing seems pointless? Is Jesus telling us to let down our nets one further time?

Finally, one of the most famous call and commissioning stories in the Old Testament, that of Isaiah's, is recounted in Isaiah 6. In its own way it is as dramatic as our gospel story. In essence, the commission of Isaiah is the same as of the disciples: to speak out God's word is to catch people. People are 'caught' into God's kingdom through responding to the proclamation of the Word of God.

The Rev Dr Peter Carrell is Director of Theology House in Christchurch.