“Fish for People” Luke 5: 1-11

 When I was in children’s choir, we learned a song that went like this (complete with motions): I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men. I will make you fishers of men, if you follow me. If you follow me. If you follow me. I will make you fishers of men, if you follow me. 

Each of the Gospels tell the story that inspired this song a little bit differently. In the Gospel of Luke, a large crowd had gathered around Jesus. People were craving to hear the word of God, and the crowd had grown so large that they were starting to press in. Not everyone could see. Not everyone could hear. So people kept trying to push closer and closer when Jesus spotted men near their boats. They were cleaning their nets, about to put them away after an unsuccessful night of fishing. So Jesus problem solved and just got into one of the boats. Can you imagine? We have no indication that these men really knew Jesus all that well, but they must have known about him. And now here he was just hoping into their boats, asking Simon to take them away from the shore. And Simon did it. 

This is the behavior of an old friend, not a stranger or aqauintance. It has the ring of your best friend jumping in your car and saying “just drive”. Jesus started teaching to the crowds from the boat, and after he was finished he finally turned to Simon. Simon who had been listening. Simon who had to be exhausted, but followed Jesus’s request anyway, and told Simon to put down his net into the deep waters.

You can almost hear the groan in Simon’s reply. Teacher - the time for fishing is over. We’ve been there, tried that and didn’t catch a single thing. But after all of Simon’s excuses had ran out, he did let his nets down into the waters and had this abundant, his holy abundant catch of fish, that was stretching against the nets. Other people had to be called over to the boat to help hull the net back in. There were so many fish that the boats started to sink into the water.

And Simon just went to his knees, telling Jesus to go away, for he was not worthy to be in his presence. But Jesus responded by telling him not to be afraid and instead told him he had a new vocation - catching people. 

The call of the first disciples, James, John, and Simon Peter in the gospel of Luke is connected to this idea of an abundance. An abundance of people pushing in that lead to Jesus going out into the deep waters with them, resulting in an abundance of fish. In many ways this story sounds like some others found in the Gospels, chiefly John, chapter 21. Jesus had been crucified and resurrected, but the disciples had not yet seen him. They were out in their boats, going back to what they used to know before, only they hadn’t caught anything. Jesus calls to them from the shores, telling them to drop their nets down on the other side, and the catch was plentiful. It was then that Peter recognized Jesus and eagerly went to shore. 

These stories of fish -aren’t actually about the fishing. They are stories of Jesus meeting people exactly where they are at, doing their every day life, and offering them change, for Jesus has the power and authority to do just that- change lives. 

Which Simon must have caught a glimpse of in the boat that day, this power and authority even if he didn’t fully understand it, because he falls on his face, essentially saying that he was unworthy. Some weeks ago we heard another call story that sounds a bit like this in Isaiah, chapter 6. The one who would become a mighty prophet in Israel had this vision where he realizes that he is being called, but says that he is a man of unclean lips, as he falls before the throne of God. In other words, he is unworthy. 

But here’s the thing about Simon, which is just as true of Isaiah. God doesn’t call the folks who are already fit for ministry. He doesn’t call perfect people, he calls people like you and like me. Like Simon and James and John. He comes to people in the ordinary everyday-ness of life and says “you, I chose you. Don’t be afraid. We are going to go fishing for people.”

One of my favorite spiritual authors in Kathleen Norris and she writes about this call in the everyday in her book The Quotidian Mysteries - in other words the mysteries of the every day. In doing laundry, cooking, and cleaning, God shows up. In driving to work and going fishing, God shows up. And we are transformed even in the everyday by the power of Christ. Even when we least expect it. Even if we don’t this we are qualified or worthy. 

When the disciples got up to go fishing, this wasn’t the plan for the day. It wasn’t in their to-do list to have an encounter with Jesus that changed their lives. They simply were doing what they did and Jesus showed up and changed it all. Jesus showed up to men who were exhausted from a days work, with nothing to show for it, and offered them the opportunity for abundance. 

And lest we think this story is really about the fish, guess what, Luke writes that they leave the fish behind! What does verse 11 say, “they left everything to follow him.” Including the fish. Including their boats and their nets. And followed the one who is holy abundance in the flesh. 

Friends, God doesn’t wait for our perfect timing. God doesn’t wait for the moment that we desire. God just shows up in the every day living of life and offers us something new - if only we are willing to take a risk to leave what we know behind and put our nets down into the deep. 

That isn’t a one time choice that we make - its one that comes to us again and again and again, calling us to make a choice. Think of Luke’s second volume, the Book of Acts. Found in chapter 10 and 11 is this story of Simon Peter, the same Simon from today’s boat, who has this vision where God is calling him to set aside what Peter deems to be holy or unholy for the sake of what God says, and Peter keeps reply “never, Lord!” Until someone shows up asking him to go to Cornellius’s house, a gentile, to proclaim the Gospel. Which resulted in a whole household coming to be baptized. 

Peter had to toss his nets into the deep water, setting aside what he thought he knew about Gentiles, in order to continue to live into this call to fish for people. Which leaves me wondering if we would be willing to do the same. Are we willing to put our nets down into the deep waters of chaos, at such a time as this? Are we willing to take a risk for the sake of Christ? Are we willing to daily say, “yes, Lord, I’ll follow you.”

Friends, the word disciple means follower. Are you willing to be a follower today? A disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Are you willing to be obedient to the Holy Spirit that meets us in the everydayness of life and whispers to your heart? Are you willing to sit and listen to the co-worker who is having a hard time? Or help someone in the grocery store? The ways that we are being called everyday are truly endless, but it requires us saying “yes” and often leaving the to-do list of the day behind. 

Brothers and sisters, Christ does not call those who are perfect to follow him. Or those who have it all figured out. He calls the willing. Are you willing to follow this one we call Lord and Savior? Amen.