In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[This is the text of an interactive sermon, delivered with the aid of the congregation, out of the pulpit, on the morning of the Annual Meeting.]
Today’s Jesus story tells us about how Jesus’ friends saw him work a miracle, and how it made them feel to know that they were with someone who was so powerful--with God.
Jesus teaches a crowd of people who came out to hear him, and he wanted a little more space, because it was so crowded there on the beach. So he got into a boat that was sitting up on the beach--the fishermen were out of the boat, and they were cleaning up after a hard day’s work when they didn’t catch any fish at all.
So Jesus gets into the boat with Simon, who owns it. He sits down and teaches the crowd on the shore. I wonder if he did this because sound carries so well over water--maybe he knew that it would help him be heard by people if his voice came from over the water.
Then after he finishes speaking to the people, he tells Simon to go out into the deeper water and let down his nets. And Simon tells him that would be a waste of time--because he and his friends were out all night and they didn’t catch anything at all.
But he takes the boat out to the deep water anyway--he respects Jesus so he goes along with his suggestion. And we know what happens next--they catch a ton of fish--so many that the nets almost break. They have to call their friends to bring their boat over and carry some of those fish back--otherwise their boat would sink because of the weight.
And so--Simon’s eyes are opened and he realizes just who Jesus is. How did Simon Peter feel then?
Unworthy. Not at all good enough to be around Jesus--he saw that he was divine--and he knew how imperfect he was himself. He says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” That’s interesting--he doesn’t go away from Jesus himself but he leaves it up to Jesus to go away. Sounds to me like he really wanted him to stay but didn’t dare to think he qualified to be in the company of divinity. Of God. “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
And how did Jesus handle this? He told him not to be afraid. That’s what we hear all over the Bible when someone is confronted by God, or by an angel--don’t be afraid. It’s ok. I know you are far from perfect, and it’s ok for now.
And Jesus goes on to tell him, “From now on you will be catching people.” In other words, “from now on, you won’t be fishing for fish. You’ll be fishing for men and women and children.”
There’s something about the work that Jesus has for Simon Peter and his friends--it will be like what they did before, but they’ll be catching quite different things than before. People, and not fish.
Now, we inherit these words. They are meant for us, too. We too are sinful people, but God works with us and through us anyway. Thanks be to God! And we are to be catching people.
What does that mean for us--how do we catch people?
And when you think of it, we too have been caught by someone else. Someone “caught” us--took us to God, took us to church, led us to faith, helped us to grow in our faith. We too are like fish, and somebody caught us.
Maybe it was a parent, or a grandparent. Maybe it was a good friend. Maybe a teacher or a priest. But someone threw out a net and caught us up in it. And that net is the church.
Let’s take a minute to think about who caught us--and what it was like to be brought to God, brought to faith, brought to the church. And now I’d like to invite us to take that little tissue paper fish from the pew and write on it the name of the person or persons who were the ones who caught us for God.
Ushers will pick up the fish in a minute, and we’ll have Eileen Honey put them onto a glass, and we’ll see how the light of God shines through each one of them.
And now that Eileen is at work with our fish, I wonder if anyone might like to share their story of the person who caught them and brought them to Jesus.
(pause and share)
I’d like us to reflect on catching fish for a minute. What happens usually to fish that are caught?
They’re eaten . . . used . . . for greater good.
What happens to fish that are caught and then they just sit around and aren’t used?
They start to stink. To rot.
Let’s do the work we were caught to do . . . spread the good news and hope of Christ, forgive others, bring reconciliation, encourage people that things will be ok, remind them about God in their lives . . . this is what we were made to do. That’s how we catch people.
The alternative is that we don’t fulfill our calling to be reconcilers and bringers of hope. We start to rot, to stink.
Not a good idea.
Let’s live out the mission of Jesus, for we are his hands, his eyes, his feet in the world. Be kind, bring hope, tell people about God in your life. Go fishing.
