Homily of the Rev. Dr. David A. Killian
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 4, 2007
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
Text: Luke 5:1-11
I
In the Gospel passage a couple of weeks ago, Jesus goes to his home synagogue in Nazareth and reads from the book of Isaiah the passage about the deaf hearing, the blind seeing, and the poor receiving the good news of the Gospel. People in the village are amazed at him and wonder, "Who is this is who has this wisdom? Is this not the carpenter's son?"
In today's Gospel, the carpenter's son is in the boat of Peter the fisherman. Peter is good enough to welcome Jesus into his boat, which serves as a pulpit as Jesus speaks to the crowds on the shore. When the teaching is over, Jesus asks Peter to push out into the deep and to lower his nets for a catch.
At that moment, Peter is probably thinking to himself, "What does this carpenter know about fishing? Maybe he could teach me how to build a table but what does he know about fishing?" Peter was perhaps put off by Jesus as much as the people from Nazareth where Jesus spoke in the synagogue.
Peter protests at first, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing." Yet, Peter doesn't protest too long, "Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." The fisherman, after all, had listened to Jesus teaching the crowds and Peter knew this was not an ordinary carpenter.
When Peter lowered the nets, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. Peter then realizes that he is in the presence of the holy- and he senses his own unworthiness, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
But Jesus doesn't send him away. No, just the opposite. Jesus gives him a higher calling - to be a fisher of people. And Peter and James and John follow and become his disciples.
II
This Gospel story can be a model of how we live the Christian life.
First, we need to be open to keep searching for meaning and purpose and value - even if we feel secure in our occupation or station in life. God is calling us to the next stage. What we are now is fine, but God is calling us to something deeper and better. Peter was a fisherman, and probably very good in his profession. Jesus called him to become an even better fisherman, and, moreover, to fish for people.
Second, we need to risk doing something that pushes us out of our comfort zone. Peter was comfortable being a fisherman. He knew the good fishing spots on Lake Gennesaret. He had fished it his whole life. His father and grandfather probably were fishermen before him. He had his routine. He knew what worked. Why should he take advice from a carpenter about how to fish?
Would we want some one to tell us how to do our jobs? Who does Jesus think he is - intruding into my domain, telling me how to do my work? Maybe I should just tell the carpenter that this is none of his business!
What are the areas of our lives that we think are none of God's business? You see, we get a sense of our own private domain and we create a fence of protection around certain patterns in our life that we even fence out God. And when we fence out God, we close ourselves to new opportunities that God is opening up for us - if only we would let God enter.
Where is God calling you to "cast your net into the deep"? Where is God inviting you to do something different - which might lead you to such a big cash of fish that your nets are filled to abundance?
III
As a parish we need to ask where God is calling us to take actions we haven't taken before - so that we can answer the call that God extends to us. Today, at our Annual Meeting, we will hear about some of the bold steps that the Vestry has taken to cast their nets into the deep. In particular I call your attention to the decision to start a new Sunday evening service - which is attracting people to worship who otherwise would not be coming to our parish - and to the mission initiatives of our young people to Nicaragua and the support of the Jubilee Ministry to combat AIDS in Africa. When you read the Annual Report booklet you will see that God is calling us to cast our nets into the deep in many ways that will challenge us in the years to come.
I can tell you about how God is calling me to change, and that is in the way I look at time. I believe that God is calling me to keep the Sabbath - by refraining from work at least one day of the week.
Keeping the Sabbath is not a new idea, of course. It's been around since the Book of Genesis - where we read that the Lord God took six days to create the universe and then rested on the seventh day - as an example to us, God's creatures.
The Bible teaches that you should work hard six days of the week - in partnership with God building the earth and serving one another. These six days, co-creating with God, lead up to a day of renewal and rest, a day to enter into the holy presence of God. In God's holy presence, we might feel a sense of wonder and gratitude that God has created me, that I am a child of God. I might be as awe struck as when Peter was dazzled by the amazing catch of fish.
Keeping a holy Sabbath is one way that God is calling me to change, to come out of my routine and established pattern. How is the carpenter asking you change?
By attending this worship service today, you have invited Jesus into your boat. You have listened to his teachings. Now he is saying, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Will you protest that this is none of God's business or will you take the risk to change in some particular way that will allow you to become the person God has called you to be?