A Lesson from a Boat

February 3, 1995

July 6 (pm), 1997

Luke 5:1-11

A Story

I would love to know what was going on in the mind of the disciples as Jesus preached in their boat. There they were— they were supposed to be praying for the preacher— they were in full view of the congregation— but the sermon was long. And beside that, the night before had been extra long. It is bad enough to have to take advantage of the full moon to work all night. It is bad enough when you fish all night and catch a few. But when you fish all night long in every spot you know, and have come up empty!

So Jesus was welcome to use the boat— and more— Jesus was loved and appreciated. But I am not sure how much of the sermon Peter heard that beautiful windless morning while the multitudes sat or stood along the shore and Jesus sat in the calm waters and taught them about the love of God and the love of fellow man.

Maybe the most important thing about worship is the sermon— and maybe it isn't. I have a feeling that the most important thing about coming together for worship is whenever we feel the love in our hearts for Jesus welling up, making us want to be like him in sharing life and love with our brothers and sisters— that is when worship connects.

The sermon concluded. Peter hadn't been sleeping at all— but still he woke up with a start. He pulled up the anchor out of five feet of clear water where he'd tossed it to keep the boat from drifting. He started to paddle with one oar back to shore. But now Jesus wanted to go fishing.

Now it is one thing to have a preacher tell you how you ought to love God and read your Bible, even though some people have a problem with anyone telling them anything. But it is entirely another thing to have a carpenter tell a fisherman where to fish. Peter wouldn't mind taking Jesus fishing. But there wouldn't be any sense in fishing here and now because there weren't any fish in this end of the lake.

Still, Jesus not only wanted Peter to go fishing— but Jesus told Peter told him where to go to fish.

"Push out into the deep water and let your nets down there for a catch." Deep water. Right! "Lord, we have worked all night long without one fish!" So much to read between the lines here! But Peter is already swinging his bow out toward the center of the lake. "Nevertheless, at YOUR word we'll go again!"

The usual lesson here is supposed to be that Jesus is master of nature and all creation. He is the God YHWH who commanded ravens to feel Elijah, and who sent manna from heaven to keep the Israelites alive for forty years in their desert wanderings. The miraculous draught of fishes is supposed to tell us that if we mind Jesus he will provide for us. And that is true.

But when I read this I think about people who sometimes doze through sermons and are startled when they hear Jesus urging them, by His Spirit, to change the course of their living! It isn't simply "spiritual matters," that concerns Jesus— He is Lord of all of life! So we hear Him saying "You ought to write a letter to that person you have a misunderstanding with!" or even, "Send off that a resumé you've been praying about!" or "Don't be afraid to drop that course and take the one you've been thinking about!" And we say to ourselves "What does this have to do with holiness and religion? What does Jesus know about life in the computer age? And even if he knows what does he care? He is reaching down to us across 20 centuries, and that is a pretty long reach!"

Then we realize that Jesus isn't reaching at all! Jesus is HERE— the eternal contemporary. Jesus knows more about fishing and fish than Peter does. He knows more about computers than you do. He cares about the details of our lives!

We could do a lot worse than bring our daily schedules and our secular— so-called secular— workaday lives to Jesus for his guidance.

Jesus not only had the nerve to command Peter's boat for that one day— Jesus had the audacity to ask Peter to let him command him for the rest of his life. We still call Peter 'the Big Fisherman' once in a while, but what was immortal about him is not his prowess on the Sea of Galilee. What really counts about Peter is the kind of person he became when he followed Jesus with all his heart. What Peter really accomplished with his life is the result of a power the world cannot understand because it cannot see it. But Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and preached, and 3,000 people then and there decided to put God absolutely first in their lives. Peter's social standing and his means of making a living meant a lot to some people in his life, I'm sure. But now 2,000 years later we remember Peter as a man who followed Jesus. That has made all the difference in ways that only eternity can tell.

Amen.

THE HOLY COMMUNION

The Law Read and Confession Made

The Lord Jesus Christ has said to us: "Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This if the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

Shall we pray:

Search us, O God, and know our most private thoughts. Try us, and show unto us the deepest motives, the real state of our hearts. Forgive us where we have been selfish, or insensitive, or sinful in any way. We cannot keep the Great Commandment, and truly love You, O God, with all our heart, soul, and mind unless You in mercy grant to us the grace of Your indwelling Spirit. We cannot love each other as we should unless Your love is shed abroad in our hearts.

Brothers and sisters, let us search our hearts. In silence let us ask God to draw us near to Himself so that we can come to his table with confidence.

We do not presume to come to this table, O God, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your great mercy and grace. Grant us to eat the Bread of heaven, and drink the blood shed for the remission of sins, that we may live in Christ, and Christ may live in us forever. Amen

Let us confess our faith:

The Creed

The Informal Invitation ("This is not my table . . . ")

Holy and gracious Father; in your infinite love you made us for yourself; and, when we had fallen into sin, and were worthy of death and hell, you, in your mercy sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to You, the God and Father of all.

He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

The Words of Institution

On the night in which he was betrayed our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had give thanks to You he broke it and gave it to his disciples and said, "Take eat: THIS IS MY BODY, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

After supper he took the cup and when he had give thanks he gave it to them, and said, "Drink this, all of you; THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE NEW COVENANT, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink this, do it in remembrance of me: Amen

We praise you for the mystery of our salvation! We truly believe

Bless these emblems, O God, and make them to us the Body and Blood of your Son, spiritual food, and spiritual drink of new and unending life in Jesus Christ.

And now, together, we pray, as Jesus taught us:

Our Father which art in heaven . . .

Now, humbly we receive the Gifts of God for the People of God