First Christian Church Sermons

April 10, 2011

Luke 5:1-11  
“Becoming Bait”

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Two fishermen were talking about the good old days....One says, "Back in my day, there were so many fish here I could always catch a few."  The other says, "Back in my day, we used a horse and cart and got enough fish to sell at the market."  "How did you do that?"  "Well, we had this good old horse and we used to back the cart down into the water and put molasses on the horse’s tail. The flies got stuck in the molasses and when the fish jumped out of the water for the flies, that good old horse just kicked them into the cart. We had a load of fish in no time!"
Sounds like a fish story to me.  But every story, even a fish story, has a nugget of truth.  Truth be told, if you’re going to catch fish, you’d better have the right bait.  In fact, if you’re going to catch anything, you ought to have the right bait.
So, what kind of bait was Jesus using in our story this morning?  We are told in the Gospel of Luke, “Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret (the Sea of Galilee), and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.…”  In the previous passage Luke tells of Jesus healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching the word of God.  Jesus was attracting crowds who wanted to be healed, who wanted to see and hear his teaching, who just wanted to be near him.  Jesus was attracting crowds wherever he went.  And the crowds kept coming.  What kind of bait was Jesus using?
Simon knew of Jesus through his mother-in-law being healed.  So he let him into his boat.  I’m sure he listened to whatever Jesus taught from the boat, and he called Jesus “Master” when he agreed to go back out into deep water, even after a futile night of unsuccessful fishing.  He was open to a new possibility.  He was willing to go where Jesus guided.  And because of his openness he experienced something holy.

Simon took the boat out to the deep water and cast the nets.  ‘When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.  So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”’
Now this was the second miracle that Simon had witnessed: his mother-in-law and now this great catch of fish.  I was sharing in Bible study, a week ago, the understanding that miracles, in Jesus’ day, were much more common than today.  Jesus drew followers because of his miracles, but so did other healers and miracle workers.  But the difference was that people recognized that there was something special about Jesus, something that set him apart.  There was something that attracted great crowds, something that dropped Simon Peter to his knees.

Simon Peter fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”’  Simon Peter had a conversion experience.  He was transformed by the holy.  The miracle he saw with his mother-in-law, and now this miracle of the full net of fish, got Simon’s attention, so he was able to see something greater, something even more profound.  He saw God in Jesus.  He experienced the presence of God.    The deep water in the story serves as a metaphor for Simon’s spiritual journey.  It was in this deep water, in relationship with Jesus, where Simon experienced not only a miracle; he experienced the very presence of God and that’s what dropped him to his knees.  And in God’s presence he suddenly became aware of his own sinfulness.  This should remind us of the call of the Prophet Isaiah where he encounters God’s holiness with "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"  He was very afraid.  Yet Isaiah then says, "Here am I; send me!"  The fear of God is healthy in a relationship with God, and opens the door to even deeper conversion where one experiences the sense of being held, embraced, by an otherworldly love.

    
In Jesus’ encounter with Simon Peter we see how God wants to encounter each one of us.  In Jesus, God came into our world to show His all-powerful, yet unconditionally loving self in a way we can understand, and a love that would lead Him to die on a cross for you and me.  When Jesus announced that the kingdom of heaven had come near, he was announcing that God was not inaccessible, not out in some heavenly plane of existence, but that God is as close as our everyday existence.  If we are open to God coming onto the worksite, or the school grounds, or the neighborhood, or even our favorite fishing hole; and we are open to God’s invitation to go into a little bit deeper water; then we will be open to an encounter with the holy presence of God and with God’s Holy Spirit.  But beware that our all-powerful, yet unconditionally loving God will likely drop you to your knees, like Simon Peter, in fear, in recognition of your sinfulness, yet also in peace and love.
Jesus is saying to you: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”  Do not be afraid.  After his death and resurrection, Jesus would appear to Simon and then the rest of the disciples saying, “Peace be with you.”  After his resurrection, when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, they would fully understand that peace of Christ, that sense of being held, embraced, by our all-powerful, yet unconditionally loving God.  And that is when Simon and the other disciples started attracting crowds themselves.  That’s when they all began fishing for people as Jesus had promised Simon Peter.  You see, that’s when they became bait, as Jesus was bait, standing beside Lake Gennesaret.  His authentic relationship with God and the presence of the Holy Spirit, through that relationship, was the bait Jesus used to attract the crowds.  That was what attracted Simon Peter and the other disciples into deeper water where they experienced the holy presence of God for themselves.  Knowing God, living in that relationship with the holy, and exhibiting that peace of resting in God’s loving arms made Jesus very attractive bait.  Everyone wanted to see him, touch him, hear him, learn from him and be healed by him.  That attraction led a few into deeper water.  Simon Peter and the disciples followed Jesus into the deep water, into an experience of God’s presence, into a conversion experience that changed them forever.  They continued to follow Jesus, to the cross and beyond.  And through the resurrection and the coming of God’s presence in the Holy Spirit, Simon Peter and the others became the bait which Jesus used to build his church.

Today, it’s our turn.  Jesus is still standing by that lake, by our everyday existence – our homes, our workplaces, our schools, right here in church, hoping to attract each of us, inviting each of us into deeper water; through a deeper prayer life, deeper Bible study, deeper giving of yourself in outreach and service, deeper trusting in God.  Are you willing to go deeper, to experience the holy and to finally be held, embraced, by our all-powerful, yet unconditionally loving God?  People want to be around people who are in authentic relationship with God.  If you are, and if you do, then you can go fishing with Jesus and you too will be bait for catching people.  Will you go deeper with Jesus?

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