Fifth Sunday after Trinity

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As we consider today’s Gospel Lesson, where JESUS calls Peter and his cohorts Andrew, James, and John to be fishers of men, it would be well for us to ask: are we called in the same way as Peter and the others were? — Well…generally, yes; specifically, no. 

Generally, the call or summoning of Christ is for all believers to be fishers of men – all ordained (more on that in a moment) and all sent. – In the general summation of Christ, some are called to fish for souls for GOD’s Kingdom in the hierarchy of the ecclesiastical offices of the Church (bishop, priest, deacon, and deaconess); the rest as Confirmed laypeople. — Though we typically think of ordination as a specific setting apart of clerics, all the people of GOD in Christ are ordained by the Holy Spirit to proclaim JESUS’ Gospel in word and deed. All are summoned to participate in the great fishing expedition of the Church, which we call evangelism. This happens through the laity as they live their everyday lives at home, at the office, at school, at the grocery store, at the health spa, at the post office, or at the coffee shop. In essence, everywhere you live, move and have your being.  

The laity receives this call through the sacrament of Confirmation. One way of understanding the sacrament of Confirmation, which every Anglican Christian should enjoin themselves to by faith, is to understand this sacrament as an ordination, of a kind. In fact, in the service of Holy Confirmation, the Confirmand “renews the promises and vows of his Baptism and declaring his loyalty and devotion to Christ as his Master, receives the confirming and strengthening gifts of the Holy Spirit.”¹ This reception comes when the bishop, the apostolic officer of Holy Mother Church, lays his hands on the Confirmand – the same action done for the deacon and the priest. — Then the bishop says: “ALMIGHTY and ever-living GOD, let thy Fatherly hand, we beseech thee, ever be over this Thy servant; let Thy Holy Spirit ever be with him; and so lead him in the knowledge and obedience of thy Word.”² — Implicit in the bishop’s prayer is an ‘ordination’ of sending out – a calling and summoning of the Confirmand to take the Gospel that has brought life to them, to other men in the world. In a word, to go fishing for Christ, in His Name. More powerfully impactful than even one minister with uniform and a sworn oath to teach the Scriptures, is the Body of Christ, in full, the laity sharing the words and actions of the Gospel to the world – each one, wherever GOD has placed you, and with whichever gifts the Holy Spirit has strengthened within you. — As Saint Paul says to Timothy: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine/learning taught you; continue in them: for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4.16). 

Thus, as we understand the matter, it is not just the clerics that are to certify themselves willing to JESUS’ summoning to fish, but the people of GOD also. It is to all of us, who are to say, as Isaiah said: “Here am I,  [LORD]; send me” (Isaiah 6.8). — In this way, the entire Body of Christ is sent out by the Holy Spirit to be priests and kings of GOD, taking dominion of the world away from the evil one, and multiplying our numbers and filling the earth. We are to do so, as JESUS illustrates in today’s Gospel Lesson, by fishing for men, women, and children within our own contexts. — Yet, we must also acknowledge the uniqueness of Peter’s call, along with the summoning of the other Apostles. These men were called by the Living LORD whilst He was walking the earth, incarnate in human flesh. — And it was through the human experience that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity set about to enlist His twelve novitiates as the foundational evangelists to spread His Gospel.  

We see how in Luke 5 that JESUS led them, after teaching the people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee from Peter and Andrew’s boat, to put out into the deep for a draught of the net. The intriguing aspect of this narrative is that JESUS was a carpenter and a rabbi – a religious landlubber. What did He know about angling? 

These must have been the thoughts running through the minds of Peter, Andrew, James, and John. Unlike Himself, those that JESUS first called were anglers, and they understood that fishing was part science, part human effort, and part faith in GOD. For they would tell you, I am sure, that every cast of the net does not equal a catch, no matter how good the conditions, your equipment, or your location on the water. On this occasion, we mark that JESUS’ call to Peter, and his peers would have been especially odd. You see, the fishers of Galilee knew well that casting a net deep in the middle of the lake during the day would lead to exactly zero fish. It was in the night that the schools of fish swam deep in the Sea of Galilee; during the day, if fish were to be caught, it was only to be along the shoreline. Thus, Peter says to JESUS upon His request: “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net” (St. Luke 5.5). — Little did Peter know, JESUS had other things in mind.  

And when they had done as JESUS requested, Saint Luke tells us that “they enclosed a great multitude of fishes and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other boat, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink” (5.6-7).  

I wish we could have known what JESUS taught the people from the boat while the people sat on the shore of the sea; Peter and his associates listening on. It must have been something that inspired this miracle – something that would have revealed to Peter and his partners that what they had just witnessed in JESUS’ great catch was neither luck nor accident. Indeed, this great catch was a sign – a sign that “GOD had anointed JESUS of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power … for GOD was with Him” (Acts 10.38). And being GOD’s Man, anointed by Him to reveal His Kingdom, JESUS shows these men that He is the One that John the Baptist said they should follow. — Let us note, also, we cannot see GOD’s Kingdom until He reveals it to us. Peter, James, Andrew, and John, this company of fishermen, had all seen JESUS before. Commentators believe that this miracle scene on the shores of the Sea of Galilee took place about a year after the Baptist’s witness of JESUS as the Lamb of GOD on the banks of the River Jordan. — These fishermen had seen JESUS – heard John’s witness about Him – even spent a day or two with JESUS, but they did not clearly recognize the Kingdom. (cf. Jhn. 1.35-42) — People are looking for the Kingdom of GOD to come with explosions and sparkles, but GOD ushers in His Kingdom quietly, as He did when He called the fishermen: like a net full of fish being pulled aboard a small sloop in the middle of the day, unexpectedly, far out on the lake, away from the shoreline, GOD catches men, one at a time – quietly – carefully – lovingly. — GOD’s Kingdom does not come by the edge of the sword in the conquest of nations in far-away lands, nor through the grandiose speeches of well-pressed and slicked-back intelligentsia disguised as prophets and sages of the people. Instead, the Kingdom of GOD comes with power, the power of one soul summoning another soul to heed the Gospel’s truth, by the grace of GOD. These intentional Gospel encounters enclose people in the net of the love of the Savior, JESUS Christ. Person to person, the Gospel is shared concerning the Savior JESUS, who laid down His life for His sheep. JESUS, who responded to the man stricken with a great disease of body, soul, and mind, saying to JESUS: “LORD, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean?” To wit, JESUS replied: “I wilt: be thou clean” (St. Luke 5.13).  

The scale of the catch on the shores of Galilee that day revealed to Peter and his associates that JESUS was GOD’s Kingdom representative, the one greater than Moses that was promised to come – the Messiah. And in seeing His power, Peter, cut to the heart by his earlier cynicism towards JESUS, falls to his knees and says: ‘O Kyrie’, that is to say, ‘O LORD and Master, depart from me; for I am a sinful man.’ (cf. 5.8) — Whether Peter was a particularly sinful man or no, that is not the point. All men should feel such awe and unworthiness in the Presence of the Divine. And modeling this for us, Peter is then summoned, not only to bow the knee before JESUS, but to also follow and work with Him to build His Kingdom. And JESUS, the Lover of our souls, shows Peter that His willingness is the great attribute that GOD desires – the work will be in the realm of giftings and understanding that you already are acquainted with. Yet, it is your freewill which is the sacrifice GOD desires to begin His work in you – with you. And the work is part science, part human effort, and part an act of faith in GOD. This is what it means to be a fisher of men for the Kingdom – for JESUS. 

In the providential economy of GOD, Kingdom expansion is a work of partnership with His most prized creation: His born-again sons and daughters. — GOD desires to expand His Kingdom into the hearts of men through the willingness, work, and wonder of other men. There are no bystanders in the Kingdom of GOD – this is a full contact sport, if you will. The science of our call is to be measurably prepared; we must have the right equipment, and we must know how to use it. We are to renew our minds and be transformed into Kingdom fishermen. — No one goes fishing without a net or pole. It is incumbent upon us to learn GOD’s Word, which acts as our fishing equipment – and we must know how to use it – communicate it – live it. — How else can we even begin to fish? Secondly, we must be willing to do the things GOD has called us to do, in our own context, to help Him build His Kingdom. In a word, we must not only learn how to use the Word of GOD through catechesis and private devotion, we must also be willing to put it into action – to go fishing with it – to fish for men, as JESUS commanded. 

Finally, we must have faith. We must believe that any work we do for GOD and with GOD will be done by GOD. — Perhaps there has been a fisherman or two, but every time I have fished, or seen another person fish, each time a fish comes onto the line, they exclaim, “I got one!” It is as if in all their preparation, effort, and anticipation, they are still surprised that a fish is on their line. And well they should be surprised too; catching fish is a blessing of GOD. Just as planting a seed or sowing a good word, or forgiving your enemy, or loving a stranger, or working for a godly cause that no one sees, or tithing to the Church is a blessing of GOD. The magnitude of the return of our investment is by faith. In each circumstance, it is always a determination of the blessing of GOD – not a calculation of the valuation of men. — But the investment unto the return, the landing of the fish after the catch, it requires complete commitment. Once hooked, you can’t set the pole down and ask the fish to give you a few minutes to gather yourself. Instead, once the fish is on the line or in the net, that fisherman, rightly so, with the most careful concern and concentration, reels the fish in, knowing, if they are careless and disrespectful to the tendentious nature of the fishing act, the catch could fall off the line, and the fish freed to swim away. — Their efforts – their work – their energy – all depend upon faith that their knowledge of fishing, that their equipment, and that GOD Himself will allow for the landing of their catch. This is always in the forefront of the mind of the angler, fishing for men. — To prepare for the work, to do the work, and to believe in the work’s success, a complete submission to the summoning of JESUS is necessary. Peter and his associates model this for us, for when “they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed JESUS” (St. Luke 5.11). They believed in Him. They followed Him. They pursued Him, and unequivocally, they fished for Him, and Him only. 

To believe in JESUS is to follow JESUS, to follow JESUS is to fish for JESUS. You can be a spectator of the Christian fishing expedition, but you are just that – a spectator, not a fisher. JESUS reveals this truth to Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and I believe He has revealed it to you too; why else would you be here? — However much we might not want to accept it, “there comes a time for each of us when the call of JESUS comes to us personally, and we must make a decision whether to follow Him or not – to fish for Him or to sit idly by on the shoreline and listen to His pretty words and lovely stories. In today’s Gospel Lesson, Luke focuses on that moment of calling for these ordinary fishermen, called by an extraordinary Man to follow Him – to help build His everlasting Kingdom.”³ 

To know JESUS is to follow JESUS. And to follow JESUS is to assist Him in the spreading of His Kingdom by fishing with His word and deeds for men. We are to fish by telling and showing people we encounter in our everyday lives the Good News of GOD in Christ. That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; the Righteous for the unrighteous – the Sinless for the sinful. And He did so, that we might receive forgiveness of our sins; that we might be born again into a new life of holy purpose and fulfillment as His sons and daughters, and to inherit the everlasting life of His Kingdom in this age and the Age to come.  

Dear church, fear not. From henceforth thou shalt catch men for the Kingdom of GOD. “Therefore, take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine/learning taught you; continue in it: for in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ JESUS unto good works, which GOD hath ordained before, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2.10). And in these works, may we joyfully serve GOD in all godly quietness, doing and believing, so that by faith, putting our net down for a catch at the Master’s command, we might enclose a catch of men for His Kingdom, in the Name of Him who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost, now and forever. Amen.  

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1 1928 Book of Common Prayer, 291.  
2 1928 BCP, 298.  
3 New Bible Commentary, Carson, D.A., et. al, editors, (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1994), 952.