Trinity Five Sunday

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“In GOD – I boast in his promise – in the Lord – I boast in his promise –in GOD I trust, I am not afraid. What can mere men do to me? I am obligated to fulfill the vows I made to you, O GOD, I will give you the thank-offerings you deserve…” (Psalm 56.10-12 – NET). 

“During that bright summer He had walked along that Lake, and by its shore and in the various Synagogues, He preached His Gospel. And they had been ‘astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with power.’ For the first time they had heard what they felt to be ‘the Word of GOD,’ and they had learned to love its sound.”¹ — Thus, after hearing His words and witnessing His miracles, the “multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of GOD, as He, JESUS, stood by Lake Gennesaret” (St. Luke 5.1). — Then, having seen what He had come for, the LORD waited for Peter, Andrew, and the Sons of Zebedee (James and John), to put to shore. “JESUS had come that morning especially to seek these four fishermen, that He might call them to permanent discipleship— and what is more, to fit them for the work to which He would call them.”²    

“JESUS’ expression ‘Follow Me’ would be readily understood by these four men, as implying a call to become the permanent disciple of a teacher … It was regarded as one of the most sacred duties, for a Master to gather around him, a circle of disciples. Thus, neither Peter nor Andrew, nor the sons of Zebedee, could have misunderstood the call of Christ, or even regarded it as strange … The LORD had come to the Lake to gather around Him a separate and specific discipleship.”³  

Interestingly, I do not think these fishermen that St. Luke says were at the shore of the Lake, were too concerned about JESUS, His call, nor the crowd that was gathering to hear Him speak. After spending the night fishing, (because the local customs prevented static-line fishing), these fishermen were focused on mending and preparing their nets for their next angling expedition. — But what cannot be overlooked is the fact that these men had no catch – their nets were empty. No matter how hard or craftily they worked their skill and knowledge, they were empty-handed. Without gain and fulfillment, though they had followed every rule and law for successful trawling – they had not earned for themselves, nor their families, any justice.  JESUS had come to call them away from ‘works righteousness’ unto Himself – unto trawling by Grace through faith. — For Peter, Andrew, James, and John, “JESUS’ call is from the first, and clearly marked, a totally different call from any other call to discipleship … It is not to learn more of doctrine, per se, nor more fully to follow out a life-direction (a rule or habit), but to begin, and to become, something quite new – to be transformed.”⁴ — When we are empty of righteousness, no good deeds to speak of, then JESUS calls us unto Himself. When we are left in the world without a catch, mending our ways, trying to discover a purpose for our lives and for our talents, this is when JESUS comes to call us to Himself and to His Kingdom-work. 

The people, now hearing the Word of GOD mellifluously spoken in their ears from the Son of GOD, press around JESUS to hear His teachings and sayings. So impressed were they with Him, that they would have pushed each other, and the LORD, into the Lake, had JESUS not had an ingenious plan. He queried Peter, and asked, “him to put out a little from the land. And then, He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat” (St. Luke 5.3). — This now being done, JESUS sought to compensate Peter and Andrew for the use of their boat. So, JESUS said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” (St. Luke 5.4). — To this point, Peter had humored JESUS in the employment of his boat, but JESUS was a rabbi, and Peter a fisherman. Though he obviously respected JESUS for His position in the community and His command of the Word of GOD, he said to the LORD: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net” (St. Luke 5.5). 

Peter, like us all, is hesitant when the LORD beckons him to Himself. Like Peter, we have all tried to be just in our dealings with men, and faithful to GOD in our duties and heart’s intentions. But like Peter and his fellow anglers, though we work all night and follow all the rules, we come up short – our nets are so often empty of any catch of righteousness and goodness in and of our own efforts. — Yet, JESUS did not ask Peter, nor does He ask us, to give Him a report of our past efforts – our past, short-lived successes – our past, long-remembered failures. The LORD JESUS simply asks for faith: ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’  

From Luke’s narrative, we can see that Peter, initially, took JESUS for a learned rabbi of GOD, but no more. And then, upon witnessing the miraculous catch of fish, Peter understood JESUS to be much, much more –even a man sent by GOD. Thus, Peter professes a righteous confession: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O LORD.’ But an honest sinner, JESUS never resists, nor turns away.  

When JESUS calls, we are wont to resist like Peter, but we should not. Even with verifiable excuses, like, ‘we are sinners and not worthy’, we can count on our LORD to reply: ‘Don’t worry, there are a lot of sinners here in my company. Don’t you worry about that: I will make you – I will equip you – I will save you. You will be a ‘fisher of men’. — If anyone had an excuse for not following JESUS, it was Peter: ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O LORD” (St. Luke 5.8). Without a doubt, we can be sure that Peter was aware of his sins in a profound way in the presence of JESUS.  

Brothers and sisters, there are no bystanders in the Kingdom of GOD – The Kingdom that is now – here – among you – within you – is a Kingdom wherein we must be actively casting – trawling – doing – working for the LORD. When JESUS calls us, we are, according to Holy Scripture, to “Seek the Lord and His strength; to ‘Seek His face evermore!’ To ‘Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth” (1 Chronicles 16.11-12).  

“John of the Cross said that the soul is like a pane of glass and GOD’s love is like the sun. It is, accordingly, when GOD’s love is shining most directly on the soul that its smudges and imperfections are most apparent. We sinners spend our time trying to run away from the divine light – (believing we are not worthy of its glow) – our lives focused on money, sex, power, and our own egos. Thus, it is not the least bit surprising that we remain relatively unaware of our sinfulness, or at least naïve to it. But the saints, the ones who have directed their lives toward the light and heat of GOD, are most cognizant of all that still remains incomplete in their souls. — Saul of Tarsus galloped off to Damascus to persecute the church of Christ, utterly convinced that he was following the will of GOD. And then he was struck blind by the light of GOD’s presence (Acts 9:3). When the true GOD appeared to him, he, suddenly did not know where he was going. In Michelangelo da Merisi Caravaggio’s painting of this scene, Saul is a young man, well-muscled and lean, and he is clothed in the raiment of a soldier. Everything in his body and his array suggests focus, energy, and aggressive confidence. But in the wake of the shock of the Light of Christ, he lies on the ground, eyes shut, arms groping in the darkness – his confidence dissipated. And it is at this moment that he begins to become a saint.”⁵ 

In His Light, JESUS called Peter, and Peter found himself groping in the darkness – his eyes shut – his confidence dissipated. And so, it is for us, when Christ calls us. We should feel ourselves unworthy, for we are. But He is worthy, and He says, ‘Don’t worry, my child, I will make you – I will equip you – I will save you. Just like I have done with these others of my children – sinners all. I will make you a fisher of men. 

And what’s more, Peter is a model for us and how we should approach the LORD – with humility and confession of our miserable sinfulness. It is, after all, a testament of our Christian witness; viz., to confess our unworthiness to GOD. In point of fact, “a frank acknowledgment of one’s dysfunction is not a signal of psychological debility; on the contrary. It is an indication that one has finally directed one’s life toward the Light of Christ. It is not the neurotics, but the saints who can say they are sinners.”⁶ And this is JESUS’ point with Peter: You are a sinner, but I will make you a saint – a fisher of men.  

GOD in Christ has called all of us. Not necessarily to be a priest, or a deaconess, or a director of sound booth communications, but to be saints – to be His for the making. We have the opportunity in the Holy Eucharist, every Sunday, to answer GOD’s call on our lives, to partake of His spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of our Savior JESUS Christ, to be assisted by His grace, to be sent to do all such good works as He has prepared for us to walk in, and to be in holy fellowship with Him and with His Body – the blessed company of all faithful people – His Church. 

JESUS has come to Waxahachie today as the Master, to call a specific discipleship unto Himself. He is calling us, and we should not mistake His call for something it is not. — It is a call to follow, not lead – to accept by grace through faith, and not by our efforts to cast and catch through a long night’s toiling of ‘works righteousness’. JESUS calls us to transformation, and though profoundly aware of our sinfulness, we are to answer His call, living our lives where we are, and in our present reality, casting our nets according to the Master’s command with trust. JESUS’ call is bathed with bright, divine light, and it will blind us at first, but only then will we see the smudges in our lives and confess them to Him, revealing our dysfunctional traits, that He might bring healing and health to us.  

When we enter a Gothic cathedral, we are plunged into darkness, as our eyes strain to adjust from the brightness outside to the somberness of the church interior. This is not accidental. The architects of the cathedrals wanted to remind us, as we enter into the realm of the holy, that we are a people who walk in darkness. They knew that it was simply inappropriate for anyone to stride confidently into the divine presence, and it was thus that they threw us purposely off balance with the form of their architecture.”⁷ Brothers and sisters of St. Mark’s, we were a people who once walked in darkness, but now we have been called by JESUS into His glorious Light. Let us, then, heed His call and become His fishers of men. Let us bend our wills to His, so that He might equip us, save us, makes us saints, and fishers of men. For, in GOD I trust – I am not afraid -what can mere man do unto me? — In the Name of GOD the Father, GOD the Son, and GOD the Holy Ghost. Amen. 

1 Edersheim, Rev. Dr. Alfred, The Life and Times of JESUS the Messiah, (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishing, 1993), 327.  

2-3 Edersheim, 328. 

4 Edersheim, 329. 

5 Barron, The Rt. Rev. Robert, The Strangest Way: Walking in the Christian Path, (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2002), 68.   

6-7 Barron, 69-70.