Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (C)

February 9, 2025

Text: Luke 5:1-11

            Simon was a hard-working laborer, a man of the lake, and salt of the earth.  Faults?  Yes, of course.  A synagogue member, though, sins aplenty.  He is, after all, a sailor of the sea.  The blue-collar owner of a successful fishing enterprise, along with his partners, his brother Andrew (not mentioned in our text), and their friends, the sons of Zebedee, James and John.  But they hadn’t been successful on this night.  That’s how it sometimes goes.  Hard work and disappointment.  Life in a fallen world.  So, back to shore, washing their nets.  And here comes the Teacher.  They already know Him.  They already love Him.  He’d recently healed Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever (Yes, you can call Peter the first pope if you want to, but let it be noted, he had a wife).  Now Jesus is pressed by the crowds clamoring to hear God’s Word.  For they are hearing it from Him like they’ve never heard it before.  Things are happening in the preaching of that Word.  Shackles falling loose, sorrows soothed, diseases healed, demons sent packing.  Fallen creation remade, the curse undone as the Word blows forth from the mouth of this Man.

            There is a familiarity, now, between Simon and the Teacher.  Jesus is always welcome in Simon’s boat.  And it is a friendly favor the Lord asks of Simon… Push out a little from the shore, so that I’m not surrounded by the crowd.  This way, everyone can hear.  Jesus preaches to the populace from the boat.  He even sits down, as the rabbis do when they teach on the Sabbath.  Simon listens to the preaching as he goes about his tasks.  A good habit to foster.  When the hands are busy, meditate on God’s Word.  There is a difference, though, between Simon and the rest of the crowd.  Simon is in the boat with Jesus, and when you are in the boat with Jesus, you are always engaged with His Word.

            Okay, an interlude in the story, a little hint so we don’t miss the picture our Lord is painting for us.  The boat is the ark is the good ship Holy Church.  Because Jesus is in it, and He is speaking His Word.  The Word of God is preached to the world from the boat where Jesus sits.  And if you want to be in the boat with Jesus (and the Word of God is a call, an invitation to precisely that), you come through the water.  And there you are, with Jesus and His disciples.  And whatever the peril outside the boat… the wind, the waves, the hatred of the world, or the demons of hell… when you are in the boat with Jesus, you are safe.  You are saved.  That is what is meant by the phrase, “ there is no salvation outside the Church.”  You’re either in the boat with Jesus, or you perish in the flood.  If you are a believer in Jesus, you are in the boat.  The Church is, finally, believers in Christ.  Come all the way in, by water and the Word, if you haven’t already.  Be safe.  Be saved.  Join.  Then commune.  Whenever you read of a boat, or a ship, or a vessel upon the water in the Scriptures, it is probably written to project this image.  The Church is the fulfillment of Noah’s ark. 

            In any case, now the service has come to an end, and now the Teacher does impose.  Put out into the deep and let down your nets.  Well, everybody knows it’s the wrong time of day for fishing.  And everybody knows most preachers are lacking in practical knowledge.  But, what do you do when the preacher visits (or any guest to whom you want to show hospitality), and asks some inconvenient and bothersome favor of you?  (You can probably think of similar experiences you’ve had when entertaining guests… or your pastor!)  You do it.  So, Simon does it.  With expressions of skepticism, granted.  But he does it.  And what happens?  Such a large number of fish, the nets are breaking!  Too much success!  Overflowing blessing.  Call in the partners to share in the windfall.  Even at that, there are so many fish, the boats begin to sink.  (Maybe they need more boats.  You can think here about mission congregations!)

            And at this point, the light begins to dawn on Simon.  This is no mere Teacher and Miracle Worker.  There is something more going on with this Man.  It will take some time for the Father to reveal the fulness of the truth to Simon Peter, to bring him to his great confession of Jesus as “The Christ of God” (Luke 9:20; ESV).  But even here, Peter falls before Jesus’ knees, and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (5:8). 

            Maybe you’ve said something similar.  Stunned by the righteousness and holiness and goodness of Jesus, and cognizant of your own sinfulness and uncleanness and wickedness, you think Jesus can’t possibly be for you.  You think He came for holy people, and you know that’s not you.  And you also know that if you get too close to the holiness, it will kill you.  There is a reason sinners can’t see God and live.  So you beg Him to depart.

            But He doesn’t depart.  No, don’t be mistaken.  He came for you.  He came precisely for you.  Here He is, in the boat… Bodily presence, by the way.  Jesus doesn’t just shout out to Peter from the shore, “I’m with you in spirit!  Let your faith stretch out from the boat so I can be present with you spiritually, but know that I’m not actually getting into that bucket of boards with you.”  No, don’t be ridiculous.  He is bodily in the boat.  And He’s pulled you on board with Him.  He came for sinners.  Like Simon.  Like you.  He wants you in His Church.  He wants you for His very own.  And He wants your brothers and sisters for His very own, too.  James and John… and Andrew, too… and the people sitting around you… they get in on the blessing of the Lord’s Word and presence in the boat.  Jesus came for you.  Jesus came for them.  Never disqualify yourself from the Lord’s saving presence.  And never disqualify anyone else. 

            Now, we particularly love this text when we’re teaching Sunday School or talking about evangelism, because we love the idea that we all become fishers of men.  Which is to say, we catch people for Jesus when we proclaim the Gospel.  That is all very true.  But it is worth recognizing that these words, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men" (v. 10) are first spoken to Simon Peter, not to you.  This is his call to be an Apostle, one officially sent to speak on behalf of the Lord.  This is his call to leave everything and follow Jesus.  That call will then extend to others, as well.  The total number of them will be Twelve, the number of the Tribes of Israel.  And then, as to one untimely born, the Apostle Paul, also, who will go beyond the confines of Israel to bring in the Gentiles.  Theirs is a special office.  We don’t become Apostles when we are called.  Even we pastors, though called and ordained to speak the Word of Christ in His stead and by His command, are not Apostles.  And there is no need for more Apostles.  Because to this day, Simon Peter and his brother Apostles, though dead, live, and are the fishers who cast the net of the Gospel and catch us, bring us to faith in Christ, bring us into the boat with Jesus.  It is their preaching that we have in the New Testament Scriptures, the preaching that is the very Word of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Even the Scriptures that weren’t written by an Apostle were written in connection with an Apostle, or Apostles.  Mark probably wrote his Gospel under the authority of Peter.  Luke interviewed a number of the Apostles (as well as Mary, and others), and served under Paul.  Apostolic authority is a requirement for a document to be included in the New Testament Canon.  So this idea of being fishers of men applies first, and most directly, to Simon Peter and the Apostles. 

            Does that disappoint you?  Well, relax.  You still get your shot at fingering the nets.  Because pastors are only to preach the Word of God as it is given in the Holy Scriptures… the Prophetic (Old Testament) and Apostolic (New Testament) Scriptures!  And Sunday School children, and evangelistically zealous Christians, are to share with others only that Word of God as it is given in the Holy Scriptures… the Prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures.  So it’s not wrong to apply this verse to all Christians, by extension.  The mistake we often make, though, is not proclaiming the Scriptures, but instead proclaiming our own personal testimony.  No, no.  You get out of the way.  You are not the point.  Christ is.  The Prophetic and Apostolic Word, spoken by the Father in His Son Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, that is the point.  That is the power. 

            As a matter of fact, we learn that from the fishing going on today in our Holy Gospel.  What is the difference between the unsuccessful nightlong fishing excursion, and successful outing in the middle of the day?  In one case, Jesus is not in the boat, speaking His Word.  In the other case, He is.  That is the secret to the successful fishing of men. 

            Now, we wish success in the Church was always as visible as it was in Peter’s boat with the fish.  But we have no promise that we will always see the miracle.  That doesn’t mean that the miracle isn’t happening.  The Word is preached.  The net is cast.  Faith knows that, with Jesus in the boat, and at His Word, the Gospel is hauling them in.  Through the water.  Into the boat with Jesus.  Every Baptism.  Every conversion.  Every case of every one of us repenting and believing.  The miracle is happening.  The Word is proclaimed to the world from the boat.  Where Jesus is, with His people.

            The Word of God’s love for all people.  The Word of the cross, the death and resurrection of Jesus for the life of the world.  The Word of our King.  Jesus reigns.  And He is coming again to judge the living and the dead.  Evangelism is as simple as the Apostles’ Creed, the distillation of the Apostolic Word.  That Word goes out, and things happen.  Liberty to captives.  Sight for the blind.  Sins forgiven.  Demons cast out.  Creation made new. 

            This Good News, spoken from the boat, is for the whole crowd.  But don’t miss the unshakable truth that this Good News is also for you.  Second person singular.  You.  Jesus wants you.  Jesus died for you.  Jesus lives for you.  And Jesus loves you.  He has a place for you, right here with Him in the boat.  He is looking you in the eye, right now, speaking His Word to you.  He is present here with you.  And He will never depart.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.