Recovering the Great Commission

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

February 4, 2007

Luke 5: 1-11

CROWDS

Soon after Jesus began to preach and teach, crowds began to follow him wherever he went. Jesus also cured people of physical and mental illnesses, including Simon Peter’s mother in law. When he would try to find a secluded place to pray, the crowds would find him. He was known as one whose message, his “word,” had a profound influence on people.

We are acquainted with celebrities, people famous for being famous, who attract crowds wherever they go. Whether they are actors, singers or athletes, people will seek them out. Most of the time, the fans do not want anything in particular: just being in their presence seems to make people happy or important.

The crowds who follow Jesus are not, however, following him because he is a celebrity in the same sense. They are desperately hopeful people. They are desperate for healing, and they are hopeful that Jesus could deliver them from their oppressors. Among them were the “poor” and the “meek”---those whom Jesus calls blessed in his Sermon on the Mount. The common people flocked to him. He attracted those who do not have power, economic or political, to change their situations in life, or the resources to get help.

Recently I re-watched a portion of the movie Gandhi. Gandhi was not an imposing figure, a slight man with no obvious worldly power. But his message and his integrity brought hope to thousands. Once he began to travel, word spread everywhere. In short order, he was accompanied by the poorest of the poor wherever he went. People desperate for a change in their lives and their situation hungered for his message and his presence. I believe that the attraction Jesus had was much like Gandhi’s.

GOING TO WHERE PEOPLE ARE

By the time Jesus arrives in his travels at Lake Gennesaret, the crowds were so large that he borrowed a boat as his pulpit so he could create some distance and be better heard. Over and over in the gospels, Jesus is clear that his calling is to proclaim the good news of God’s coming reign. His healings were signs of God’s saving intervention. The main course was his message.

 The boat that he chooses is Simon Peter’s. This becomes the scene for the encounter that would change Peter’s life, and for a story that would be passed along in various versions---and would be in the Church’s memory forever.

We do not know what Peter knew about Jesus before. Presumably, he would have known that Jesus healed his mother in law. Perhaps he was among the crowds which followed Jesus to hear what he had to say. We do not know more than this.

We also do not know what Jesus knew about Simon Peter before this encounter. Perhaps Jesus found him and singled him out. It may have not been accidental that Jesus sat down in Simon’s boat and asked Simon to put out a little from the shore. Jesus initiates the contact. He has come to where Peter is.

Bishop Martinez has told the story of his father’s conversion. The bishop’s mother was already a member of the Methodist Church. She and the children would go to worship but not his father. When the pastor would come to visit the family, the father would find something to do out in the yard. This pattern persisted; pastor’s arrival and the father’s departure. On one visit, Mr. Martinez went out to the yard, and the pastor came to find him; seeing the pastor coming, his dad went out to the pasture behind the house; the pastor followed. When Mr. Martinez arrived at the creek, there was no place else to go. The pastor followed him all the way to the creek to visit with him. In time, his father came to church, committed to be a follower of Jesus Christ and became a member. The bishop says that his father came to know Jesus because of the pastor’s gentle persistence, because he was willing to seek out his father, going to where he was, all the way to the creek!

Jesus takes the initiative to go to where we are, usually through someone who was found by Jesus earlier. God does not wait for an invitation. God comes to where we are, seeks us out to befriend us.

You and I, as descendents of Peter, are also called to go to where people are: where they live and work and play. The Church has always been told to go ----we are a sent people; but most of our attempts to reach people are through inviting them to come to us. (Would Peter have come to where Jesus was if he had been asked?)

FISHING IN DEEP WATERS

When Jesus finished teaching, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep waters and let out your nets for a catch.”

This is a surprise. What does Jesus know about fishing? He may be a master teacher, but Simon was a master fisherman. Peter was not fishing for fun; he was making a living.You don’t ask a tired man and his crew to go back to work on a hunch. (“Deep waters” reminds us that fishing was (and still is) one of the most dangerous of all professions.)

Simon responds, “Master, we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will put out the nets.”

The word, “Master,” was reserved for favorite teachers. People would go to listen to them because they could help make more sense out of life. They could help people know how to live well and wisely. People would attach themselves to their favorite teacher and show up whenever they were speaking.

A friend told me about a brilliant doctor in a teaching hospital. The students would follow him through the halls of the hospital from room to room, with him talking to them all the time. He was a Master teacher. He said it was like Moses parting the waves when the doctor and his entourage would come by.

W.J.A. Powers taught the Pentateuch at Perkins School of Theology. The class met at 1:30 pm for an hour and a half---nap time! But even though he spoke in a calm voice, we hung on his every word. He had a way of making Adam and Eve and Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Esau come alive. He was a master teacher.

Members of  First Presbyterian Church in San Angelo have for years gone to hear Frederick Buechner speak, wherever in the country he was scheduled. They record his talks and make them available to others.

Peter’s respect for Jesus as a Master Teacher may explain Peter’s response to Jesus’ request. “If you say so, I will let out the nets,” Peter says. Perhaps because he felt he owed it to Jesus because of his attention to his ailing mother in law. We do not know. But Peter’s response reveals something about himself: Simon Peter was at least open to a new possibility. He may be willing to launch out, even when the project Jesus assigns him seems unrealistic.
 
Reverend Zan Holmes has told about being accepted into Perkins School of Theology. He had no money to pay his way. He went to his father to break the news, telling him that he would just stay at home and work for the time being. His father said, “No, Zan. God will make a way.” Zan tells that “I did not believe that, but I did believe in him!” He went on up to Perkins and God did make a way where there was no way.

We can almost hear Peter cajoling his co-workers to bring their washed nets back into the boat so they could put them out again. (Did sailors of that time have the same reputation for earthy language as they do now?) He will risk looking like a fool for Jesus’ sake.

THE BIG CATCH

They haul in more fish than they can handle and then had to call in another boat to help them. Both boats were so full that they almost sank. An unlikely project; a huge result.
Little seeds, big bushes; a little salt flavors the whole stew.

Did Jesus know that much about fishing? Had he seen a school of fish headed their way? Was he one of those fellows who was an expert at everything?

 Dr. Albert Outlet, church historian, Wesley scholar, protestant observer at Vatican Council Two, translator of Augustine’s Confessions, was a renaissance man: he has a breadth and depth of knowledge that was astonishing. One day he was walking across the SMU campus with a student.  They came upon a particular Ford car. The student thought, “Here is a subject that I will know more about then Dr. Outler.” So he asked Outler, “How about this car, Dr. Outler. Isn’t it a beauty?” “Yes it is,” he replied----and then proceeded to tell the student about the horsepower, the suspension, the transmission and the history and the new features of the new Ford compared with the one of the previous year. The student gave up ever knowing more than Outler did about anything!

PETER IN GOD’S PRESENCE

Regardless of how we might explain Jesus’ knowledge of fishing, Peter is aware that he is in the presence of one whose authority and wisdom are extraordinary. He now says, “Lord, leave me [leave the vicinity]; I am a sinful man.” Simon knows that the subject is not fishing; it is about the presence of God in this man Jesus. Jesus is now not only Master but Lord for Simon.
 
Peter’s response may remind us of the prophet Isaiah. He comes into the presence of the Lord surrounded by the splendor of God’s glory. Isaiah says: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)  Simon is overwhelmed by his own sense of sinfulness and unworthiness in contrast with Jesus’ purity and holiness.

There will come a time, we know, when Simon Peter will be breaking daily bread with Jesus. There will come a day when Simon will feel close enough to Jesus that he dares to criticize him. But on this day, Peter is aware of Jesus’ holiness; and in the presence of such power, he simply wants to get away, or have Jesus move along elsewhere. It is an awesome thing to fall into the hands of God. (Reference?)

THE CALL

As Peter and his friends are standing there with their mouth open, Jesus says the most astonishing thing to him: “Do not be afraid; from now on, it is people you will be catching.”

Peter asks Jesus to leave him; but Jesus asks Peter to leave with him.  He uses language that Peter can understand: catching people. The word uses in Luke’s version means “catching live people,”(instead of fish to be eaten),  rescuing people from danger so that they can live.

John Kavanaugh wrote: “When we recognize our own inadequacy, our sins, our smallness before the greatness of the transcendent God, we are capable of truly being called out of ourselves.” Despite Peter’s sinfulness, Jesus calls Peter to discipleship. “He is qualified solely on the call of God.” (Joyce Zimmerman)
PETER LEAVES EVERYTHING

So he leaves everything and follows after Jesus, along with his friends, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Peter and friends leave their apparent security for the promise of greater security.  Jesus would now have companions on his journeys, friends to share the work with.

We can only imagine what would have caused Peter, James and John to leave their homes and occupations to follow Jesus. It must have appeared to others, as it does to us, a terrible and foolhardy risk. We know that there are leaders who, because of their charisma, charm, and winsomeness, can recruit followers who will do whatever the leader asks of them. The danger of true believers is that they can abandon their own powers of discernment. This is the way cults of many kinds are started.

What saves this calling is Jesus who, time and time again, allows the disciples to opt out, to go back home. No coercion or brainwashing. Jesus does not use his power to make himself rich or popular or feared. He is among them as one who serves. Remember, the disciples ask questions, challenge Jesus, take issue with him over principles and strategies. The disciples do not give up their free will.

 The glue that attaches them to Jesus is a combination of faith, hope and love, not threats. Their calling, as was Jesus’ calling, is to serve the reign, the dominion, the agenda, the vision of God, demonstrated in the words and deeds of Jesus. Jesus’ manifesto when he read from Isaiah in his hometown is their manifesto, too: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me for he has anointed me to bring the good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19)

CATCHING PEOPLE

At some time in our lives, Jesus came to us, or is still present but un-recognized by us. We may sense that Jesus is calling us, as he called Peter. This sense of calling may change everything, as it did for Peter. It may lead to an occupational change, as it has for many who enter ordained ministry. “But it may on the other hand only change the motive and quality of (our) lives, leaving it the same, but transfigured and vastly enriched, as it is lifted from a profession to a vocation (a calling).” (Writings of Father Andrew). And we will all find ways to contribute to the catching of people.

This is an indelicate way to refer to what happens. Catching suggests bait and hook and entrapment in nets. Don’t push the analogy too far! Catching people does not mean for us, as it did not mean for Jesus, control or manipulation.

 Being caught becomes a “consequence of living in the Spirit…..people seeing and experiencing the new creation” in the community of people called church. “God does the catching, not us.” We are not, in ourselves, the attraction: Jesus Christ is. We can be instruments of grace to catch people. We can be the servants of reconciliation for others. Jesus can be more and more transparent in our lives.

GROWING BY TELLING AND DOING THE TRUTH

(In fact, rank and file Christians did become instruments for the making of new disciples.
The used their “social networks” to show and tell of the gospel. “They evangelized family members, friends, acquaintances, and friends of friends. They were open, accepting, and, ultimately, externally focused. Their enthusiasm for the Good News and the transformations it had wrought in their lives carried them out into the world. Praising and giving thanks for the newness of the life they had been given, they spread the joyous news to their families and friends and thus to the Roman Empire.”

The second reason for the growth of the church in its first three centuries was “the response of Christians to the plagues that struck the Roman Empire in 165 and 251….” Smallpox killed between one-quarter and one-third of the entire population. Measles later had a similar terrible consequence. Christians “ministered to the sick, whereas the pagans and their priests fled the city to get away from the sick. Christian ministrations, to sick pagans and sick Christians alike, not only improved the Christian survival rate….but also showed the Christians’ love and compassion in a convincing way. By living their faith, the Christians provided a powerful example to non-Christians of what it meant to be Christian.”)(Bishop Claude E. Payne and Hamilton Beazley, Reclaiming the Great Commission)

THE HEART OF THE MATTER: BEING RECEIVED AND COMMISSIONED

Jesus says to Peter, “Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching.”
In this one sentence, Jesus receives Peter and commissions him. Peter, aware of his fallenness, his brokenness, is introduced to the God in whose presence we do not have to cringe with dread. The holiness of this God is the goodness of mercy and forgiveness.

And Jesus knows that forgiveness is a beginning place. Grace means acceptance just as we are; and it means transformation. “The same power that prompted Peter to fall at Jesus’ feet now lifts him into God’s service.” Peter is also put to work. (Fred Craddock, Luke)

Who would have thought that Simon would become Simon Peter, the one of whom Jesus said, “You are the rock, and on this rock, I will build my church.”

“Broken nets
Boatloads of fish.
Don’t be afraid.
From now on you’ll be catching people.”

“Lord, when there’s a mile between a task you ask and our talent to do it, help us know, like Peter, that when you give us a job, you will help us do the job. Make us part of the catching, and of being caught.”  (Center for Liturgy, Sunday Web site, St Louis University)