New Beginning - Luke 5:1-11 - Fifth Week after the Epiphany

 

Luke 5:1-11 NIV

5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. ³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

New Beginning

In Adam’s sin, he lost the command of the animal kingdom. In Jesus glory and holiness, He shows command once again of not only the animal kingdom, but of everything, just like it was at the Creation. Here we witness a great catch of fish. Something awesome and new is beginning to take shape, with the coming of God into our world in the flesh of Jesus. This is a new beginning.

Here, in this Gospel passage, God in Jesus, includes us. God includes us, just as God included us in the Creation story recorded in Genesis. In fact, God includes us, His people, throughout all of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and throughout all space and time. God calls us. It’s been happening all along. God calls us to be with Him, act out our lives in His presence, and to be in Communion with Him. God wants communion with His creation. Always has and always will. What a gift of love God has given each and all of us to be with Him and in Him!

Let’s look at a few Old Testament calls…

God calls Moses… excerpts from Exodus 3

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

…¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God calls Gideon while under persecution from the Midianites to save the Israelites… Excerpts from Judges 6

¹¹ The angel of the Lord came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites. ¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”

¹³ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

¹⁵ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

¹⁶ The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive.”

God calls Isaiah to prophesy… Excerpts from Isaiah 6

6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ² Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³ And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
    the whole earth is full of his glory.”

⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

⁵ “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

God calls people, like Moses, Gideon, and Isaiah, from their usual occupations, their usual places, their usual situations in life, TO, God’s mission. God calls you and I as well as all disciples into God’s mission for us. A call to proclaim the saving Gospel of God’s forgiveness and desire to bring each of us and all of us, away from ourselves and to Him in eternity.

And, as shown in the Gospel text above, Jesus Word… the Word that existed before creation, comes to us and makes us want to try again, to be in communion with God. As we see God, we fall in awesome fear at His presence with us, and see how great God is. Yet, God comes to us! That’s amazing!

And in our amazement, and in the presence of God who comes to us, here in this passage of Scripture, Jesus creates in us a great desire to do His will. Jesus creates in the disciples then and disciples today a desire to cast nets to the other side. Jesus creates in us a desire and need to go out into the deep waters.

We see Jesus, we see God, we fall to our knees and can’t help ourselves but to want to be and stay with God, now and into eternity, joyfully doing what God calls us to do.

Jesus displays heavenly power, but tells Simon, “Do not be afraid.” Wow! How can Simon not help but to be afraid, knowing of his own sinfulness, but in the presence of God in Man, and Simon is aware of God in this moment. You see, for Simon, and us as well, we can’t help but to marvel at how Jesus reveals that He IS God!

Jesus comes to us and makes us His friend. Jesus loves us so much that His love takes hold and doesn’t let go of us.

See as the disciple John sees in this Gospel account, God is love. God is an eternal love. God is in love with His created.

Jesus isn’t a flash of thunder and lightning that comes and goes. Jesus’ love comes as love that gets in your heart and melts all your sinfulness, and brings to life, in you, the love He gives you to give to all the people God gives to you in your own world, in this space of yours and this time of yours. Jesus brings His love into your world and calls you to give that love to all in your world.

Jesus once again sits to teach. In this passage, Jesus teaches from a fishing boat, in the water. Reminds me of the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters in the Creation. Something New is happening here.

And then it takes place. Jesus tells Simon to do something. Jesus calls Simon and makes Simon part of God’s Mission.

Jesus gives Simon something “real” to do. Go out deeper into the water and cast nets to the opposite side of the boat.

As Simon responds to Jesus’ call and instruction. What happens?

Simon catches so many fish that the huge number of fish and the command of Jesus puts Simon into fear and astonishment and a sense of his own unworthiness to be in the presence of Jesus and His power.

This is real stuff here. The fish were talking about in this passage of Scripture, don’t represent Christian converts, NO, these are real fish, in real time. This stuff is real!

In the presence of the power of Jesus, we feel small and unworthy. Yes, we feel our sinfulness. Yet, this humiliation turns into and becomes our hope. Hope in Jesus.

Jesus calls us to cast our nets, to go deep, not because we know anything, or are qualified. Jesus sees us differently than we see each other and ourselves. Jesus sees us and loves us, even in our sinfulness.

So… we look at Jesus and want nothing more than Him and Him alone.

We rejoice at Jesus command to “Come with me.”

Why?

Because responding to Jesus’ “Come with me.” doesn’t depend on us or our goodness, our qualification, or even our effort. But what God sees through the eyes of Jesus is His children. The very children that God has loved all along. The very children that God wants to spend eternity with.

Our response, along with the response of all disciples throughout all time?

We respond with a hearty YES! A yes in joy and laughter. And we follow Jesus to do His works to God’s mission in this world to love God and love all those God gives to us, telling all those God gives to us in our real world, here and now, how God loves them so much that He comes to us to forgive us and give us everlasting life with Himself, through Himself, as a gracious gift… today… tomorrow… and forever! Thanks be to God!

Point all the world to Jesus, so all may follow!

Let us pray,

Lord, I realize my sin in Your Holy presence. Save me I pray. But, while I’m in my sin, and hear Your call, I can’t help but to answer you out of fear, and out of joy. For some reason You have come to me, so I answer. Keep me always in Your presence, as Your child. --- Amen

I leave you this time with a short video clip from “The Chosen,” depicting the scene of this Gospel passage and reflection. Enjoy, and hear your call!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWGCkovAUWM