February 8, 2004; The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
The Rev. Harold "Skip" Comer, Rector
(webmaster note: The hanging object that is referred to is a string of wooden
fish)
One of my Christmas presents is hanging on the wall behind me this morning. It’s
one of those gag gifts from a friend. Well we made good use of it over Christmas as
Molly tied the smallest fish onto the line of a kids fishing pole and Jacob pretended he
was fishing in our living room.
There is a big difference between fishing for the fun of it and fishing for a living. Simon, more commonly known as Peter, was a professional fisherman, as was Andrew his brother. It was a hard life, fishing all night, then coming in and cleaning the fish, if you caught any, and then mending nets and getting them ready for the next night. On a particular morning while Simon was cleaning his nets after fishing all night and catching nothing, except for some sea weed, he happened to look up from his work and saw a man sitting in his boat. The man called him over and asked him to take him for a boat ride. For some unknown reason, even though Simon was tired and dirty, he obliged him.
We have all done something similar when we were tired. But usually it is for someone we know, like our spouse or children. We do it because we love them, even though sometimes it is done begrudgingly. In Simon’s case, he was asked to take a man he had met on days before for a boat ride. I wonder how many of us would have agreed to do it.
Simon recognized the man as Jesus, who had healed his mother-in-law just a few days earlier. But that does not completely explain his willingness to shove off on what he thought would be a pleasure cruise.
Added to this is the fact that once they are out on the lake, Jesus tells Simon to lower his fishing nets over the side. It is obvious the Simon has some serious reservations about doing this as he responded, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.” To set his nets was no easy task for Simon. It all had to be done by hand. There we no power winches to put the net out and bring it back into the boat, and besides that he was tired. Yet, he did as Jesus instructed him, and boy was he surprised. His net was so full of fish that he could not pull it in by himself and had to call two of his fishing partners, James and John, to come out and help him.
We’ve all heard this story before, and I believe that it has lost some of it impact. Simon “knew” that there were no fish in this part of the lake at this time of day. He was the expert fisherman. He knew this lake like the back of his hand, and he knew, he just knew, that when he pulled the net in that it would be empty, like it was the night before. Well, Simon was shocked as he started to pull the net back into the boat. He saw fish, not just one or two, but more than he could pull into the boat. Talk about being blessed!
I spent all day Friday at a Summit for Poverty in our Midst in Traverse City. Over two hundred professionals and concerned citizens from five counties in Northwest Michigan heard presentations on the plight of the poor and then broke up into discussion groups to formulate plans to reduce the number of those living in poverty by 25% by 2010 in our region. This is certainly a laudable goal. Yet as I participated in the discussions, I became aware that much of what we discussed and recommended was pushed off on somebody else. Such things as obtaining more money from the federal and state government to fund programs. Well, I believe that we all know that that won’t happen, given the state of finances of our government. Then there was requiring developers to build a certain percentage of affordable housing in additions they plan. Toward the end of the day several people spoke up and said, where are the people we are talking about. We are making all of these suggestion and plans, yet we have not consulted with those who we say we are going to help. The unspoken question was, will what we have set as our goals really help people get out of poverty.
I believe that Jesus has a model that is better than what the Summit came up with, that is, personal contact, one on one. Yes there were times when Jesus taught large crowds, but when he helped someone it was face to face. When he called the disciples, he didn’t send someone else, he did it himself.
We, the people of St. Philip’s, have experience with this – personal contact, one on one, trying to help families and individuals rise above bare subsistence. Sometimes it has worked, while other times, well you might say it has failed. But even when it has failed, peoples’ lives were changed for the better by us, a faith community, or as individuals, reaching out to help them.
That is also how churches grow, from personal contact – an invitation to come and worship with us or the personal welcome they experience when they walk through our doors. As Simon would certainly tell is, catching people for Christ is not as easy as throwing a net out and just drawing people in. It is hard work, hard in the sense that it demands personal contact, even witnessing to what we believe in. Sometimes we are let off the hook easily by allowing the priest to talk to people about our faith and what we believe in. But there are times when we are confronted by questions about our church and our beliefs, when no one else is around. What do we say?
Simon’s response to Jesus was, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” In other words I am unworthy to be the in presence of Jesus Christ the Messiah. This might be our response at the thought of being an evangelist or recruiter for Jesus Christ. I am not worthy to do this. But more than likely our true reason is, I don’t want to do it. I don’t know enough or I don’t know what to say. Surely there is someone else who is better at talking to people about Jesus Christ than me. Sometimes, just sometimes, your telling of why Jesus and St. Philip’s are important to you is far better than what I could ever say.
I believe that like Simon we are all asked to get into the boat for an amazing experience with Jesus. But then like Simon, we have to get out of the boat and share that experience with others.