Deep Water Fishing
Luke 5:1-11
by Jim Westmoreland
William Willimon describes a congregational and a personal transformation experience. " I was not present at the finance committee meeting the night they voted on next year's budget. Next morning I got a call from the chairperson. "Preacher," she said, "great meeting last night. I opened with prayer and it was as if the Holy Spirit just descended on us. With little discussion we unanimously approved next year's budget - a ten percent increase over this year's. It was wonderful! There's a new spirit in this congregation and we're going to ride with it."
I said, in love, "Let me get this straight. The church that is five percent behind on this year's budget is going to have a ten percent increase next year? That's crazy! I'm the spiritual leader of this congregation. I will tell you when the Holy Spirit gets here. There is no way that you will pledge that budget!"
"Well, you weren't there and we've already voted so that's that," she replied.
In each Sunday service that October we had a "Stewardship Moment" where the chairperson reported on the progress, or lack of it, in our pledge campaign. The second Sunday in October she rose at the beginning of the service and said, "I never thought I'd live to see this day in this church. I am pleased to announce that we have pledged next year's budget in full!"
The church erupted in spontaneous applause.
"Which is all the more amazing considering that this is a huge increase over this year's budget." Applause again.
"Now, as I remember, there was somebody who said, 'You will never pledge that budget.' Help me remember. Who said, "That's crazy, you will never pledge that budget.' Who said that?"
Sometimes, I despise the anticlericalism of the laypeople as much as I fear the unwanted intrusions of the Holy Spirit. It isn't easy when you are fishing with Jesus."(1)
Our Scripture today from Luke is about "deep water" fishing. It is about going where Jesus wants us to go and doing what he asks us to do!
Today's gospel reading is about three discouraged men. They were fishermen, not recreational fishermen, but workers whose families went hungry if there was no catch! Jesus had met them before when they were associated with John the Baptist. In fact he had been to Simon Peter's house and cured his mother-in-law of a high fever.
It was a very bad day for these fishermen. They had fished all night and caught nothing. Now it was morning, the morning after a night of failure, and the men were washing their nets so they'd be ready for the next night's work.
There was a crowd on the beach near where they were working. A big crowd. They were listening to Jesus, pressing in upon him. One's voice only carries so far. So, the crowd pressed closer and tighter together to be withing the sound of Jesus' voice.
Jesus steps into Simon's boat. "Put out a little way from shore", he asks Peter, and he does. From the boat Jesus continues to teach the crowds. Finally he is done. The crowd goes home.
Jesus then turns to Simon. "Put out into the deep water", he tells him, "and let your nets down for a catch." It was really quite audacious for Jesus, a landsman who was a professional carpenter, to tell a professional fisherman how to do his business. Very audacious - and Peter answers Jesus immediately by explaining the facts of life to him.
"It won't do any good," he says, "We have worked all night - and have caught nothing. There is no point to it."
Have you ever been there? You do your best. You work hard. And the results are zero. An important relationship goes sour and there is nothing you can do. You watch a marriage dissolve and you can't save it. A project you have worked upon just will not pan out. The harder you try the less you produce.
Have you ever been in the place where all your wisdom tells you to just give up? I have, and the last thing you want to hear, the last thing you need to hear when you are in this position are the words "try harder".
Peter and Andrew, James and John, they were not stupid men. They knew the lake, the ledges where the fish congregated, the kind of weather you had to have to bring in a good catch. Their families had been working the lake for generations. They knew the time to fish, where to fish, and they had gone fishing -- at the right time, and at the right place, and they had come up empty.
"Try over there", Jesus says, "over there in the deep water. Let your nets down for a catch."
"Master, we have worked all night long", Peter replies, "we have done everything we should have done, everything we were taught to do by our fathers and there fathers before them, but we have caught nothing. But, if you say so, I will let down the nets."
Why does Simon agree to row out into the deeper water? We do not know, but I wonder. Perhaps, because he was learning to trust Jesus, maybe it was to humor him, may it was because of something in the tone of Jesus' voice. Whatever the reason, Peter agrees to do what Jesus asks of him.
Remember how the story goes from here. They threw the nets out from Simon's boat and engulfed such a great shoal of fish with them that the nets began to break. They caught so many fish that when John and James came alongside and helped load the boats, the boats began to sink!
It was an amazing catch! A catch made in deep water. A catch taken where there should have been no catch. A catch taken at a time of day when there should have been no catch.
I know that today is the day when most messages would talk to
you about how we are called to be fishers of men, how like
Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John we are called to
leave everything behind, all our ordinary concerns and worries
and frets and cares and focus on winning people for God. That
is a part of this message.
I also want you to look today at the facts behind the catch of
fish and what they might suggest about how we live our lives.
Remember that Simon Peter said to Jesus, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything." What Simon said to Jesus in effect was: "I know my own business. We tried it, we worked all night and nothing happened, so what's the point?"
Most of us are a lot like Peter. We know our own business. But sometimes we know it too well. We know our child is not educated enough or old enough to do a particular job or to enjoy a particular responsibility, or that our brother is too busy to ask for a favor or that our neighbor doesn't care to help or that we aren't talented enough to do what everyone is asking us to.
We know these things about ourselves and about others, and what happens? We feel frustrated. We feel alone. We feel inadequate. We believe that what is being asked of us, be it as individuals or as part of a group will not pan out, and we don't want to try again. We don't want to risk one more disap-pointment, or one more failure.
We can be miserable for years because we have refused to risk such failure, such disappointment. We have resources, but do not use them, skills, but do not develop them, dreams, but do not follow them, gifts, but do not share them.(2)
We know what is what! We know our business, and we are not about to be instructed in it by anyone else. We know who we are, we know who others are, what the situation is, and we are locked in by that knowledge, too afraid to risk, too afraid to reach out, too afraid to go beyond the familiar. When Simon Peter did what Jesus asked, not just his boat, but his heart was overwhelmed. Catching fish was no longer a business venture, but it was a spiritual adventure. Peter fell to his knees intently aware of the righteousness and holiness of Jesus, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
And Jesus said, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." Whenever Jesus is the center of our lives, He will direct us to where we need to go, do what we need to do, and He will produce the results we need. In our families, in our spiritual journey, in our contacts with new people, He sends us out to do some deep water fishing!
Put out into the deep water - and let down your nets. Well, that's all very fine Jesus , but we tried our best all night. We tried it and it didn't work. But because you say so, I will do as you have asked. Amen.
Century Christian Church, January 28, 2007 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. William H. Willimon, "Get Out of Here Jesus!" Pulpit Resource, Vol 35.1, Jan-Mar, 07, p. 22-23.
2. From a sermon by Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, "Into The Deep Water."