Rev. Betsy Aldrich Garland
February 7, 2010
Luke 5:1-11

Going Deeper

In this morning’s Gospel we have the story of Jesus recruiting his first disciples. Jesus has been creating quite a stir in the countryside. People have heard about his healings and his teachings, and whenever they see him, they rush to come closer to see and hear for themselves. This time there are so many crowding around him that Jesus gets in a boat and asks a fisherman to pull out a ways to put a little distance between him and the crowd so that he can speak to them. The fishermen, Simon, soon to be called Peter, obliges.

For Simon, it’s an ordinary day. He’s been out fishing all night with no luck. He comes home hungry, tired, and disappointed. But he doesn’t complain that this teacher wants to sit in his boat, after all he’s busy with his nets. And listening all the while, undoubtedly.

Then Jesus asks him to go beyond. “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Why this? Why now? Besides, his nets are clean; if he goes out again, he’ll have to clean them all over again – for nothing! Simon protests – but gives in. Why? What is it in Jesus that makes him push off from the shore and row out to deeper water?

For this act of obedience, he is rewarded beyond expectation! When Simon and his crew cast the nets, they are so filled to overflowing, that they need to call another boat to help them. So many fish that the boats are about to sink. How can this be?

Not by any ordinary means, Simon thinks! He realizes he is in the presence of a power that he doesn’t understand, and his first thought is to warn Jesus that he is a sinner, unworthy of the bounty of this miracle. Jesus must have seen the fear in Simon, for he said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”

With that, Simon and his crew, James and John, on an ordinary day, in the middle of their regular routine, walked away from their boat, from the largest catch ever, at the height of their fishing careers, with no knowledge of where they were going, or what would be asked of them, without saying goodbye – and followed Jesus. On that ordinary morning, in the midst of typical tasks, they had had a religious experience, felt the pull of a higher calling, and without looking back, not knowing what would lie ahead, changed their lives.

People do that today. Bankers decide there’s more to life than money, clean out their desks, take early retirement, and hike the Appalachian Trail. I met one of them through my grandchildren. Stock brokers decide to study for the priesthood, get their portfolios in order, leave their firms, and end their careers selling salvation instead of stocks. I know one of them. Doctors and nurses, construction workers and teachers, take vacations and put lives on hold to go to places like Haiti to make a difference. We know people who have done just that.

In the Hebrew Bible reading for today, Isaiah has an encounter with holiness, and he realizes the depths of his sinfulness, and says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips;...”1 God’s messenger flies to him with a hot coal from the altar, touches his mouth and burns out his sin. And then God says, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah replies, “Here am I; send me!”2

In the Rhode Island Conference Wednesday Email this week, these sentences jumped out at me: “God is working with men and women, ... on different journeys and with different needs for holiness as well as different extractions from the world's assaults and from our own narrow visions.  ‘God does not call the qualified, God qualifies the called.’" 3

Most of the time, most of us, live on the surface – too busy with work demands and family obligations, too busy earning a living and making ends meet, too busy dropping the kids at piano lessons, going to market and doing the laundry, too busy to take stock of our lives, to ask the difficult questions: What is this life all about? or, Is this all there is? or Why, then, am I depressed?

Most of the time, most of us, live on the surface. Jesus knew that we need to push out into deeper water to find what we’re looking for, to find sustenance for living. We probably know that, too. So, why don’t we? Why don’t we go deeper into our own psyches and souls to find what we need to give us the life we are longing for?

There are probably as many reasons as there are people in this room. I can think of at least three:
First, self-reflection takes time and intention. We need to stop what we are doing, to think about our lives, to examine our souls. Who said, “Stop the world; I want to get off!” Or in the words of the old hymn, “Take time to be holy....” But we don’t, often enough.

Perhaps you think self-reflection is something that only religious people do, and only do in convents, on their knees. But I know people who go fishing or hiking to spend quiet time, to be in touch with the water and the sky and the mountains, who do a lot of thinking while watching their line in the water or a spectacular sunset.

Founder of the Methodist movement in England, John Wesley, used to ask his followers, simple lay people, “How is it with your soul?” It might have been easier in simpler times to get in touch with oneself, when people spent more time out of doors than in high-rise office buildings, and without the distractions of technology. But the need and the call are there for all of us.

So, why don’t we? Perhaps because we have to change our habits, to give up something, to change our routine, to make the time – and that’s not easy! Seven Habits author Stephen Covey says it takes 21 days to change a habit. In our 24/7 world, we’re often too busy to try.

And, then, of course, looking too deeply into ourselves, may mean uncovering something we’d rather leave buried, discovering something we’d rather keep hidden, feeling something that causes pain and loss, guilt and shame.

Simon Peter is not the only one, when faced with his own inadequacy in the midst of pulling nets overflowing with fish – in the midst of a religious experience beyond his understanding – who sees himself in relation to the holy and understands his sinfulness for the first time, and he’s terrified.

Going deeper is difficult to say the least – but it is the only way we discover who we really are, and whose we are, and what God is calling us to be and do with our lives.

One more word before we leave this text. We are used to hearing Jesus’ words, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Or, as it is translated in Luke, “catching people.” The metaphor suggests that Simon will be hauling in food, fish in the net, gasping for air. But this translation misses the emphasis of the original Greek where Jesus is saying to Simon Peter, “saving men and women alive,” people – you and me – living life alive! The Gospel calls us – you and me – to live life in all its fullness, using our gifts of time, talent and treasure to serve one another and a broken-hearted world. We are called to this discipleship.

One final thought: Simon has been out fishing all night and he pulls his boat up on the beach, hungry, with a back broken from pulling nets, tired and discouraged. The last thing he needs, is to be called by God now. Why couldn’t the call come when he’s rested and had a good breakfast, and his bills are paid and the kids are settled – and he has nothing better to do than to come and follow?

That’s because discipleship comes when we least expect it, and when we think we have given everything to life that we have to give.

Going deeper is the business of Lent, the season almost upon us. Won’t you join me this Lent in pushing away from the ordinary and casting your net?

May it be so! Amen.

1. Isaiah 6:5.
2. Isaiah 6:8.
3. RI Conference UCC, Wednesday, February 3, 2010