2025.02.09 - Epiphany 5 - Pastor Chris

It isn’t until the fifth chapter of Luke’s gospel that Jesus gets around to calling his disciples. Luke 1 and 2 deal with Jesus birth and the time before his birth, along with his time as a child. The third chapter Jesus is baptized. In the fourth chapter Jesus is tempted in the wilderness, he begins his ministry, is rejected, does some more preaching and healings. Finally, in chapter five, Jesus calls the first of his disciples. One of my favorite parts of the Bible is how eagerly the crowd wants to hear what Jesus has to say. “The crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.” I love this image and I feel like there still is a hunger for God’s story, I just worry it either gets lost in the noise or we need to do a better job sharing this story. Where there is the most struggle is where the Gospel message tends to receive the greatest audience. How do we make sure we don’t need despair to understand our need for hope?

I’ve always believed that Jesus’ plan was to call fishermen to follow him, but I love how random this account sounds. Jesus was by the lake, the crowd was pressing in on him, some boats were nearby, so Jesus got in them. I wonder how casual it looked to those who were there? Did they know that Jesus was going to call followers, as a rabbi would, or were his intentions still elusive? Were folks hoping that he would call them? Were they watching Jesus out of the corner of their eye, hoping he would say their name? These are just fun things to things to think about, we don’t necessarily have answers to these wonderings, but we do know who Jesus called was unexpected. Typically the final 12 that followed a rabbi, who would be rabbis themselves one day, were the elite, the cream of the crop. Fishermen were normal, common, not special. Maybe Jesus calls them so that he can use the line, “Now you will fish for people.”

Peter’s first interactions with Jesus set the tone for what their relationship will be like. Jesus suggests something that seems contrary to what they’ve recently experienced, and possibly the opposite of how their profession worked (was that the best time to catch fish?) and yet Peter does what Jesus asks of him. But not without a side-eye comment. This miracle is known as the miraculous catch of fish and Peter has an interesting response. You’d think as a fisherman he saw a huge payday in this moment but instead Peter asks Jesus to leave. I wonder if Peter was dealing with issues of shame and guilt. He refers to himself as a sinful man but Jesus doesn’t even respond to his comment, he simply tells him that his life is going in a different direction. Shame, guilt, and regret can wreak havoc on our psyche. I am sure Jesus worked through these issues with Peter as they spent the next three years together (even though Peter was far from perfect) but instead of dwelling on them in that moment, Jesus redirects Peter’s life. How does God to that with us? How does God continue to call us and give us purpose, even though we are imperfect? Maybe that’s even more powerful than catching a ton of fish!