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Sermon: The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (C) - 7th Febraury 2010
St Aidan's Anglican Church West Epping 8:30 am
Readings: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11
Its only after a crisis that some people are motivated to change their lives. For some people it takes a heart attack for them to reduce the fat in their diet and increase their exercise. For some, tis the survival of a car accident that gets them to change their driving habits. For a man I once knew, it wasn’t until he arrived home from work to find his wife was gone for him to realise there were some problems in their marriage that he wouldn’t face. Fortunately for him, he did face those problems and eventually he and his wife were reconciled.
What we need to consider is the depth of the crisis that occurred in our gospel reading, the power of this miracle, before we can understand the impact of it in the lives of Peter and others. This story, this miracle is so well known to us now that we can be quite unmoved by it. But when we do that it then makes it difficult for us to understand why the events had such a profound impact on Peter’s life. The centre of the story is the miracle and Luke is deliberate in doing that. The centre of the story is the miracle and we can only truly understand the story when we understand the miracle.
For example, we are told that Jesus had been preaching for some time to the crowd, Yet we are never told the content of his preaching. I think that’s because Luke wants to put that detail to one side so he can concentrate on the miracle that’s to come. The teaching at this point is not as important as the miracle itself.
But as well, we have a lot of local colour in this story that helps paint the picture of these events. We are given no indication how these events fit into the gospel so far. Rather we are told that these events happened “One Day” while Jesus was preaching by Lake Gennesaret, that is, Galilee. As usual, Jesus had attracted a large crowd to him to hear his teaching. But at that part of the Lake the edges are very steep and there are several small inlets. Jesus took advantage of Peter’s boat and moored just a little offshore to preach. The local geography formed a natural amphitheatre. So it was possible for Jesus to address a large crowd so that all could hear him while he wouldn’t need to strain his voice.
Eventually, Jesus finished his teaching. Perhaps he had in mind an opportunity to feed the crowd as he did at other times. But the problem was, as was not unusual, there was no food, there were no fish. The fishermen had been unsuccessful. It was known in that area that the best time to fish was at night and that was what Peter and the others had been doing. They had fished all night but they had caught nothing.
However, everyone knew that there was no hope of success in fishing by day. Jesus was probably not being perverse by asking Peter to fish during the day. Rather, it seems likely that as this was the time when the fish were needed, this was why Jesus made his request. Of course, fishing during the day would not be the problem for Jesus that it was for normal fishermen.
What is now described for us is truly amazing. Such catches of fish would have been completely unknown to fishermen of those days. They cannot be compared to the forms of mechanised fishing we see today. The catch was so great it was breaking their nets. They called for assistance to get the catch on board. Yet there were so many fish that their boats were in danger of sinking, It is the super-abundance of fish that is remarkable and that would have been unknown in their day.
But I think the impact is lost on us. We are used to out supermarket shelves stuffed to overflowing. We are used to luge trucks delivering large quantities of food on a regular basis. We are used to living in a city that throws away vast quantities of food every day. Yet in Jesus’ day, every day hunger was a common experience. Going several days without food because of scarcity was not unusual. Peter had failed to catch anything the night before and so probably there would be little to eat that day. That was their normal experience of life. They would never have seen a super-abundance of food. Peter and the others would never have seen a catch of fish like this before.
I used to preach on this passage when I lived in Papua New Guinea. The local people lived on a river and fish was part of their staple diet. Even though the river was large and deep, and though they fished every day, fish were only ever caught in their ones and twos. A large catch like the one Luke describes, was completely unknown to them. It was good to see the look on their faces when they heard this reading, because in their look of surprise I think I saw something of the surprise on the faces of those who stood by the Lake that day. It turned Peter from being a fisherman to a fisher of men.
At this point Jesus called on Peter to follow him but I think his obedience was only possible because of what he had just witnessed. The miracle had made the difference. And no doubt Peter asked himself the question that the disciples were to ask over and over again. What kind of man can do these things? And so Peter became a disciple so that he might find the answer to that question.
But, as well, there is no doubt that in the miracle, Peter recognized the sign that it was. In the Old Testament, as prophets looked to the future they saw an age of future blessing. But this age was described in a variety of ways. For those who were farmers the blessing was described in terms of abundant grape harvests and the promise of new wine. For those living in the deserts, the blessing was described in Ezekiel in terms of fountains of water welling up and gushing into the deserts from Mount Zion. recreating a Garden of Eden in the wilderness.
And now for these fishermen, by Lake Galilee, they were confronted with the abundance of this catch of fish. And they would have seen in this sign the beginning of the fulfilment of the promise. The age of blessing was about to dawn. And by the way Luke tells the story he places us by that lake, mingling with that crowd, as witnesses of that same miraculous event where the glory of Jesus was revealed. And those events challenge us as they challenged Peter on that day. They force us to question who Jesus is and what he is doing. It forces us to question God’s demand upon our own lives – for us to consider how God is moving in our world and the part we should play. After any crisis it is a time for us to pause and re-evaluate everything, to hold on to what is important, to cast away what is unnecessary and trivial.
Because, in this miracle we get a brief insight into what the future holds for each of us. We are be weighed down by the pressures and the cares of the “day to day”. We face issues that seem to have no solution. Our vision is lowered, our sight becomes narrow. Yet God is at work in this world doing the completely unexpected. For those of the Old Testament, all they had was the promise, yet they never saw the fulfilment. But we are not like that. We have seen the promise kept in the life of Jesus. We have seen the beginning of the fulfilment of the vision. What changed Peter’s life was in personal confrontation with the glory of Jesus, and the raw power demonstrated in the miracle.
And so, with the encouragement of that fulfilment set before us,
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart. [Hebrews 12:1-3]