If you’ve ever made the move from being at home to being away, say at college, you know all too well what a big step that can be to move there. I remember quite well whenever I first moved to seminary, it was a startling difference to what I was used to. I was always at home on the farm or nearby before, and all of a sudden I was thrust into a situation where I had no familiar faces- and felt utterly alone. I remember very well the moment my parents and my brothers left- I was very torn. One of my now good friends, someone I’d never met before, called down the hall and gave an invitation- “Hey, Belken! Let’s go get something to eat.” I didn’t realize it at the time, but in that moment- even in the loneliness, there was an invitation, there was a response, and it sent me further on into what was a beautiful eight years of study and work to get to where I am today.
If we take a flight at 30,000 feet above the Christian life, we may not realize it, but it follows a very similar sort of trajectory. We have to realize that we are in a particular situation- our reality- and someone is trying to call us out and above it. But do we respond, and reap the benefit of that, or are we kind of stuck somewhere in the midst of that calling?
The first reading for this weekend came from the book of the prophet Isaiah. This reading tells an account of a vision that was given to the prophet during his ministry. We are told that it was in the year King Uzziah died, and the Lord was seated on a high and lofty throne. There were angels, and all sorts of adornment throughout. We can tell this is a scene of heaven, because we are told what is occurring in the midst of the angels. They are crying out “Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts” and telling of how the earth is full of his glory. Then the entire temple that they were in shook- and there was smoke- indicating the presence of holiness. Then Isaiah cries out in response “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips, living amongst people who are unclean of lips!” Yet I have seen the Lord of hosts! Understand- this was usually a signal of death during their time- if purity touched iniquity. Yet, an angel appears and touches his moth- and tells him that he is no longer impure, but made pure. Then, the Lord’s voice booms out “Whom shall I send, who will go for us?”
Isaiah’s beautiful response: “ Here I am… send me.”
The second reading comes to us from St. Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, and he is doubling down on this need to understand the truth of the Gospel. He has spoken some very bold things about faith- that if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain- for example, and he is continuing on this same idea. You are being saved through this Gospel- but lest you doubt in this Gospel, you need to understand more. I hand down what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised on the third day, and appeard to so many, including Peter, the Twelve, then to five hundred brothers at once (most of whom are still living he notes). Finally he appeared to Paul- a man who was not worthy, but by the grace of God is who he now is. He has toiled very hard- not because of pride, but because he had further to go to come to Christ in his own view, and this is all by God’s grace. So, no matter who is preaching, they are preaching a simple truth: Christ died, has been raised, and will come again. This has been established very well, and is very true. Perhaps this truth is something we still need to hold onto ourselves!
Finally we arrive at the Gospel, and this account of the calling of the disciples, even in the midst of impossible situations. Jesus had been preaching, and eventually he comes to the side of the Lake of Gennesaret. He sees men in the boats, and Jesus simply gets into one of them, and asks to be put out a short distance from the shore. He teaches the crowds from there, and eventually he turns to Simon again, and asks that they go out and put into deep water for a catch. Peter is understandably skeptical of this, because as he reports, they have been out all night and caught nothing. Yet by Jesus’s request, they will go out and do it!
So, they go out and lower their nets for a catch, and even though they had been laden with failure before, they are stunned at the amount of fish that they catch- so much so it fills two boats to sinking. Peter sees all of this, and he understands- this isn’t just your average teacher- but someone far, far more important. He begs the Lord to leave Him Yet, the Lord insists that He will not leave, but that He wants Simon to “not be afraid” but to understand that they will now be catching men. They arrive at the shore- they leave everything- and they follow him.
In the midst of this Gospel, we actually find a six-step journey that encapsulates very well the Christian experience of faith. First, we are in a particular situation. Whether or not we admit it to ourselves its usually got its problems and imperfections- but as the Frank Sinatra song goes “that’s life.” However, Christ Himself knows that is not where we should stay, and so there is an invitation- for us to go deeper- to put our nets out for a catch. So, we hear this, and comes a crucial third step- and often where we struggle: the response. Do we put out into the deep or not? Then, fourth, comes a result- not just instantaneously, in fact seldom is that the case, but rather, from this life into the next. Fifth, we become more docile, and humbled, because we are so in awe of what the Lord is doing. Finally, the sixth step is that we are sent out on mission to evangelize. Now, that is a lot of information to digest, but it really does provide an excellent diagnostic tool for us on our journey of faith.
Let’s focus on the first four steps, and emphasize those for just a moment. Brothers and sisters, we need to understand these for us to truly see that the Lord can do some incredible things- if we let him! The first place and step in the Christian life- we need to assess our situation. We need to look at our reality. Look at what is going on around us. We need to be honest too! We can convince ourselves we have all the things we want- look at this boat and these nets- but we really don’t have the fish we want. And it’s not enough to stop there- but we need to look long and hard. We’ve been out fishing all night- and have caught nothing. Now, lest you think this is just a fishing tale- think about it this way. You’ve been suffering. For a long time. Truly. And you don’t know if it will ever come to a close- you’ve put in an entire night of hard work, so to speak, and have nothing. Perhaps some of us are struggling with this persistent feeling of loneliness. We just don’t have a lot of people around us that make us feel all that wanted or loved. Maybe we are hungering for more- we don’t know what the future looks like, or we see how there is such great evil in the world, and we just struggle. We might think to ourselves- “boy this is just terrible why would God let me struggle or suffer, or feel alone, or hunger for something.” While we cannot always explain something, we can understand this- the disciples appreciated the abundant catch far more when they assessed what depravity they were in before. How nothing could go right. How frustrated they were. How empty and alone that night was.
The invitation that Jesus gives as the important and life-changing step, then, must’ve felt quite startling in comparison to where they were! They would have such an appreciation to catch a little, maybe a handful of fish, let alone two boats full! Jesus comes into their dark night, where they have need- and they have experienced that acutely, and then He tells them this: you have two choices: enjoy your failure! Or, trust me, and take a chance on success! What will it be? If we think about this in terms of what many people might tell us to do, they’d say its ridiculous to trust Jesus! Stay right where you are, sure the suffering is terrible, but maybe it’ll go away on its own if your lucky. Yet, the invitation is there- look at where you are! The struggles, the suffering, the ways that you are not satisfied- and wonder for yourself: do I really like it here?? Is it worth it to remain independent and stay where I’m at? Sure, faith might offer something else- but look at all these things they will tell me I shouldn’t do, or should let go of. The ways they tell me I should worship on Sunday. I should let go of my own vision on sexuality, and instead adopt Jesus’s own view for me. I should let go of all of those grudges, or vices I hold onto, and instead trust God. Seems like a lot of work!
You might think it is a lot of work- but maybe life is a lot better if we just take that leap of faith! All too often, we slam ourselves into prisons of our own making- we are in the midst of a bust- having absolutely no fish or results to show for it- and yet if we were honest and said to ourselves “maybe I’m not doing so great here” Christ can come to us and say “I know. Let me show you something new, and something much better for you. I love you.” The invitation is an invitation to freedom! We need not lock ourselves up in our own independence. If we are honest, it’s really not all that worth it- and really sets us up for far more failure.
Where are each of us at on our journey of faith, brothers and sisters? You see, invitations aren’t just given by friends to go out to eat, like my friend so long ago at the beginning of my years of seminary. Christ is inviting us to greatness each and every day.
The question that remains, then, brothers and sisters, are you going to hear that call from Christ- let go of everything that has happened- the dark nights, the suffering, the failures of the past- are you going to still go out into the deep, and lower your nets for a catch.
If we are honest, there really is no other choice than to put out our nets and follow our Lord for a change.
Trust him- put down your nets and let Him in, so that He can bring in a great catch for you- and you can finally escape into the freedom of His love for you.
