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Febrary 4, 2007
Isaiah 6:1-8
Luke 5:1-11

These stories are miracles and visions of Biblical proportions and seem very strange to us, in a times of factual accounts and suspicions of all things unexplained. But in these stories we hear truth. We hear the truth about our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. How we approach our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, and how God approaches us.

So this carpenter guy who interprets scripture and heals people tries to tell these fishermen how to fish. I can really just picture it. First of all, it can be hard to offer well-meaning advice to some men in general, if you know what I mean. Or try telling my mom she’s cooking all wrong and she should be doing what Martha Stewart does on TV. You see what I mean? Simon Peter is almost half believing Jesus, and he says, alright if you say so! But what about the other good ole boys holding their nets, and saying is this guy for real? Who does he think he is, telling where how to fish?! I don’t suppose the had one of those Fish Finder Things that maps out where the fish are under your boat… that would have been handy. And there’s a miracle… and what’s Simon Peter’s response? GO AWAY FROM ME LORD, FOR I AM A SINFUL MAN! He didn’t even think he was worthy of what Jesus was offering. How would you have responded?

I can imagine how I would have responded. I can remember in college, sometimes not feeling very worthy, not feeling very smart. I did pretty well in high school I suppose, but I got to college and I was nearly FAILING some of my classes. I hesitated using this example once I found out my parents were visiting today, but here goes. My parents were both teachers and school was the most important thing in our families world. So to be doing poorly in school was very embarrassing to me. My parents always encouraged me and always supported me. But I was too proud to really seek their help. I was too proud to ask teachers for extra help, and I was secretly ashamed. I was nearly failing my 8 am calculus class. I would study, and I would always try to do it by myself, and end up with less than desirable grades. Now, my father was a calculus teacher and I was so ashamed that I wasn’t acing calculus that I could hardly let him help me. All I had to do was make that phone call, and he would explain everything to me, and I could start pulling my grades up. But that phone call was so hard to make. I was too ashamed to even bring up the subject, and I started avoiding talking about school with my parents, because I didn’t want to have to tell them that I needed their help. Dad would call and ask how classes were going, and I all but yelled, “GO AWAY FROM ME DAD FOR I AM A FAILING STUDENT!” I pushed them away.

What kind of messed up logic is that? They’re my parents; they’d be the first ones to help me out. But that’s the same sort of move Peter pulls today in the Gospel. Here’s Jesus, Son of God, who is sent to bring life and forgiveness, and Peter, who needs life and forgiveness more than anything, pushes him away. Peter believes he’s too sinful for Jesus to even stand next to. Peter puts a wall up between him and Jesus, tells Jesus to go away. Maybe he’s afraid that sin is contagious, and that Jesus might catch it. Isn’t that how we approach God sometimes? Like we’re just in too deep, we’ve dug ourselves into too big a hole, and figure it’s just hopeless.

We don’t want to be found out, we don’t want God to see our shortcomings. So we hide them, we don’t talk about them in public, and we surely don’t talk about them in private, when God could be listening. But the thing is; God is listening. God knows. All those things you are ashamed of and all those things that you wish you just would have asked for help with at the beginning. God already knows, and God says, hey, we’re right here; I’ve had my eye on your since before you were conceived in your mothers womb. I know your sins, but we’ve got some work to do, so if you’ll just follow me now…

“By calling Peter, Jesus is about something bigger than just affirming Peter (not that there's anything wrong with that). :-) The reason for the call is not to say to Peter, "Buck up, little buddy, you're not so bad," but rather, "Stop being afraid now. We have work to do."” Mary Hinkle Shore, a Luther Seminary professor, write this,
Jesus is not putting together a group of fellow superstars who can sing, “When we all retire, we will write the gospels, so they'll all talk about us when we've died." Jesus is putting together a prophetic community, a group of people who will live the gospel so that others can hear it and see it. To do that, he will need all the regular people he can find.”
Jesus wasn’t looking for the A students. Jesus wasn’t even looking for the students with the most extra-curricular activities and awards. He wasn’t looking for the one’s who had the highest sales in their region, or the ones with the best scores on their six month evaluation. Jesus was looking for anybody and everybody who would listen and follow. He chose those 12 and many more because of who they were, regular sinful humans who lived the Gospel.

Jesus used this idea of fishing and catching to start a conversation with these folks. Like any great preacher, he used an illustration. He started with what they knew; he met them where they were, and then went with it! First, Jesus got them a huge catch of fish, after they had bad luck all night. But this catch was a lot of work for them. Every single person in the boat had to put their back into it as they hauled slippery moving cargo into their boat. And then getting it to shore! And transporting it to the market! Not to mention all the work that goes between catching fish and eating fish! Perhaps they weren’t expecting that much work. When God reveals Godself, it’s rarely in a nice neat little package with no muss or fuss. And it rarely means we just get to sit back and watch. God’s action usually means we’re going to be knee-deep in wiggling fish surrounded by smelly men. Or something comparable to that in the church.

Even with this possibly messy work, as baptized Christians, we do not have the choice but to be a witness to Christ. This is our promise, grace, our identity given to us by God. BUT- Jesus makes us swim out a little further (doesn't let us off the hook, in other words) and says I need you to follow. Notice how Jesus talks to them on the shore, and then says, "Let’s go a little deeper." And when he goes deeper, there is abundance--people that encounter Jesus at the deeper level are blessed with an abundance of grace. And with that abundance comes the claim to follow Jesus further. Before they leave all their worldly possessions on the beach, Simon Peter expresses his amazement and unworthiness in away that ties us back to the Old Testament reading for the day.
The Old Testament text for this Sunday comes from the book of the Prophet Isaiah, and describes Isaiah’s mystical vision of the LORD. God on a throne surrounded by angels chanting praise. Everything was very exciting and over-the-top. The angel are chanting, over and over,
Kadosh Kadosh Kadosh Adonai Tz'vaot
Melo Kol Haaretz Kevodo.

Because of course the angels would have spoken ancient Hebrew, what else? In rabbinic and post-biblical tradition, Hebrew was thought to be lashon ha-kodesh, the holy language. God created the world speaking Hebrew, and that’s the language Adam and Eve spoke… I think that’s pretty interesting. But back to the seraphim. I don’t know about you, but if a Seraph with six wings flew at my face and said here let me burn you with these tongs, I might not be the one raising my hand saying “Here I am Lord, Pick me!”
We sing this as part of our traditional liturgy, its called the Sanctus. We sing it as we are coming before the Lord, the real presence of Christ in with and under the bread and the wine. As Isaiah hears this chanting and is before the Lord, he only thinks of his unworthiness. “Woe is me! I’ve got unclean lips and I hang out with people that have unclean lips.” Is this how we come to the table? Are we so bent on declaring our unworthiness that we miss the point that Christ has come to be with us! We think on ourselves and our sinfulness, which has its place, but if that is our only attitude toward worship… We miss the joy and the grace and the call of the Gospel. God calls all to worship, Jesus calls all baptized Christians to discipleship. It’s not a question of being good enough to come before God, or having the skills to be a disciple. It’s about God giving us what we need. It’s about God making us clean in baptism, the Spirit of God being in our words and our actions, and the grace we receive, totally undeserved.

You might notice that when we sing Holy Holy Holy, during communion, I bow and cross myself. I don’t do this for effect. I do it because it reminds me of the scriptures; it reminds me that I am in God’s presence. Its not just singing the words, but my whole body becomes involved in prayer. I do it out of reverence, but not because I think God lives under the altar. I do it to remind myself that though I may not be worthy, by God’s grace I am made clean, and God calls me into God’s presence. None of us are worthy, but that hasn’t stopped God from working in our lives, gathering us here, being present in the meal we share, forgiving our sins and wiping our tear away and wiping out slate clean.
In 1 Corinthians 15:10, Paul writes “But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and God’s grace towards me has not been in vain.” Basically Paul’s telling the people of Corinth, that is God’s grace can change him; then God’s grace can change anyone. Paul’s life has been utterly transformed and not in vain because God continues to work, and He’s going continue to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love this verse. It squashes that nagging self-doubt, that I’m not good enough even when I try, that my best may not be good enough. I know I’m going to screw things up, but by God’s grace, I am who I am. You may get in to a fight with your sister, but by God’s grace, you are who you are. You’ve been saved by that grace, and God doesn’t just throw this grace away.
Isaiah and Peter, as well as Paul, were recipients of that grace. They weren’t worthy in their own eyes, but in God’s eyes, they were just the one’s for the job. Never once did God say, “You know what, you’re right, you’re not so good at this, and I’ll find someone else.” “God’s grace does not take us where God’s grace cannot sustain us.” God asks “Whom shall I send?” Will you raise your hand? Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” Will you follow him?