Sermon: Into Deep Waters (A Life That Really Matters) August 25, 2013 Once when Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on Him to better hear the Word of God. He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. Jesus climbed into the boat that was Simon s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, He taught the crowd. When he finished teaching, He said to Simon, Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch. Simon said, Master, we ve been fishing hard all night and haven t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I ll let out the nets. It was no sooner said than done - a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch. Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. Master, leave. I m a sinner and can t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself. When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee s sons, coworkers with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, There is nothing to fear. From now on you ll be fishing for men and women. They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed Jesus. Luke 5:1-11 The Message Translation Some Saturdays, including yesterday, I remember what Jana Childers, professor of homiletics at San Francisco Theological Seminary, said about preaching every week: it s like giving birth on Sunday and waking up pregnant on Monday. I took preaching at the American Baptist Seminary of the West; the majority of the student body there is African American. ABSW used a preaching style referred to as call-and-response: the preacher is encouraged or exhorted, as she or he preaches, by the congregation. If the preacher s words speaks deeply to a person they call out a response such as amen or preach it, sister or bring it home or tell it or my favorite, which could be said to a work horse or to a child struggling to learn times-tables or to someone about to voice a wondrous discovery: come on, now. Call-and-response was a great way to learn preaching because there is an immediate verbal response to the call (the sermon) that informs the preacher that what they re saying is of importance, or that it needs to be stepped up, or that enough has been said to satisfy the hearts of those present (the response.) Call-and-response is a good metaphor for the Christian life. Every call requires a response. Last week we heard the story of 1
Moses reluctant response to God s call and this morning we heard the disciples immediate response to Jesus call to follow Him. From Luke s gospel we heard Jesus call the first disciples on the beach of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was the master of metaphor. Recognizing that illustrations and stories can reel in the hardest heart and the most closed mind, Jesus used image and metaphor to hook the first disciples, Simon, James and John. Jesus had been teaching the crowd and had been watching, out of the corner of his eye, this small group of men fishing with nets - trammel nets - used by wading fishermen: a wide, shallow net - they d been fishing but with no catch. Jesus asked one of the fishermen, Simon, to let Him use Simon s boat as a pulpit where He could be out on the water, be a little farther from the people crowding around Jesus on the shore, so they could see and hear Him better. After Jesus finished teaching the crowds He turned to Simon and said, Go out into deep water and let down your nets. There is a crack of frustration in Simon s voice as he responds to Jesus: We ve been fishing hard all night and haven t caught anything. But there must have been something compelling about this Man who d been teaching the crowds from Simon s empty boat and so the fishermen pushed out into deep waters. They needed a different net, a dragnet, to fish in deep waters; a net drawn along the bottom of a river or pond to catch fish. A dragnet is also a system or network for finding or catching a person. I wonder how long Jesus had observed the fishermen, Simon, James and John, cast their nets and haul in nothing, and cast and haul in nothing, again and again. This call-and-response story says to me that we who are most likely to respond to the call of Jesus - to be attracted to and hungry for His radically inclusive love and His extravagant mercy - know an empty net when we see one. An empty net might be loneliness or addiction or fear, or the need for a life that has 2
meaning, or simply recognizing, as 17 th century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal did, that, There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of all humanity which can only be filled by God. The disciples had fished all night and had only empty nets to show for it, so what did they have to lose by responding to Jesus? And so Jesus, master story-teller and architect of the human heart, used a visual image of the kingdom of God (the massive amount of fish the disciples caught that threatened to swamp their boat) and a metaphor (fishing in deep water) to engage them, to catch their hearts and minds and imaginations. In addition to the image and the metaphor Jesus invited Simon, James and John to participate in His life, to invite others to experience abundant and extravagant life in the Kingdom of God. Aren t image and metaphor great tools to convey and interpret life experiences? Fishing is the metaphor used in Luke s account of Jesus calling the first disciples. The disciples were hooked by Jesus, and they would become fishers or catchers of people for the kingdom of God. Jesus used familiar and simple things - a net and fish - to show the abundance and blessings of God s kingdom. I wonder how you d finish this sentence using a metaphor: My spiritual life is like. What about using a visual image to finish this sentence: When I imagine Jesus calling me to be His disciple I see. This is the kind of language - our own stories with images and metaphors - that engages people, that hooks people, that invites people to participate in the Christian life. Simon, James, and John would catch other disciples, just as they themselves were caught by Jesus, because we can only fish for people for the kingdom of God if we ourselves have experienced God s call and God s pull on the line of our hearts and lives. There are two important things to notice in this story of Jesus calling the first disciples. First (looking back to last week s scripture lesson) is that although God s call to Moses was 3
dramatic, Jesus call to the disciples came in the midst of their routine activities. If you re waiting for a burning bush before you have the courage to throw your net into deep waters, or to tell someone about your faith, or to make a commitment to follow Jesus wholeheartedly, it might be a long wait. Jesus coming to earth as the incarnate God tells us that all of life is sacred; all moments can be holy; and God s call to us is in the present. Second, Jesus didn t choose the fishermen on the beach because of their qualifications, or their character, or their potential. He chose them because they were there. And they were responsive. This tells us who Jesus is looking for. I love the story of the journalist asking Mother Teresa if she was surprised that God had called her to religious life, and she said no. She wasn t surprised that God had called her, but she was surprised by some of the others God had called. God, she said, was not as picky as she was. I ve been preaching this month using a book called A Life That Really Matters: The Great John Wesley Experiment, written by a pastor, Danny Morris, whose church made a commitment to experiment with five spiritual disciplines for one month, in the company and support of small groups (just as John Wesley had insisted people in the Methodist movement do: everyone was assigned to a small group, called a class meeting.) The purpose of the Great Experiment was soulgrowth, which is the purpose of the Christian life. (It s the purpose of all life.) The five practices of the John Wesley Great Experiment were: to meet once a week to pray and to learn how to pray; to give two hours time each week to serve the church; to give God one-tenth of one s earnings; to spend half an hour each morning in prayer and meditation, as well as to plan a good deed or a kindness every day; and to tell others about one s experiences of God. I don t think I ve ever spent an entire month with a book and I ve loved this one. Almost every week I ve quoted Danny Morris, whose excitement over this experiment I could almost taste. 4
I talked with Danny on Friday, and 53 years after he first wrote this book, his passion for the Great Experiment is still palpable. This morning I m inviting our congregation to make a commitment to participate in this month-long Great Experiment: to cast our nets into deep water, to experience for ourselves a life that really matters. In your bulletin is a commitment form that you can fill it out this morning and put it in the offering plate or turn it in by next Sunday. And next Sunday we ll dedicate our small Great Experiment groups. All month long I ve quoted Danny Morris and I d like to share with you one more excerpt from his book, A Life That Really Matters: The John Wesley Great Experiment. The Great Experiment is a short-term challenge. The disciples are spiritual dynamite. They appear to be simple, and they are, but in their uniqueness and simplicity they have great spiritual power. They set forth biblical foundations for the spiritual life. Changes that come are often lasting; many people continue practicing parts of the disciplines for a lifetime. The Great Experiment is comprehensive. The disciplines are not all that the church is about, but when they are practiced together, they provide great spiritual power. Consider the varied challenges they present: learning to pray, serving in the church, tithing, praying and meditating on scripture, meeting with a small group, doing a daily good deed, these are building and developing your spiritual life. The Great Experiment is exceedingly personal. You decide how far you want to go and how deep. Within the group, everyone is praying for you, by name, daily. This fact alone can open windows of wonder. Group members begin to expect and recognize miracles in each other s lives. In our hearts we intend to support the church with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. All these commitments are actualized through this challenge. The Great Experiment is powerfully corporate. There is great strength in corporate practices. In the small groups you are not 5
pushed along, but supported forward by others who are also putting God first. And finally, this is a lifetime opportunity. When you make the choice to put God first, you have a lifetime to make the most of it. This morning we come to the Lord s Table, and here we taste and see the metaphor of Jesus great love for us. Jesus, who calls us to follow Him, to cast our nets into deep waters, to fish for others for God s kingdom, has given Himself for us. The bread and the cup are a metaphor of His commitment to us. And now as we enter into a time of silence, I invite us all to consider our own story of call-and-response to the invitation to follow Jesus. Amen. 6