[Machine transcription]
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I loved fishing.
My brother Andrew and I had a pretty good business of it. So did my friends, James and John.
My name’s Peter. And the Sea of Galilee, or the Lake of Gennesaret, another name for it,
that was a great place for us to fish.
fish. And I thought I knew everything about fishing. That was until Jesus came along.
You just heard about it in the gospel reading today about how our boats were parked on
the beach and we were washing our nets after a night of fishing and then Jesus comes along.
He was this new rabbi who was going through the area teaching and healing people. Well,
But he had a crowd with him and he wanted to teach them and he wanted to use our boat
to go out into the water and teach them from there.
So we did.
Okay.
That was fine.
No problem.
But what happened after?
Well, that was a little fishy.
Jesus told us to put into the deep water and let down our nets for a catch.
Well, I doubted we were going to catch anything, in fact I told the master, we toiled all night
and took nothing.
But okay, if you say so, what does he know about fishing?
This was going to be a huge waste of time, I thought.
Wow, we caught more fish than ever.
We even needed two boats to put them all in.
and that’s when I got really overwhelmed I realized then this is no ordinary
rabbi this is the Son of God and he had just done an amazing thing for me I
didn’t know what to say the whole thing left me fishing for words in fact I was
ashamed. I didn’t feel worthy of Jesus even being near me. My only response was
to fall on my knees and say, depart from me Lord, I’m a sinful man. Reminds me of
the Prophet Isaiah, I thought, when he saw a vision of the Lord in his temple. He
too, Isaiah, was overcome with fear and he cried out, woe is me, I’m a man of
unclean lips. I shouldn’t be here in God’s presence. That’s how I felt. Maybe
you felt that way sometimes too. Maybe you felt ashamed and unworthy of being
in God’s presence be because of your sins. Maybe you’ve doubted God’s
Word or thought that you’re smarter than Him or you questioned His Word or
reluctantly done what He’s asked you to do. Maybe there’s been several sinful
and unclean things that you’ve done that cause you to want to fall on your knees and say,
Jesus, depart from me because you too are a man or woman of unclean lips and unclean
hands and eyes and mind.
I told Jesus, depart from me Lord, but he would have nothing to do with that.
He didn’t depart, he didn’t go away from me, instead he not only wanted to stay with me,
he wanted me to follow him and to learn to serve him in a new way.
Despite my sinfulness, Jesus still wanted to be around me and still wanted to forgive
me you know what was really going on here yeah I was the fisherman who had
the successful fishing business and owned all the boats and thought I knew
everything about fishing but I wasn’t the fisherman Jesus was fishing for me
throwing his net out to draw me to him a net of grace to pull me in and to know
and receive His forgiveness. And He fishes for you, too, wanting to pull you
in by that net of His grace and forgiveness. You see, because when you
sin, Jesus doesn’t go away from you either. In fact, when you sin, it’s Jesus
that you need to be with you. Better than praying, depart from me, Lord, much better
would be better than saying depart from me Lord I’m a sinful person better is to
say stay with me Lord because I’m a sinful person I need your forgiveness
and he gives it I know that this this fishing story is often read and
encouraged as encouragement for outreach and and evangelism that for God’s people
People should be fishing for people, fishing for lost souls, and it is, but more so.
This is an event of Christ’s forgiveness, of Him fishing for you to forgive you, and
He lets down His net of grace to catch you and bring you that forgiveness.
Jesus knows you’re sinful. He knows what you’ve done, or thought, or said. He knows that and
that’s why He’s fishing for you, to bring you out of that and into His grace. When you
confess your sins, Jesus doesn’t run. He doesn’t go away. He draws you close and He comes close
and forgives you.
This was going to become so real to me a couple of years after this, a couple of years later
when Jesus got arrested and put on trial and then crucified and while that’s
happening to him I denied him three times denied that I ever even knew him
and you think you’re sinful I was so ashamed even more ashamed in that than
I was during this fish story and yet Jesus still wanted to be near me still
wanted me to follow him and still wanted me to serve him. And that’s what we did. Me,
my brother Andrew, and James, and John, and others, we followed Jesus and went fishing
for men. I guess you could say we fell for Jesus hook, line, and sinker. And you too,
no matter what you’ve done, said, thought, no matter how unclean your lips, eyes, heart,
mind, hands are, no matter your situation, Jesus wants to forgive and He throws that
net of grace out for you.
He wants you to follow Him and serve Him and you don’t have to drop your nets and your
boats and leave your fishing business to follow Him.
No, in whatever you’re doing, in your vocation, in your work, in whatever you’re doing, you
You can serve God with the opportunity of a fission, of letting down the net of grace
to people who don’t know about it or really need it.
We can do that.
So may the Lord bless your fishing, but more so, may you be blessed by Jesus fishing for
you, letting down His net of grace to forgive all of your sins.
Amen.
Now, may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus, amen.
