Rev. Mark R. Miller
First Sunday in Stewardship
Luke 5:1-11
“Called to Follow”
This is a sermon on stewardship that is not about money. Stewardship is not about money. It is about commitment. All the money in the world cannot replicate the power of Jesus’ followers when they heed the call to move into deep waters. So, that is the last I will say about money. This is a sermon, this sermon on stewardship, is about commitment.
Jesus is quite a preacher, though not always popular. In the beginning of Luke’s gospel Jesus begins his ministry with these words:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
And these words of good news are met with a desire to throw him off a cliff. The good news is that when Jesus leaves his hometown, this message is well received. Around the Sea of Galilee or as Luke calls it, the lake of Gennesaret, there are so many people hungry for what Jesus is teaching he has to get out on to a boat to get away from the pressing crowds.
It is clear that people are interested and even hungry for the message of Jesus. As he began his ministry in the
While Jesus is busy preaching and healing, Peter and the others were busy doing real world work all night. As Jesus is teaching, they are cleaning the nets and the boats, after a full night’s shift. And along comes this teacher and starts telling them how to fish. It must have been maddening. After all, he may have healed and preached, but what does this carpenter know about fishing. They did not say this but they had to be thinking it.
Peter speaks for the group. He says, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” This is not a statement of faith. It is a statement of resignation. Peter is not committed to what he believes is a failed enterprise. Notice that he is not willing to commit to this work. If you say so, I will let down the nets. Peter will not commit his whole fleet, his whole workforce, or even his whole person to the work. Peter is being polite while expecting failure. Peter is an interested follower but not committed.
But the good news is that Peter does not have to have faith. He is not expected to commit himself. All Peter has to do is make a half hearted attempt and show up. And the unexpected happens. More fish than he can handle and he finally has to commit himself fully. All his fishermen, all his boats and all his nets are needed for this surprise lurking in the deep waters. It is a joyful and terrifying moment.
When Peter sees what happens he is overtaken by fear. What he says to Jesus is not feigned humility. Peter is not basking in some strange self hatred or pious humility. What Peter actually says is GO AWAY. Get out of my neighborhood, is what it says in the Greek. Peter does not like the implications of what has happened. Peter is faced with a choice now that he has seen this first hand. He can either commit himself fully or he can walk away, but half hearted discipleship is no longer an option.
Will Willamon tells a story of a time he heard a lecture by Jim Wallis on “The Renewal of the Inner City Church.” He says,
"Wallis told a group of pastors true stories of declining inner-city churches that had, by the grace of God, rediscovered their mission and begun to thrive. I was inspired, but in the conversation afterwards one pastor after another criticized Wallis’s speech. They accused him of looking at the church through rose-colored glasses. One even implied that he had lied. That evening I told Wallis that I was appalled by the group’s reaction. "I wasn’t," he said. "That’s the reaction I always get from mainline, liberal pastors. They are amazed when God wins and scared to death that Easter just might, after all, be true."
The power of our scripture in Luke is lost on those of us who are good at deconstruction. We are good at taking things apart. We are good at doubting the factual reality of these stories. We have spent so much time doing this we have squeezed the hope out of them and reduced our Easter faith to only what can be quantified and verified. In doing so, we take the edge of stories which call for the full commitment of our lives.
Over the last few years some pretty amazing things have happed at
When Peter tells Jesus he is not the person for this work Jesus’ response is not to say you are forgiven or that you have special gifts and enough money to make it happen. What Jesus says is, stop being afraid, stop being afraid. Just when we want to say, we have been fishing for forty years, or thirty years, or twenty years, or ten years, or two years, Jesus says it is time to go deeper. It is time to move into that place, that deep water which means we might just end up facing the same decision as Peter: become fully committed or walk away.
I think those mainline liberal pastors who got defensive and angry about stories of resurrection are a lot like Peter. When faced with stories we cannot deconstruct it reveals our human desire that prefer the death and fear we know than come to terms with what our resurrection faith is teaching us right now. We are being called to follow Jesus by casting our nets into the deep water. And I am convinced we do not fully know what or where the deep water is located. But I am sure that now is the time to start looking. Or maybe we do and simply cannot name it yet. The only way for us to find out is to show up, to be willing to cast the nest one more time into deep water not knowing what will happen. But, when we do there will come a day when we will be compelled to, commit our whole selves, our whole hearts and finally stop hedging our bets. That is the calling for each one of us, and for our church. Anyone wish now that I had just preached about money instead? Amen.
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