Luke 5:1-11
“On Following and Fishing”

      Have you every heard a question like this: “Who do you think you are, trying to impose Christ on other people?”  I certainly have.
     
      That is a complaint believers often hear from persons who resent the enterprise of Christian mission.  Utterly unaware of the true liberation of love that Christ offers to all persons, they assume that Christianity is a religion no different and no better that any other religion.
     
      They miss the point.  Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship – a relationship with a God whose love lifts individual life to its zenith of fulfillment and satisfaction, both here and in eternity.  Understood in this light it is not something that can be kept private.  Inherently, God’s love relates.  It shares. It reaches out.  It connects.  It stretches to the far corners of the globe in order to embrace others, particularly those in need.  To deny or prohibit the Christian mission on earth is to deny or prohibit Christianity itself.  To meet Christ is to adopt the mission of Christ.  It is as simple as that.  When Peter and the others first caught a glimpse of who Jesus really was, they immediately heard him share and say, “from now on you will be catching people” (Luke 5:10).
     
      Peter, James, John and their partners were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, or Lake Gennesaret as Luke calls it.  On this particular occasion they had fished all night and caught nothing.  That day, while cleaning and repairing their nets by the water’s edge, they saw a crowd gathered around Jesus, listening to him preach.  Probably a large crowd, in fact, because Jesus felt the need to “borrow” Peter’s boat in order to move off shore to improve the acoustics.  Luke tells us that when Jesus finished preaching he turned his attention to Peter and told him to take his boat out into deeper water.  Initially, Peter could not understand why.  But on Jesus’ word, he complied.  And the rest, so to speak, is history.  So abundant was the subsequent catch of fish that Peter and the others had to call for help just to get it into the boats.  Peter was overwhelmed, suddenly recognizing in Jesus a glimpse of godliness.  How else can one explain his response, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”? (Luke 5:18)
     
      You may be asking, “Was this catch of fish a true miracle?  Or did Jesus simply have a keen sense about where the fish were that day?”  Who knows?  It makes no difference really.  Luke’s point is that this abundant catch of fish is representative, symbolic if you will, of what will happen in the world when disciples follow Christ.
     
      Follow Christ and we will fish like Christ.  We will fish for the souls of men and women.
     
      At that moment the disciples did not know what the full scope of that fishing would be.  Not until Pentecost and Peter’s later encounter with Cornelius (Acts 10) did they begin to understand that the great mission of catching people would include not just Jews, but Gentiles.
     
      Again, the point for us to underscore is the inseparable connection that exists between knowing Jesus for who he is, and fishing – people-catching.  Christian mission is not optional; it is the instinctive reaction of a soul taken over by the love of God.
     
      However, something’s happened to many of us.  Somewhere along the way, faith and mission have gone separate ways and we have ended up with a privatized Christianity, one in which our following is separated from our fishing.
     
      What has happened?  What has brought this about?  Perhaps it is our defensive and frightened response to a contemporary world that misunderstands Christianity and often objects to our mission.
     
      But perhaps it is more than that.  Perhaps it is also the radical nature of the mission itself that gives us fits.  Luke writes in verse 11, “When they had brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”  Note again, “everything.”  One gets the distinct impression that when it comes to the mission of Jesus, there is no halfway.  The word “everything” shakes us to the core.
     
      How is it possible to leave everything?  Was Luke simply using hyperbole here?  Maybe, he was, maybe not.  Truth is, “leaving everything” is precisely what Jesus expects us to be willing to do.  On one occasion he spoke with a rich young man.  “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” the young man asked.  To which Jesus responded, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (Mark 10:17, 21). Or as another translation expresses it, “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor . . .” In other words, this business of following Jesus is an all-or-nothing proposition.  Anything that stands between total commitment and us must go. For the young man it was his wealth.  God’s love is so compelling in its value that it literally propels us to any and all lengths when it takes us over.  Consider how it propelled Christ.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
     
      Many Christians are ready to accept this love until they realize that this is not only a description of what Christ did, it is also a prescription for what we must do.  This hard word probably lies behind our current confusion about following and fishing.  To meet Christ is to embrace others for Christ.  To know the love of Christ is to leave everything for the mission of Christ.  No questions asked.  When a disgruntled world says to us, “Keep your Christianity to yourself,” we ought to respond, “Would that we could, but you are asking the impossible.  Following and fishing are part and parcel of what it means to know Jesus and the fullness of his love.”
     
      May we read together Hymn # 296 “We’ve a Story to Tell to the Nations” as a poem of conviction and a faith statement?  May we read the four verses together and add the refrain at the end of the four verses?  Amen.
     
      PRAYER:  O God, you have entrusted your messages of peace and reconciliation, of love and forgiveness, of justice and mercy to all who hear your call.  Open our ears to your words of invitation and enable us to be faithful in the tasks set before us.  Keep us alert to every nuance of human need.  Remove from us the fear of revenge and make us intent upon the catch so that the good news of your saving grace might be shared to the ends of the earth.  Amen.