Trinity 5, 2023

Summer Vicar Ezekiel Grabau 

Fishing with the Right Net

Text: Luke 5:1­–11

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Fishing can be a terribly disappointing hobby. It requires a great deal of dedication without much promise of reward. You can invest in a quality reel, spend money getting attractive lures and bait, ask around for the best fishing spot, and wait for hours just to get one bite. After all of that toil you reel in the line and find that the fish had eaten your expensive bait right off the hook and left you with nothing. Of course, many power through such misfortunes and mistakes. Failure might only inspire you to invest more money, expertise, and time into your fishing game. Yet no amount of toil on your part can ever ensure that the fish will always bite.  

Our Gospel text today tells how the Apostles Peter, John, and James were called from the fishing boats to be followers of Jesus. Our Lord calls these fishermen through a miraculous catch of fish, a sign to demonstrate the magnitude of God’s power and of the work the disciples would do. This text is a great admonition and encouragement to those who would follow Christ and proclaim His Gospel. Through this sign Christ teaches us that      

ONLY AT THE WORD OF THE LORD DO THE FISHERS OF MEN CATCH ANYONE.

(I.             Our Lord Jesus Christ commissioned you to catch men.)

(II.           When you rely on your toil to catch men and fill the boat, you catch nothing.)

(III.         Though you have failed, Jesus tells you not to be afraid.)

(IV.        In awe of His toil, you abandon all to follow Him.)

I.

One question we must consider in this text is who is supposed to be catching men? Jesus says, “From now on you will catch men,” but does Christ’s call extend only to the Apostles? Or perhaps only to our ordained pastors? Or perhaps only to called church workers? The truth is that catching men is the activity of the whole church. The Great Commission, which Christ gives to His disciples in Matthew 28, is the mission of His church, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  

It is true that not all are called to be preachers or teachers, but every member of Christ’s body serves to support the proclamation of the Gospel. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:4–6, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” Not all are pastors. But all can speak a word of the Law in admonition and a word of the Gospel in encouragement to a brother in Christ. Not all are camp counselors. But all can support the education of our young people by work and prayer. Not all are church elders. But all can give whatever gifts God has bestowed be it money, labor, or skill to the church. Not all are prophets or Apostles, but all act by the power of the same God, in service of the same Lord, and in the same Holy Spirit. Our Lord Jesus Christ commissioned you to catch men by means of your gifts and in your vocation.

Thus throughout the centuries, the church has been supporting the mission to gather up all people into the kingdom of God. Even in its earliest years, God’s people have been dedicated to catching men. The church of Antioch, which would be where believers were first called Christians, began not because of the witness of the Apostles, but the witness of believers who were fleeing persecution in Jerusalem (11:19–21). Later, this same church would set apart Barnabas and Saul as missionaries (Acts 13:1–3). So to this day, all Christians should take Jesus’ call to catch men personally and support this mission with our gifts.

And indeed, many of you do take this charge seriously. You reach out to your family members and friends who have left the church and refuse to acknowledge their need for a savior. You have brought your children and grandchildren to the waters of Baptism and strive to teach them Christian doctrine. You defend your faith publicly in conversation with those who attack and defame the faith. It is precisely because you take the mission of the church so seriously that you are frustrated when it seems like no one cares. You mourn for those who have turned their back on the Word of God, especially those close to you. You lament how often children are confirmed and never seen again in church. You are distressed that the world could show so much hatred toward those who seek their salvation. In such circumstances your pure desire to see people brought into the church can become corrupted.

II.

When you rely on your toil to catch men and fill the boat, you catch nothing. In your eagerness to bring bodies into the church building, you begin to rely on your own work and genius. You find yourself thinking that bringing in the right church programs would draw in the crowds. You wish that the preaching and teaching of the church was a little more interesting. You want to twist the Word of God to fit the person you are talking to rather than let God’s Word speak. Such attempts to take over the ministry treat the Gospel like a business to be marketed rather than a free gift to be proclaimed.

Though Peter, John, and James were prosperous fishermen, they could not ensure their success. They knew that the best time to fish was at night since fish feed at dusk and dawn. They knew that the best places to fish were in the shallows where the fish spawn and feed. They knew how to take care of their gear and spent hours washing and mending their nets. Then Jesus comes along, gets into one of their boats, and gives them some foolish advice. It’s one thing to borrow the boat as a pulpit, but another to tell experienced fishermen how to fish. When Jesus told them to cast their partially washed drag nets into the deep part of the lake in the middle of the day, they might have been tempted to laugh in His face. What does the son of a Nazarene carpenter know about fishing?  

We too think we know how to succeed. We think we understand how to draw people into the kingdom of God. In reality we add distractions rather than seek to serve the needs of our neighbor. We substitute pure doctrine for what sounds nice. We bring down the hammer of the Law upon people who are already broken and give sweet Gospel to those who think they are already full. In short all our efforts falls flat because they are based on our own work and opinions. All our toil to fill the boat, or this church building, fails and we find ourselves empty handed just like those fishermen by the Lake of Gennesaret.

The fault is not in the Word of God or in the church, but in us. In the face of our failures to serve how we ought and to trust in God, we fall down and exclaim with Peter, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter realized who he had on his boat when he saw the catch of fish. Peter knew he was not before some master or teacher, but before the Lord God who made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that is in them. Even though he had let down the nets as Jesus had asked, Peter knew that he had failed to trust in God in his life and expected Christ to come in judgement. He had no toil left to turn to. Neither do you. Nothing that you can offer is worthwhile enough to fill the pews. Nothing that you can say is convincing enough to make even one person repent. Nothing you can do can truly demonstrate God’s love for the world.

III.

That is what Jesus came into the world to do. He came to proclaim the pure doctrine of the Gospel that you cling to and confess. His ministry and not yours offers reconciliation to a world which has rejected God. He died on the cross to draw all people to Himself, even those who oppose Him.

For you who realize your sinful state and find yourself despairing in the face of your failures, Jesus speaks words of life to you, “Be not afraid.” Like Peter we can fall down at the knees of Jesus and receive His absolution. The absolution that He won for us by His death on the cross in which He took upon Himself all our failures. Thus we can come to confess as Peter did before our pastor who speaks absolution to us in the stead and by the command of Christ. We receive forgiveness at his word and know that it is for us by the laying on of his hand. In confession and absolution, we are raised up to trust in Christ and not in our own toil.

And you can trust that word to do what it says. When Peter, James, and John heard Jesus tell them, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,” they could have laughed in his face. But they didn’t. Instead “Simon answered and said to Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and have caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.’” Peter had heard the Word of God preached from his boat. He trusted the word of the teacher, even if he did not understand how or why it would work. So you can have assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things not seen.   

It is worth remembering that the crowds that gathered at the lake of Gennesaret did not gather for programs, or stylized teaching, or tailored message made by man. They came to hear the Word of God. As our text reads, “the multitude pressed about Jesus to hear the Word of God.” They pressed to the edge of the lake, practically pushing Jesus into the boat and out into the shallows just to hear the Word of God. This is what we must proclaim. Not what we think will catch men, but what Christ has said and done for us.

IV.

The fisherman reacted to the miracle with radical abandon: “So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed him.” Seeing all that Christ has done for us, you too can abandon all the empty things you once clung to. You can abandon our pride and self-reliance. You can abandon your despair and the fear of God’s wrath. You can follow Christ knowing that the work is His and not your own. You can proclaim God’s Law and Gospel rightly and according to our callings to those who have fallen away, offering comfort to the broken and correction to the rebellious. You can teach your children the faith knowing that it is His care and not your effort that protects them from all danger of body and soul. You can pray for those who persecute you, testifying with patience to the truth.

You can trust in the words of the Apostles Creed and know that you cannot by your own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to Him. Instead it is the Holy Spirit that calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth. And this not through man made nets, but through the Word of God proclaimed in the preaching from the pulpit, the Absolution delivered by the pastor, and even in your own lives.

We may never have a church bursting with a multitude of many people. Our Lord did not promise His disciples that they would be well received by all or even many. But He does promise that His word will not return empty, but accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. His Gospel is the net which gathers a multitude and catches men up into life eternal.   

Disappointment and failure are to be expected for fishermen as it is for the fishers of men. The mission Christ has tasked our church with is a difficult one, but it is not one we are expected to accomplish alone. Christ has paid the cost and toiled for the salvation of the world. All we must do is let down the Word of the Lord and trust that God is faithful and He will do it.

In the name of Jesus.