Gone Fishing
Luke 5:1-11 and 1st Corinthians 15:1-11
Apparently a miraculous catch of fish was all in a day’s work for Jesus. Is it any wonder Peter tells Jesus to get away from him! Nobody likes a show off. Follow Jesus for very long and you’ll alternate between being inspired and being intimidated. In a way, that’s the thread that connects these two scriptures; the tension between our voices of self doubt and awareness of God’s presence that surrounds us. Sometimes it seems that God’s grace is miles outside our reach. Feeling that way is part of being human.
Simon Peter was hearing those voices. After all, he was a professional fisherman. They all were. Everyone but Jesus new exactly how it was done. They had experience. But on this night, even in the pursuit of their professional livelihood, it wasn’t happening. No fish. Nothing but net. If they started with high expectations; they have lowered them now. And then Jesus shows up.
Peter tells him, “Master we have worked all night but have caught nothing, nada, zero, zilch.” (Ok I’m paraphrasing) So Jesus (the carpenter! Not the fisherman) tells them to put out a little way from the shore. What? Everyone knows the fishing is better at night. C’mon Jesus the sun is up. This is a night shift job and this shift is a bust. Let’s go home. But they don’t go home. Even on the heels of a really bad day, they did not give in to their own limitations. According to the story they did what Jesus told them to do. They followed.
They let down their nets opening themselves to the possibility that something miraculous was going to happen. And it did. They caught so many fish that their nets were breaking and the boat was sinking. They had to call other boats over to—help contain all the blessings—blessings in the form of FISH.
There’s a big lesson here. These disciples had size small expectations and they came to know firsthand that Jesus had a king size surprise waiting for them. They were fishing for maybe and Jesus taught them to fish for definitely. Amen?
How often when things are going badly do we adjust our expectations? It’s like we’re preparing for the worst case scenario. Maybe Peter was prepared for the worst, because instead of being overjoyed at this miraculous catch, Simon Peter is completely stuck! He falls down on his knees and he tells Jesus to go away. “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Peter gets stuck in his self doubt, sure that he can’t do it and feeling awful that it took Jesus to help him.
Can you see the backwards thinking in his reaction? Jesus was showing them a better way. Jesus was certain they would catch fish and so they did. Jesus had expectation enough for all of them because he had faith enough for all of them. Jesus did it with them, not for them or in spite of them. The problem was they didn’t yet have faith in themselves and they were just learning to have faith in Jesus.
Have you been there? Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by self doubt? Being stuck between our fears of limitation, our self doubts and our potential is what these two stories are about. Our community is no stranger to this tension. It can be crippling because let’s be real. It can seem like the cards are stacked against us. And sometimes we can be our own worst enemies.
This past Thursday I enrolled in a seminar taught by the Pride-institute. It was a seminar about LGBT Mental Health and specifically about the self-doubt and depression that happens when we internalize heterosexism. Not homophobia, but Heterosexism. It’s way more dangerous. Heterosexism is the idea that heterosexuality is the only normal and acceptable way of being; that anything outside of that norm is deviant and bad. From the time we’re children, most of us have been bombarded with the negative messages of heterosexism from the media, the military, family members; even churches.-especially churches.
The facilitator threw out several statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. He told us that:
- LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.
- LGBT youth are eight times more likely IF they came from rejecting homes.
These statistics are enough to stop us in our tracks. At some point we have to learn that our voice is the voice that matters. It doesn’t matter what other people say or think. Don’t give them the power to matter. What matters are you and God. Rev. Elder Ken Martin is known for taking this head on. He says, “If the only work you’ve done to counteract a lifetime of heterosexism is decide that it’s ok with God to be gay, you better get out the back hoe because you’ve still got work to do.” There comes a time when we need to beginning listening to the real voices of truth, not the condemning voices of heterosexism.
Ask yourself, “Have I allowed God’s love to truly heal and transform me? If not why not? Otherwise it may show itself in other areas of our lives. Let’s go back to our first reading. Anyone here struggle with perfectionism?
The apostle Paul is in the middle of his ministry, doing well and yet he feels clearly still feels bad about his past. As a result he does something else that is very human. He attempts to establish new credibility by telling us that he works harder than the other apostles. How pathetic is that? He is trying to prove that if he works harder, he will belong and be acceptable. Even Paul forgets that he is already redeemed. He doesn’t need to keep beating himself up over his past. Nor do we! Here is the take away. He was acceptable. You and I are acceptable. God loves us.
Several months ago we asked people to share what they did when they were feeling bad. Many of you said you did something for someone else in those times. That made you feel better! Blessing others is one way to get out of our own way. Are you ready to get out of your own way.
God is ready to surprise us, even if we think we’re dreaming extra large dreams when we only have size small expectations. God will bless us like he blessed Peter; like he blessed the Apostle Paul.
So, here is another question. What would you fish for if you knew it was possible? Because nothing is impossible with God. If you’re going to do the night shift with Jesus, prepare to be surprised at first light, because whatever a boatload of fish would look like in your life, is ready when you are. Bye. I’m going fishing.
Amen.