The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Epiphany 5) – February 7, 2010
Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13]
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
It had been a very long night… Simon and the other fishermen were tired… they had been at it ALL NIGHT LONG… lugging on the nets and reaping no reward for their labors… All they want to do is get things cleaned up, wash out their nets and to go HOME!
Have you ever been on a fishing trip when you didn’t catch anything? I know that I sure have… And I know the blaming that goes on as a result of not catching anything too… things like, we must have gone at the wrong time… we went to the wrong spot… or we brought the wrong bait… but, we can be sure that Simon, James and John knew what they were doing… They were professionals and this was their lively hood… and fishing on Lake Gennesaret south of Capernaum was a thriving business!
Fish was one of the main staples in this area, and was eaten more than any other meat. There were catfish, carp, and panfish… Fish were either eaten fresh, or they could be processed, salted, dried or pickled for export. Fishing was BIG business!!! And we can bet that Simon, James, and John were good at it. But this time their nets were empty, and they were tired…
They tried at night, when most of the fishing was done… we can even assume that they had tried at all the great spots… But their nets were still empty. What was the problem???
So, at this point, they are saying to themselves… Forget it! Lets just get the nets cleaned and get on back to our homes and get some sleep… And along comes Jesus with a great crowd of followers hanging on his every word… right in the middle of all the net cleaning… (kind of like someone coming into a store – right at closing time when the clerk is ready to go home)
Luke says that Jesus borrows a boat so that he can preach to the crowds from just off shore… This would have probably created a wonderful auditorium effect with the sound bouncing off the nearby mountains. And after he preaches, he asks Simon, who had been working all night long, to go out to the deep water and let down his nets…
With a little frustration at first, Simon tries to explain to Jesus, “We have been at this all night!!! and we haven’t caught anything…” (Simon implies - What makes you think we are going to now??) (almost if to say… What do you know, your just a carpenter, leave the fishing to the professionals) Simon, seeming at first like he has something to prove, honors Jesus’ request.
Then, in one of the greatest miracles in scripture, Jesus causes them to catch enough fish to make their nets start to break and their boats begin to sink… This was a lot of fish… these boats were about 26’ long 7’ feet wide and 4’ deep, and they were taking on water!!! Simon, James and John were so amazed… After they returned to shore they left everything, and at Jesus request, followed him to ‘catch people.’
It is so often that this passage in Luke is simply seen as a metaphor for God’s wonderful abundance that God provides to those who are obedient… While this is true, I think that we should go a step further (a little deeper – if you will)… and figure out why it is meaningful for us today.
Today has been set aside by the Episcopal Church in the United States as “Theological Education Sunday.” And that has caused me to look at our Gospel story today a bit differently…
I kept saying to myself… How do we go deeper? How do we go deeper??
Have you ever been in deep water? I mean really deep water in a small boat… I can testify that it can be a pretty scary experience! So, how do we row OUR boats out into the deep waters and let down our nets?
Considering the importance of Theological Education in our Christian lives together, this passage makes us realize that it isn’t about catching fish any more… To me, this story is much more about going deeper… It’s about responding to our thirst to learn more about God and how God acts in our lives…
It is about going out deeper and letting down our nets into the waters of the unknown… and when that it’s done… It’s about going out and catching people… telling others about what you have learned and sharing our exciting experience, so that THEY might also turn to the truth in Christ Jesus… But, It has been a long NIGHT!... and we are tired, so how do we do this???
It takes a deliberate act… making sure that we create and seek opportunities to be formed (informed, and transformed) into the image of Christ…
It takes commitment… a commitment to stick with the program and see it through. A commitment to taking away something and applying it to our Christian walk.
And it takes consistency… Christian formation and education is a continuous process that just doesn’t happen over-night. It is a consistent process of continuous and consistant formation and discernment…
Most often, this is the Sunday that seminaries send seminarians and theological students use the as an opportunity to show off their wares… However, I take a different approach to it… I see it as an opportunity here / today to reinforce what we are doing within our community to grow in our faith, and hopefully challenge ourselves to take it a step further (to go deeper)…
At this point in my life have been through 3 academic years of formal “Theological Education.” and I have been an ordained parish priest for about just as long… I know that I have been through a lot… but I also know that I am not done yet… I know that God isn’t finished with me yet… I understand that my theological education did not end with graduation from seminary… nor does it in with a certain number of years of ordination or of baptism!!
Because, it is my prayer that our living God will continue to form, inform, and transform my life. It’s a process… I also pray the same for all of you sitting here today.
It takes deliberate action to put together quality Christian Education opportunities. An example of these would be the Lenten series on the “Opponents of Christ” that is coming up, and the prayer book class on Sunday mornings, Bible studies and interactive discussions with groups in the community such as the youth and the Episcopal Church Women.
With a commitment to them and some consistency, opportunities like these are great ways to learn and grow in your faith… And if you mix them in, and possibly supplement them, with some of resources available through the greater church (the church’s major programs such as “Education for Ministry” and “Disciples of Christ in Community,”) then you have an abundance of resources that will bust your net!
It all started with 3 simple fisher-folk who after a very long labor intensive, unproductive night decided to go deeper at Jesus’ request… They ended up being so amazed by what happened, that they followed Jesus wanting to know more… wanting their lives to be continuously enriched and their nets to be filled… They were rewarded with so much more than an abundance of fish that almost sunk two boats.
As we approach the holy table today to partake of the bread and wine that we know to be the body and blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ… We can ask ourselves how we can learn more about what it is that we are doing? How do we learn more, so that we can continue to be filled?...
Jesus asked the fisherman to go deeper and let down their nets after they were tired and ready to give up… and Jesus calls each one of us to do the same… So, go deeper, learn and grow in your faith and be committed in your worship, and in your study… engage and commit to the opportunities before you to learn… and then let your nets bust with God’s great abundance…
Christ Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year C (Epiphany 5) – February 7, 2010
Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13]
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
It had been a very long night… Simon and the other fishermen were tired… they had been at it ALL NIGHT LONG… lugging on the nets and reaping no reward for their labors… All they want to do is get things cleaned up, wash out their nets and to go HOME!
Have you ever been on a fishing trip when you didn’t catch anything? I know that I sure have… And I know the blaming that goes on as a result of not catching anything too… things like, we must have gone at the wrong time… we went to the wrong spot… or we brought the wrong bait… but, we can be sure that Simon, James and John knew what they were doing… They were professionals and this was their lively hood… and fishing on Lake Gennesaret south of Capernaum was a thriving business!
Fish was one of the main staples in this area, and was eaten more than any other meat. There were catfish, carp, and panfish… Fish were either eaten fresh, or they could be processed, salted, dried or pickled for export. Fishing was BIG business!!! And we can bet that Simon, James, and John were good at it. But this time their nets were empty, and they were tired…
They tried at night, when most of the fishing was done… we can even assume that they had tried at all the great spots… But their nets were still empty. What was the problem???
So, at this point, they are saying to themselves… Forget it! Lets just get the nets cleaned and get on back to our homes and get some sleep… And along comes Jesus with a great crowd of followers hanging on his every word… right in the middle of all the net cleaning… (kind of like someone coming into a store – right at closing time when the clerk is ready to go home)
Luke says that Jesus borrows a boat so that he can preach to the crowds from just off shore… This would have probably created a wonderful auditorium effect with the sound bouncing off the nearby mountains. And after he preaches, he asks Simon, who had been working all night long, to go out to the deep water and let down his nets…
With a little frustration at first, Simon tries to explain to Jesus, “We have been at this all night!!! and we haven’t caught anything…” (Simon implies - What makes you think we are going to now??) (almost if to say… What do you know, your just a carpenter, leave the fishing to the professionals) Simon, seeming at first like he has something to prove, honors Jesus’ request.
Then, in one of the greatest miracles in scripture, Jesus causes them to catch enough fish to make their nets start to break and their boats begin to sink… This was a lot of fish… these boats were about 26’ long 7’ feet wide and 4’ deep, and they were taking on water!!! Simon, James and John were so amazed… After they returned to shore they left everything, and at Jesus request, followed him to ‘catch people.’
It is so often that this passage in Luke is simply seen as a metaphor for God’s wonderful abundance that God provides to those who are obedient… While this is true, I think that we should go a step further (a little deeper – if you will)… and figure out why it is meaningful for us today.
Today has been set aside by the Episcopal Church in the United States as “Theological Education Sunday.” And that has caused me to look at our Gospel story today a bit differently…
I kept saying to myself… How do we go deeper? How do we go deeper??
Have you ever been in deep water? I mean really deep water in a small boat… I can testify that it can be a pretty scary experience! So, how do we row OUR boats out into the deep waters and let down our nets?
Considering the importance of Theological Education in our Christian lives together, this passage makes us realize that it isn’t about catching fish any more… To me, this story is much more about going deeper… It’s about responding to our thirst to learn more about God and how God acts in our lives…
It is about going out deeper and letting down our nets into the waters of the unknown… and when that it’s done… It’s about going out and catching people… telling others about what you have learned and sharing our exciting experience, so that THEY might also turn to the truth in Christ Jesus… But, It has been a long NIGHT!... and we are tired, so how do we do this???
It takes a deliberate act… making sure that we create and seek opportunities to be formed (informed, and transformed) into the image of Christ…
It takes commitment… a commitment to stick with the program and see it through. A commitment to taking away something and applying it to our Christian walk.
And it takes consistency… Christian formation and education is a continuous process that just doesn’t happen over-night. It is a consistent process of continuous and consistant formation and discernment…
Most often, this is the Sunday that seminaries send seminarians and theological students use the as an opportunity to show off their wares… However, I take a different approach to it… I see it as an opportunity here / today to reinforce what we are doing within our community to grow in our faith, and hopefully challenge ourselves to take it a step further (to go deeper)…
At this point in my life have been through 3 academic years of formal “Theological Education.” and I have been an ordained parish priest for about just as long… I know that I have been through a lot… but I also know that I am not done yet… I know that God isn’t finished with me yet… I understand that my theological education did not end with graduation from seminary… nor does it in with a certain number of years of ordination or of baptism!!
Because, it is my prayer that our living God will continue to form, inform, and transform my life. It’s a process… I also pray the same for all of you sitting here today.
It takes deliberate action to put together quality Christian Education opportunities. An example of these would be the Lenten series on the “Opponents of Christ” that is coming up, and the prayer book class on Sunday mornings, Bible studies and interactive discussions with groups in the community such as the youth and the Episcopal Church Women.
With a commitment to them and some consistency, opportunities like these are great ways to learn and grow in your faith… And if you mix them in, and possibly supplement them, with some of resources available through the greater church (the church’s major programs such as “Education for Ministry” and “Disciples of Christ in Community,”) then you have an abundance of resources that will bust your net!
It all started with 3 simple fisher-folk who after a very long labor intensive, unproductive night decided to go deeper at Jesus’ request… They ended up being so amazed by what happened, that they followed Jesus wanting to know more… wanting their lives to be continuously enriched and their nets to be filled… They were rewarded with so much more than an abundance of fish that almost sunk two boats.
As we approach the holy table today to partake of the bread and wine that we know to be the body and blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ… We can ask ourselves how we can learn more about what it is that we are doing? How do we learn more, so that we can continue to be filled?...
Jesus asked the fisherman to go deeper and let down their nets after they were tired and ready to give up… and Jesus calls each one of us to do the same… So, go deeper, learn and grow in your faith and be committed in your worship, and in your study… engage and commit to the opportunities before you to learn… and then let your nets bust with God’s great abundance…
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