Rev. Peter J. Haugen
St. Paul Evangelical
Lutheran Church
We hear at the beginning of St. Luke 5 about a great catch of fish, and about our Lord Jesus calling His first disciples. We see here the power of the Word of God. At the Word of Jesus, St. Peter let down his nets. Jesus spoke with the authority of God, and Peter was filled with fear – not of fish or water threatening his life, but of the God-Man standing in the boat with him. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (St. Luke 5:8). What else can be said?
Peter was afraid. And the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is the beginning, but it is not the fullness, and Peter did not yet have full wisdom. So it is that Peter desperately sought to drive away from himself He Who had come to be His Salvation, God with him, God for him. Peter was broken, and broken hearts are contrite hearts, regretting their sinful past, emptied of concern for self and fish and livelihood.
Such a heart belongs in the kingdom of God. Blessed are the pure in heart. Hearts that understand the evil of their own desires, the reality of their own unworthiness, not caring if the nets break or the boat sinks or life is threatened – Such hearts are blessed. They shall see God. He will raise them up, filling them with Himself.
So it is that Jesus did not depart from Peter. He had a further Word. Besides “let down your nets” (St. Luke 5:4), there is also, “Do not fear” (St. Luke 5:10). Peter’s Lord is present with and for him.
But what of us here, so far removed from Galilee in both time and space? We have our own dying flesh, our own fearful worries, our own concerns about the evil world around us, our own pleasures and desires, our own future plans, our own reputations and successes, our own embarrassments and failures, our own terrible suffering. These things are immediate, and so we allow them to define our understanding of reality, to define our relationship with God and with one another. Repent.
May God work in us broken and contrite hearts, even as He did in Peter. May God grant us the grace to receive His Law and confess its truth. And may God grant us the grace to receive His Gospel and know also its truth, to hear from God Himself His own “Do not fear.”
That is how Jesus fishes for disciples in the kingdom of God. There is no baiting the hook, no barbed point to be swallowed only to tear up your insides, drowning you in your own blood and pain. God simply lets down His nets. He catches disciples with nothing more than His Word, in unlikely places, at awkward times, where there is no expectation for success. And hearts – hearts like yours – are broken and purified and blessed. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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