A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
Judges 6:11-24a
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11
Psalm 85 or 85:7-13
Tuesday, January 06, 1998
OSLO, Norway (AP) --
A school of herring caught in a trawler's net refused to give up without a fight -- and sank a 63-foot boat. The trawler Steinholm was fishing off Norway's northern coast when it made a huge catch of the fish. When the crew tried to haul in the net, the entire school of herring swam for the bottom and capsized the ship. Skipper Geir Nikolaisen, 49, was quoted as saying, "I have been fishing since I was 14 and I have never seen anything like it." Crew members tried to cut loose the net but were forced to abandon the capsized ship, which sank in 10 minutes. No one was hurt and the six fishermen were rescued by another trawler. It was not clear whether the fish escaped the net.
I wonder if this is part of what Peter fears -- that whatever is going on here, whether an overabundance of fish or the thought of catching people, will be too much for him, will be disastrous. Maybe it's the fear of every church pastor who sets out to be a "catcher of people" – that the people will sink the boat. Peter feels his life isn't strong enough to hold what Jesus wants to give him. Gideon in our Old Testament reading may have some of the some kind of fear -- But, sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family."
It's scary: If we dare to believe the Good News that God can fill our little boats, our response is often the fear that we will sink. We may react with skepticism and ask for a sign of God's help as Gideon did. Or like Peter we may say "Go away from me, Lord." We'd kind of like things to stay the way they are, even if that means long nights of fishing and empty nets and empty churches; or being so afraid that we hide our food and our gifts from our enemies.
But God doesn't give up on us easily. God comes to us where we are, whether fishing or hiding wheat in a wine press, whether driving down Main Street or sleeping late on Sunday morning. God shows God's self to people in ways that each one can understand -- the catch of the day, or maybe of the millennium, for tired fisherfolk; an act of power for a wimpy would-be warrior; or, in the Apostle Paul's case, a blinding light allowing one who persecuted God's church to become a true apostle. Peter, Gideon, and Paul all experienced God in their own lives. They were all "awestruck" and changed.
But however personal these experiences were, they were not private. The Bible doesn't tell us about individual mystical "God and me" experiences. It seems that when God shows up in someone's life what happens is not to be kept to one's self. The experience of God is meant to be shared. Gideon is sent to deliver his people. Paul hands on what he has received. Peter is sent out to catch people.
And each of them seems to have been given the "bait" to do the job: Little Gideon is given the power to deliver the people. Paul baits his hook with what he has heard -- the good news of the resurrection. Peter has a miracle story to tell and the hint that the miraculous catch will be repeated.
These are all epiphany stories about God's revealing God's self to particular people and through them to the world. But, of course, these kind of things don't happen today, we think. . . . Today full boats sink like that one in Oslo. And we can't compare ourselves with those great leaders of the Bible. Yet these are stories of how ordinary, weak and sinful people experience God. Not stories about royalty and holy ones, but about fisherfolk and farmers. People like us. People whose lives are touched by God.
How do YOU experience God? Where has God manifested God's self in your life. Perhaps you, like Peter, Paul, and Gideon, have experienced God's power directly. Maybe you have seen an angel . . . or a newborn child. Maybe you have known miraculous healing . . . or God's peace in the midst of a crisis. Maybe you have experienced God's glory in the beauty of a frosty morning . . . or in the face of someone who loved you when you knew you were unlovable.
Or maybe your epiphany wasn't anything extraordinary. Maybe not a boat full of fish in front of an amazed crowd. Maybe not a miraculous barbeque with a disappearing angel. But God has touched your life somehow or you wouldn't be here. Maybe it was something simple, like the Apostle Paul writes about: Maybe it was simply handed to you as something "of first importance" -- "That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scripture "
Maybe God came into your life simply because someone took the time to tell you about God. Someone followed Jesus and was a catcher of people.
However your epiphany happened, you're caught. Now it's time to hand on what we have received, to share how God touched our lives. Let down your nets, my friends, our little boat is meant to be full.