A lot had happened. Jesus was betrayed into the hands of His enemies right before their eyes. He was taken to courtrooms in which the verdict was fixed and put before Pontius Pilate. He was condemned to death and Rome’s cruelest instrument was used to fulfill the verdict. They had run to the tomb only to find it empty and hidden behind locked doors but still Jesus found them. It was all too much. Their plate was full, their hearts choked up, and their minds reeling. Lets go fishing.
As they had in the past, sometimes as Jesus’ own bidding, they pushed the boat out into the water and cast down their nets. When life becomes too much to handle, you go back to the things you have always done to find consolation in the past. The last time this had happened, the full net about sank the boat. Peter jumped into the water to try and steady things. Then he saw Jesus and in fear urged the Lord to leave him alone for he was a sinful man. This time they caught nothing but frustration until Jesus urged them to cast their net on the other side. As if they had not thought of this already, they relented and did as they were told. Now the boat was again laboring under a mighty catch and Peter was again in the water. This time, now post-resurrection, Peter did not protest but they all stood in awe of the Lord. This was now the third time Jesus had revealed Himself to them and they had nothing to say.
Most of us do not cry out in fear to the Lord as Peter once did. We do not say “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner.” Instead, we plead to God to just leave us alone to enjoy our sin, to make our peace with death, and to live as we desire. It is not that we do not like what Jesus did for us as much as we take it for granted. It is God’s job to forgive sin and it is our job to give Him something to forgive. There is no fear in our hearts to enter into the holy ground of God’s presence. We have tamed our God and turned him into kindly granddaddy who cannot but give us what we want if only we ask rightly. It is not that we do not think there is sin, just that our sin is not as bad as the big sins of the big sinners who need mercy.
Because of this, we do not live in the shadow of the cross but wherever we think our sins can be well hidden. We do not live in the light of Christ but where the darkness will keep all our wrongs safely out of view. We live day to day, in pursuit of the moment, confident that we have God covered, and well practiced in the fine art of apology, excuse, and self-justification.
I wish I could say that our age had a healthy fear of God but we don’t. We fear not getting what we want most of all and we think we have learned how to live with one foot in God’s Kingdom and one foot here on earth to make sure we both – the pie in the sky when you die and the early life well-lived and long-lived. How foolish we are.
Peter may have cried out “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner” in the Gospel reading for today but all the disciples knew enough to stay silent before the Lord rather than to open the mouth and prove themselves the fools they were. What about you and me? If we are not compelled by the guilt and shame of our sins and the fear of death, what is that does compel us? If we are not moved even more by Christ’s might act of deliverance, what will move us?
That we might dwell with God, God became man. To pay for the high cost of our sins, God ransomed His own most precious treasure – His Son. To deliver us from death, our Lord died. To raise us up from death, our Lord is risen. My friends, the Lord will tell you where to fish. Your boat will not sink. Your net will not break. God is determined to overflow you with the riches of His grace. The things of our old lives no longer count but the number of God’s treasures are counted daily as we confess our sins and are forgiven, remember our baptism into Christ, hear the voice of absolution and are given a clear conscience, and taste and see the goodness of the Lord in His flesh that we eat and His blood that we drink.
Our lives are precarious, our boats are fragile, our sins are many, our death is always near. But God is mighty and powerful. Because He holds our lives in His hand, we are secure. Because His strength is made perfect in our weakness, we will endure. Because He has vanquished death and announced His victory to hell, we will not die. Yet we have this treasure in earthen vessels and our nets are daily stretched to the limit. As long as we are in Christ, we have nothing to fear. The Lord is ever at work in us to guard us as His most precious treasure. He does not grow tired of us or of our constant need to be rescued, forgiven, and restored.
Our fishing days are over. The big ones that got away are safe. But the world for whom Christ died is now our focus. We live not for ourselves but for Him who loves us. We are safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church and we are about our Father’s business, fishing for men with mercy and feeding lambs with the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation.
This life is now prelude to the most real life of all – the one for whom Christ died and rose. Our baptismal vocation is now to live in Christ the new life He has given, doing the good works of Him who called us from darkness into His marvelous light. Our comfort lies in that He has declared us worthy, given our lives purpose and meaning, and given us work to do so that our labors will endure forever.
It does not matter if you are old or young, the day of the Lord is always morning. We depart from the boat of our fears and worries to stand upon the beach of God. And there He is. The Lord is waiting. He has prepared us an eternal meal. He delivers us into His presence until there no longer a past to fear or a present in which to struggle but only the unlimited future of His abundant grace.
He has made all things right and all things new. Do you love Him? Then love the things of God and seek after these things with all your heart, body, mind, and soul. Fish where He has bidden for the catch He has prepared. And nothing will steal from you the God who loves you and nothing will come between you and His salvation.
When you were young, you woke up and dressed yourself to go where you wanted and to do what you desired and you thought it would always be like that. Youth refuses to depend on anyone. When you get old, you will depend upon the outstretched hand of another to rise from your bed and dress you and they will take you where you do not want to do. Age teaches us that we must depend upon others but we resent it. Sin makes us full of ourselves and we think we are our own masters. Faith places us in the hands of God where we depend only on grace sufficient for each day. From our lives in His hands we wait for a death that Christ has already answered and for a life we cannot imagine. In Jesus name. Amen.
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