Fishers of Men
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Collect for the Day
Lord of the deep waters,
you call us away from the safety of the shore
to an adventure of the spirit:
Open our hearts and minds and arms
to embrace the world that
you dare to serve;
through Jesus Christ,
who gives life in abundance. Amen.
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
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That earthy prayer that I prayed as our opening collect is in a book of Collects for the Day from Episcopal Church Publishing: General Convention has authorized it for parish use with the bishop’s consent, and I’ve used it at parishes I led, and also here at Holy Nativity from Time to Time.
Each Sunday’s collect links the day's worship to the gospel story for the Sunday. Listen again and you’ll hear it:
Lord of the deep waters,
you call us away from the safety of the shore
to an adventure of the spirit:
Open our hearts and minds and arms
to embrace the world that
you dare to serve;
through Jesus Christ,
who gives life in abundance.
Notwithstanding that we Christians often make the gospel egocentric, about ourselves, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about dying and being saved into heaven beyond the firmament’s blue sky. The gospel is about embracing this good world that God created and that Jesus serves, in this Universe, here on Earth, in this life, which IS the kingdom of God.
Christianity is a religion of stories, and our stories are more than plot and characters and action with lessons to be drawn; the stories are our relationship with our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God meets us in the stories, and we know God in the stories. The reason that in worship we stand for the gospel reading is our theology that Jesus comes personally present in and as the Word as the gospel story is read and heard, just as he is present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
In today’s gospel story, Jesus is at home in Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (some of you have been there). Luke calls it the Lake of Genesseret - - pronounce it as you wish, Jenesseret, Genesseret, JenZe’Ray with a French “E-T” like Chevrolet. If you go online and google it, every website pronounces it their way; so, like many strange Bible names, you cannot go wrong. But,
no matter how you say it, it’s still the Sea of Galilee: where we meet Jesus this morning. As we talk about it, I’m putting myself in the picture as one in the adoring crowd around him, maybe you will go there too. So, the story:
Once while Jesus is standing beside the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd is pressing in on him to hear the word of God (the crowd, that’s us, we are there and Jesus is here), he sees two boats at the shore; the fishermen left them to wash their nets.
Jesus gets into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, (notice that Luke does not mention Andrew, although the Gospels of Mark (1:16) and Matthew (4:18) both say Simon Peter and his brother Andrew - - why do you suppose Luke leaves Andrew out?).
I agree with something Father Steve told us years ago: in a world where life expectancy was 30 or 35, these first disciples are likely teenagers, 17, 18, 19-year old young men. Simon was already married, maybe as young as 14 or 15, to a girl of 12 or so? Growing up in Capernaum, they’re a tight-knit group who’ve looked up top Jesus as their leader all their lives. Andrew is Simon Peter’s little brother of 9 or 10, maybe 11. Andrew’s a pest, a nuisance who’s always tagging along. Probably tattling back home when they smoke, pick up girls, and stuff.
Besides, as some scholars point out, there’s a question about Andrew’s parentage, because he’s the only one of them who does not have a proper Hebrew/Jewish name: Sh’mAYi-on, Ya-akov, Yoha-NAN; but the young boy’s Greek name Andreas, Andrew, for which there is no HEBREW equivalent or meaning, where every Hebrew name is also a word, a legitimate word that you can use in conversation. But not Andrew. So the scandalous gossip: born to Simon bar-Jonah’s apparently widowed mother, why does Andrew have a Greek name? Scholars have pondered that.
This is Luke chapter 5, in chapter 6, Luke does include Andrew as he names the Twelve Disciples, but Luke never mentions Andrew again.
Gospel John, on the other hand, gives Andrew a prominent spot right up front, chapter 1, as the a disciple of John the Baptist who led his brother Simon Peter to Jesus; then later, Gospel John features Andrew at the Feeding of the 5,000 as the one who finds the boy with the five loaves and tow small fish: not unlikely, Andrew and the other boy had been playing together, maybe the same age and tossing a football around.
In today's gospel story, Jesus asks Simon to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sits down and teaches the crowds from the boat. (Finding myself in the crowd on shore, and Jesus speaking from the boat offshore, I wonder if I’ll be able to HEAR Jesus, especially now as a very old man who is hard of hearing; and I’m quite serious, to be there but unable to hear Jesus is upsetting. So, I visualize that, like Blind Bartimaeus who could not SEE Jesus, maybe I’ll say, “Master, let me hear again”).
When Jesus finishes speaking, he says to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answers, “Master,” (Luke’s NT Greek word is epistata Ἐπιστάτα, Master, which tells us that Simon already knows Jesus as his leader, so this was not a first Time meeting. They are in Capernaum, their home town, they all grew up together). Simon says, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."
When they do this, they catch so many fish that their nets are beginning to break. So they signal their partners in the other boat to come help them. And they come and fill both boats up to sinking. (You will recognize this epiphany (it's ’s a miracle or sign) of the miraculous catch of fish: we read this also in the Gospel according to John, chapter 21, a post-resurrection appearance where the same men are in Galilee fishing (Gospel John calls it the Sea of Tiberias, yet another name for the Sea of Galilee), and Jesus appears to them on the beach. In that story Jesus looks different somehow, but they know it’s him anyway; he says “cast your nets on the other side, on the right side of your boat” and they do, and they go ashore having caught 153 large fish, and Jesus cooks breakfast for them.)
In Gospel John’s story, Jesus meets Simon Peter, who at Jesus’ trial had denied him three Times; and significantly Jesus asks three times, “Simon, do you love me?” Simon Peter says, “Lord, you KNOW I love you,” and Jesus restores Simon Peter in loving forgiveness to grace, That gospel is a resurrection story for Simon Peter as Jesus calls him to love others by serving the world in his Name. “Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs.” That’s the action call of the gospel.
Back to Luke’s gospel, When Simon Peter sees the marvelous catch of fish, he falls down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" (Some NT scholars (e.g., Jesus Seminar) point out that Simon saying that makes no real sense at that point in Luke’s story, which suggests that the story Luke remembers is indeed the same story Gospel John reports, in which Simon Peter is agonizing about his sin in having betrayed Jesus). (Note also that instead of “master,” Simon now calls Jesus LORD, the NT Greek word is “κύριε,” Lord, which again enforces the notion that Simon Peter already recognized Jesus as his lord and master, they just haven’t gone anywhere yet.)
Back to Luke’s gospel, “For he and all those with him are amazed at the catch of fish they have taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. (Again, Luke has nothing to say about Andrew, and we know that on several occasions, Jesus takes only Peter, James, and John with him into the story.)
Finally in today’s gospel, Jesus says to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men, people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. (Not at all facetious, you may reasonably wonder who took care of all the fish they’d caught: and the literary answer is, that Luke is not concerned about that, that is not part of Luke’s story." If it bothers you, use your imagination, or maybe you are taking the story too literal instead of hearing what Luke intends to say).
“From now on, you will be fishers of men”: the NT Greek word is anthropon (not men, which is a different word άνδρες andres), anthropon is human beings. I checked a couple of other translations: Luther’s 1545 German Bible says “Mensch, Menschen,” which also means People, not males. But (I do not speak or read Spanish but) I looked at two Spanish translations: an older one reads pescador de owmbraz hombres, fisher of men; a newer translation reads “From today on, instead of catching fish, I'm going to teach you how to gain followers for me." Quite a long stretch from Lukes's NT Greek.
Meant and fully understood as generic, meaning "everyone" not just males, the King James Bible, “Fishers of Men” is beloved classic and I’m sticking with it. The social, political correction “catching people” is bland, not as poetic on the ear as “fishers of men,” but you say it however you like and I’ll not be offended!
So, that’s today’s gospel story! An epiphany where we meet Jesus face to face, in life on Earth here and now as Jesus leads us beyond what we BELIEVE, to action, what he calls us to do, how he calls us to live.
The collect again as we pray,
Lord of the deep waters,
you call us away from the safety of the shore
to an adventure of the spirit:
Open our hearts and minds and arms
to embrace the world that
you dare to serve;
through Jesus Christ,
who gives life in abundance. Amen.
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And the Baptismal Covenant.
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Sermon, homiletic endeavor preached by the Rev Tom Weller, Episcopal priest retired, in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida, on the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, 12 February 2024.