“Let Down Your Nets”
Luke 5:1-11
In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit
St. Luke 5:4 – Now when He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… Today’s Gospel is about catching fish and catching people. Having said that, we need to understand that there is a fundamental mistake that people usually make with this image. As we know, fishing works this way: you bait the hook, your throw in the line, and if it’s a good day, you reel in your catch. The mistake is made when we apply this imagery to how people are drawn into the Church.
The mistake is made when the thinking goes like this: we need to come up with some bait, something to excite and interest people so that we can hook them and yank them into the church. Although it is hardly ever spoken of that unabashedly by those who do such things, that is the clear strategy and goal. What do we need to do to attract the youth or other groups of people? We need talented performers to entertain. We need high quality programs like Christian aerobics and a top-notch day care to meet the people’s needs. We need to make that Gospel “hook” seem nice and comfortable and harmless so that our target group will bite and get snagged.
Many years ago in the LCMS, there was a gimmick called “Friendship Sunday.” The idea was to invite the neighborhood – anyone you can find – to church on one specific Sunday. On that Sunday, the service would be nothing like normal; it wouldn’t be “Lutheran.” It would be extremely “user-friendly” – that was the “bait.” If there was any liturgy at all, it would be fashioned in such a manner as to attract people from all walks of life and other religions, particularly the non-churched: no confession of sins, no Communion (because it’s not friendly to turn anyone away from that), a catchy sermon, and feel-good hymns. Nothing distinctly Lutheran about it, as if the church was embarrassed to be Lutheran. And no one ever thought that if the visitors came back and saw the way things are normally, they would know that they had been hoodwinked.
You see the problem. First of all, bait is all about fooling the fish, isn’t it? Bait is, well, bait, which is intended to give the appearance of food for the fish, but for the purpose of making the fish food for you. It’s about trickery and deception.
That is not the way of our God, nor should it ever be the way of His church on earth. God’s way is the way of truth and honesty and integrity. His is the way of saying what we need to hear, not what we want to hear, so that we may be saved.
The one, holy, Christian and apostolic Church must never be in the bait and switch business. The Church must not be like a business which advertises a certain product at a low price to get you into the store, only to tell you once you’re there that they’re out of that particular item but they have plenty of other items that cost a bit more. The church is not to fool or fake people into becoming Christian. What sort of disciples would that really produce, anyway?
Of course, the other problem with our usual fishing image is that in the Gospel it’s not a rod and reel and bait that are being used but a net. And that, of course, is a whole different kind of fishing. The net is cast; that simply means that the Word of God is proclaimed – Law and Gospel is rightly divided, and Christ crucified for all sinners is preached. And it is through Christ’s Word alone that “fish” are drawn in to the boat of the Church as together many hear and believe His preaching.
And that is exactly what was going on in today’s Gospel. Many people were pressing in around Jesus to hear Him speak the words of God. Because of the crowds, Jesus got into a boat and asked Simon to put out a little from shore. The reflection of the sound off of the water enabled a larger number of people to hear. Peter’s boat literally became a pulpit. And from that boat-pulpit our Lord preached His Word of salvation to the people. Christ is in the boat for the people, drawing them to Himself. Like a fisherman, He casts the net of the Gospel to draw the fish into the boat.
And it is still that way today. The place where you are sitting is called the nave of the church. “Nave” is a Latin word which means “boat.” So even now the people of God – you, here in this place – are pressed in around Jesus to hear His Word, because Christ is here in the boat.
You fish – you who swim in the waters of Holy Baptism – are drawn in by His teaching. The Word of God still reflects off of the baptismal water, calling you to repentance and to faith in Jesus, bringing you everlasting life.
You hear the Law condemning your sins and sinful lives; you hear that you cannot save yourself or work your way into God’s good graces. You hear that, without God’s help, you are lost eternally.
And you hear that Christ has taken all your sins into Himself on His cross; He has paid for every last one of them with His own suffering and death. He has purchased salvation and forgiveness for you, and He delivers those things to you by His Spirit through His Gospel preached and His Sacraments of Baptism, Absolution, and Supper rightly administered. That is how the Church fishes.
In our text, our Lord then proceeds to perform a miracle which illustrates the miracle of salvation which He accomplishes through His preaching. Jesus says to Simon Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Now Simon knows that no fisherman goes to the deep for a catch. Fishermen stay in the shallows where the nets can reach the fish. Simon also knows that no fisherman fishes in the heat of the day but when the sun is down. What our Lord commands Simon to do here makes no sense whatsoever. This is simply not how it’s done. Doesn’t Jesus know what He’s doing?
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This is the foolishness of the Gospel. The way God operates does not seem logical to us. It doesn’t seem reasonable to us that the church should grow simply by the preaching of Christ crucified, by baptizing, and by teaching. There must be other techniques we should employ; there must be other things we have to add to that.
But our Lord purposely has chosen things that are foolish and weak in the eyes of the world to put to shame those who are strong and wise in their own eyes. What our Lord does always runs counter to our thinking to accomplish His saving purposes, so that no one may boast in His presence, but that we may boast in the Lord alone and glory in His mercy.
“Launch out into the deep,” our Lord says in unconventional fashion. Not only in the safe, white, suburbs, but in the cities, in sparsely populated rural areas, not only to people who seem open to Christian spirituality but also to the “unspiritual.” Not only to young families with children, but to people of every age and color and nationality and marital status. The church is given to proclaim the Gospel wherever Christ gives us opportunity – me by preaching in this place, and you by confessing your faith in your daily callings as family members and workers and citizens and neighbors – so that others might be drawn in to get caught in the net of Christ’s teaching and thereby enter His boat. And sometimes the catch will come in surprising places.
Simon responded at first by saying, “Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing.” If nothing else, this reminds us that our own efforts come to nothing. But, in the Light of Christ, Peter goes on to say, “At Your Word I will let down the nets.” Purely by faith Peter surrenders all that he knows and all that he has experienced and lets down the nets.
So it is in the Church. It is not our word and work but Jesus’ Word and work which is our life and salvation. What counts is not what seems reasonable or practical to us, but what is good and right in the sight of the Lord. The still, small voice of the Gospel of Christ crucified, which is foolishness to the world, is the very power of God to salvation. His truth orders our lives.
Simon does what our Lord commands, not worrying what the result will be. And lo and behold, the nets fill up! The nets do not seem to be able to hold all the catch; they are beginning to break and some fish are escaping, just as when the net of the Gospel is cast, not all believe what is preached; not all are drawn in to the boat.
Simon calls to his partners on shore to come out with their boat. With his partners both boats are filled so that it seems that they will not make it back to shore. The catch of fish is so great that one boat cannot hold them all. God’s Word brings in the fish, and it is an amazing thing to see.
Peter’s reaction to this miracle seems a bit surprising when he says to Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” This mighty work of Jesus causes Peter to see that he was in the presence of God in the flesh. And so the unbelief that remains in Peter rises up and begins to overwhelm him. “God is holy. God hates sin. I am a sinner. I am lost.” But that is only half of the truth. Peter is indeed a sinner, as are we all. God does indeed hate sin, with a passion. Sinners do die.
But, the One who stands before Simon Peter, and the One Who stands before you this day – Jesus the Son of God – did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save the world; He came to rescue Peter, and to rescue you and me. Just as Simon trusted in the Lord when he went out to catch fish in the deep, so now you are given to trust in the Lord as He speaks His incredible mercy to you. To the sinner who in shame says, “Depart from me, Lord” Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”
Notice our Lord doesn’t say, “Oh, that’s okay, it’s not really that bad.” No, our Lord says, “Do not be afraid.” “I have taken on your very flesh and blood to sanctify you and make you holy. Your sins have been paid for by My atoning work on the cross, so that now, by faith alone, you can stand before a holy God and live. Do not be afraid. Believe. You are Mine.”
And finally, our Lord does one more amazing thing. He says to Peter, “From now on you will catch men.” In other words, He makes this sinner into an apostle and a preacher of the Gospel, so that more fish – more slippery characters if you will – might be drawn into the boat.
Let us remember, then, not to glorify the preachers Christ calls and ordains; they are sinners like anyone else. Let us rather glorify Christ who goes so far as to use fallen men to speak His Word and administer His Sacraments, in order that you fish might continually be drawn into the church and kept in the church.
Our Lord feeds His fish with the riches of His Altar. He draws you to Himself, that through His true and real body and blood He may deliver His forgiveness to you and dwell in you and you in Him forever. He partook of you by becoming human. And in the Sacrament of the Altar, you partake of Him – His very flesh and blood – that you may share in His divine glory.
Just as the great fish swallowed up Jonah to save him from death, so also Jesus took you into Himself, swallowing up your sin and death on the cross, and raising you up to a new life on the third day in His bodily resurrection.
So let none of us say, “Lord, depart from me. I must stay away from you. You couldn’t possibly save a sinner like me.” Instead, God grant you to say, “At Your Word, Lord, I forsake all my plans, all my ways of doing things to follow you. At your Word, Lord, I let down all my defenses and trust in Your loving kindness. For You are my light and my salvation.”
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
