The Great Catch
St. Luke 5:1-11
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
St. Luke 5:5-6 [5] But Simon answered and said to [Jesus], “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” [6] And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… If you have ever watched any of those fishing shows, you probably noticed something, well, fishy about it. When you watch those things, you notice a disconnect between what happens on those shows and what happens when you go fishing. Of course, those shows are intended to sell fishing equipment and vacation trips. And that equipment doesn’t very often work unless you go to the vacation spot where the show was filmed. Therefore, it’s a matter of two things: 1, going to where the fish are and 2, bringing the fish to you.
In today’s Gospel we have professional fishing going on. The normal method was that the nets would be lowered into the water many times until enough fish were caught “passing by.” This method was not a matter of luring the fish to you; it was a matter of going to where you hoped the fish would be. And yet all that previous night Peter, James, and John and their crews had absolutely nothing to show for their night-long labors.
Weary and discouraged, the fishermen washed and mended their nets on the shore. But then a voice – the voice of Jesus – comes from one of the boats, a voice bidding Simon Peter to throw the nets into the boat and row out just a little from the shore in order that Jesus may teach the people.
Preaching from a boat was not the normal way of teaching the people; generally that would take place in the synagogue, which, of course, Jesus had done on many occasions. But the synagogue could not contain Jesus’ teaching nor could it hold the crowds that His teaching drew. Jesus had gone to the right place to teach – He went “where the fish were,” so to speak; but it was, after all, only His Word that drew the people to Him.
The reason Jesus went into the boat is that the people pressed upon him to hear the Word of God. The people recognized that Jesus taught what the Scriptures said, and they wanted to hear more. And Jesus provided not only what the people wanted, but more importantly, He provided what they needed.
In keeping with the First Article of the Creed, Jesus showed how He supplies His people with all that they need “to support this body and life.” Despite the failure the night before to provide for themselves and their families in their vocation as fishermen, Jesus blessed Peter and the others with the great catch of fish. He showed how He loves His children and wants to supply all their physical needs.
This providence under the First Article is well in keeping with the nature of the miracle itself; this is a miracle that only God the Creator could do, as the catch of fish shows not simply that Jesus knew where to fish, but that He, as the Almighty King of Creation, ordered and brought the fish into the net.
The massive catch of fish strained the nets to the breaking point. Peter’s ability to receive, even though he tried to bring this about by his own hard work, was simply not up to par with Christ’s ability to give and to bless. The physical, as usual, demonstrates the spiritual: you are not able to “get a net around” Christ’s salvation; and if somehow you could, it would break; and if someone were to help you, both of your ships would sink.
Since this is true for a catch of fish, consider how much more it is true for something as great as God the Son Himself and the deliverance He brings to you. Unless God Himself gives, builds, and preserves the faith, you could not receive it, believe it, or remain in it. Unless God Himself gives what only He can give, Holy Baptism would be just plain water, the Lord’s Supper would be just bread and wine, and Holy Absolution would be just the empty words of a man. But because Christ Himself is in the boat the net holds you, and you know that these are God’s Word, God’s body and blood, and God’s saving bath.
Where Jesus is, there also is His Word and promise as well as the deliverance of His forgiveness. Where Jesus is, there also is His real, physical presence in His Supper, His heavenly forgiveness in Holy Absolution, His deliverance from death and the devil in Holy Baptism. Where Jesus is, there is the very throne of the Triune God.
Here at Divine Savior congregation, then, we simply put down the net at Christ’s command. That is, by faith we use the tools the Lord Himself has given to His Church and we use them as He has given them to be used. We do not – we must not – worry about the effectiveness of God’s Word and sacraments, for to do so is to express doubt and disbelief in the things that God calls most certain. The Church gives what Christ has given her to give – His Word and sacraments – and we know and believe that, in His time and in His way, Christ Himself will lead the fish into the net.
Those who think that they are doing this work “better” because they have developed approaches and techniques other than the Gospel and the Sacraments to bring people into the church are sadly mistaken. Those who think that by adding a lot of “special” things to the order of service they are doing God a favor end up not making anything special, but instead place distractions, impediments, and roadblocks in the way. And by so doing they force people to rely on the specialties and novelties rather than on the bare Word of God and His sacramental gifts. They have thrown aside what God has instituted and have replaced it with man-made things that do not feed or satisfy anything other than the sinful, self-seeking nature of man.
And that goes for here as well. We rightly stay away from the “special,” from the “heartfelt,” from the “favorites,” from the kitschy and trite, from the “oh, wow.” Trusting alone in what God has given, we place our focus squarely and only on God’s Word and Sacraments and how they are delivered in the context of the Divine Service. Any distractions – no matter how special or heartfelt or favorite or traditional – those distractions draw our attention away from God’s gifts; and then the devil has had his way with us…and God is displeased and ignored and angered.
Dear friends, the Church does not exist in order to make people feel good about themselves. Quite to the contrary, the Church exists in order to give God’s people nothing, absolutely nothing, but Jesus.
And why is that? Because Jesus in the Word and in the Sacraments is the only thing which delivers us from death and the devil and gives eternal salvation. And we appreciate Jesus much more when by faith we regularly admit our own sins and guilt before God as we confess our sins either corporately or privately before the pastor. And that confession is born out of God’s work of bringing to us the truth of His Word in the preaching of that Word – the preaching which declares that sinful mankind by nature cannot save himself from his sins and cannot appease God’s wrath against the unholy sinner.
And then the sweet, sweet Gospel of Jesus Christ comes bursting through! For Christ has willingly taken all our sins upon Himself in His “innocent suffering and death,” and then rose again on the third day in order to declare once and for all that not only are our sins paid for, but not even death itself can separate us from our heavenly Father’s love. In Christ we have forgiveness through God-given faith in His work on the cross for us. In Christ we have the peace – the only true peace – the peace that passes all understanding. In Christ we have the sure and certain promise of everlasting life…and all because Christ Himself is in the boat with us.
For us, dear friends, the “net” that Christ uses to enlarge and strengthen His Church is the Divine Service and the Office of the Holy Ministry; that is, the preaching of the pure Gospel and the right administration of the Sacraments. Where that is going on, as it is in this congregation, the Lord in His time and in His way will drive whatever fish into the net that He sees fit.
Peter didn’t really know where to find the fish; he merely used the tools as Christ commanded. And when he did, he managed to scoop up those who happened along because they were sent to that spot by the Lord. It is the same thing here. As you keep pressing upon Christ to hear Him, compelling your pastor to do the things that he is ready, willing, and ordained by the Lord through His Church to do – preaching, baptizing, absolving, and communing you – the Lord of the Church will keep directing fish into the net here.
Do not worry; do not be afraid. For through these divine gifts Jesus will also keep you safely on board, secured the same way as the fish were that day – by His bodily presence which comes to you in His Supper.
And Lord willing, I will be here in person next Sunday and we can all receive our Lord’s body and blood together. Until then, God bless you all.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
