Fishing           Epiphany 5c                  February 4, 2007

We’ve moved this week to our new house in Cresson. The movers came yesterday, and took all the furniture away. We’re excited to be in our new home. It’s a nice house in a great location for us. I’m sure it was a good move for us in every way.

But at the same time, I’ll miss what I left behind in Crowley. After the movers left, I looked around at the empty rooms, and prayed to God, giving thanks for nearly five years, and all the good memories There’s many things I’ll miss, but mostly I’ll miss the good neighbors we had, the garden and lawn I put in. Those were most personal to me.

Now most of us can relate to such a move. We change jobs, houses, get transferred. But when I hear this text, what jumps out at me is that the disciples left everything. Everything! Their homes, their families, their jobs, .... everything. The only reason they did it was because Jesus was so compelling, so awesome.

The story goes that Jesus is preaching and teaching to crowds of near the lake shore. He borrowed a boat belonging to Simon and continued talking a few feet out from shore.

Jesus commanded Simon, James and John and the others get out and go fishing. Simon said, “we’ve been fishing all night, and haven’t caught anything.” The logic of Simon Peter’s statement is simple. We’ve done this exact same thing before, and it didn’t work. “But if you say so, we’ll go.”

That my first point. Following Jesus’ commands lead to results beyond out expectations. Simon Peter was skeptical. He didn’t think that what Jesus told him to do would work. But finally, he did what Jesus said to do, and was obedient to him. To his surprise, when they let down their nets, they caught net-fulls of fish. They filled that boat, and then call their partners to bring another boat. That filled the second boat so that both boats were almost sinking. That’s a lot of fish!

Where I grew up in New Jersey, I was familiar with the fishing industry. Most of that came from the Norwegian fishermen who were members of the Lutheran church where I grew up. Back in those days, we had clams and oysters at the annual church picnic. Fishermen are hard working businessmen who how to make money. How much money did Simon Peter and his partners make when they caught all those fish?

From the size of the boats they used, I estimate it would take about 6,000 pounds of fish to fill the boat. Today, those fish would wholesale for about $3.00 per pound. That means they made at least $18,000 in about an hour. Not a bad sum of money.

Now I read my personal experiences into this story. My home congregation on the Jersey shore started their first building project in 1960 with a loan of $60,000 from a retired Norwegian fisherman named Axle. Axel was old even for his age, having spent years on the open sea in the cold and the heat. His wife and he spoke to each other in Norwegian.

As a youth, I didn’t think he spoke enough English to understand what was going on in worship. To look at them, you would never guess that they had any money. But Axel and his son, Andy owned three large trawlers, worth about $1,500,000 today. And down at the docks everyone knew they always managed to find the fish.

When I read the gospel story about fishermen, I think about Axel and son Andy. I imagine them to be like Simon Peter, James and John. I would expect them to fill the boat full with fish. Later they might thank Jesus, and perhaps offer him half of their reward. But that’s not how the story goes.

Instead, Simon Peter recognizes the miracle that had just happened, and falls on his knees. The he tells Jesus to go away, because he is a sinful man. Why? Didn’t he think he was good enough to follow Jesus? Why was that? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions, but let me state the obvious. Simon Peter realized that sitting in his boat was someone bigger than life, someone wonderful, but also dangerous. Jesus had that effect on him.

Then come the clincher. Jesus invited them to follow him, and they left the boats, the nets and the fish, and took off! Amazing! We know Simon was married, we can assume he had some children. I assume the other men had families as well. Yet they left everything, didn’t even go and sell the catch of fish. Didn’t even tell their family goodbye. Amazing!

They must have realized that what Jesus was saying is true. God gives grace upon grace, upon grace, upon grace. The riches of God are greater than all the worlds riches. Those disciples if Jesus could do this miracle with the fish, he could do whatever God appointed him to do. Jesus said, “Ask, and you will receive.” Those fishermen went on to become the pillars of the church, and their names are known throughout the world for what began on that day at the lakeshore. I The gospel is true. God gives grace upon grace, love and more love. If it is God’s will, God will give anything we ask. When we do what Jesus tells us to do, great things will happen and be thankful for all that Jesus has given us.

I know what your thinking. There must be a catch somewhere. Do you have to leave everything you have? Do we have to quit our jobs and go on a mission? No, not necessarily, unless you hear God’s call to do that. God’s grace is free. Jesus simply invites us to come and follow him. We each get to decide how we can follow him. Let’s start by listening to God’s Word and to what Jesus said.

Jesus said that all the commandments come down to these two, love God and love your neighbor. That’s what we do here at Grace Lutheran. The church is like the boat from which we work. Worship is our way of giving God our love. Through the various ministries of the church, we love our neighbor by reaching out to them to plant the seeds of Gods’s love. This is our purpose as a congregation. When we contribute to the church, we are contributing to that purpose.

Now the question is, what to we each contribute to the ministry of the congregation. We don’t have to quit our day jobs and leave our family like the disciples did. St. Paul said each of us should give in proportion to what God has given us. Paul knew that in the book of Leviticus, each member was expected to contribute one tenth, or a tithe of their wealth to the temple out of love for God and our neighbor. God asked them to do that so that they would remain strong in the covenant God had with them. That covenant was the special relationship between God and them. It’s the same relationship we have with God through our baptism into Christ. Our financial giving is our way of remembering the promise and covenant God gave us. It’s great!

What I’m saying is that giving a tithe out of thanksgiving to God will increase your faith in God. It will give you a sense of peace and joy, a sense of fulfillment in life. Our tithe reminds us that we are part of God’s purpose not just for this congregation, but for the whole world. Let us live each day giving thanks to God for the grace given us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen