Luke 5:1-11
What wonderful readings to have in this season of Epiphany! The season we celebrate God revealing himself as the Saviour of all the World. Our God reveals himself to us.
Our readings from Isaiah and Luke this morning have quite a bit in common. The most obvious is that they are both a commissioning: of Isaiah and the disciples. Last week we heard the commissioning of the prophet Jeremiah as a boy.
The wonderful OT reading from Isaiah is transcendent and truly intimate at the same time. It is well-known and loved by many people, especially clergy.
They speak of it as the passage that God revealed himself to them and asked, “who will go for me?” and they have answered from the very core of their spirit and soul, “here am I, send me.”
For both Isaiah and the three fishing partners, Simon, John, and James, life changed drastically from that point and forever. Isaiah was set apart for the Lord and could only ever speak the Lord’s words. The disciples left their boats and businesses and followed Jesus.
But there is something else in common too - their reaction when meeting the living God. Isaiah is sure he is going to die, when suddenly his lips are cleansed and sanctified by a holy coal, anointed by fire to be a prophet for the living God.
Peter’s response is the same; In v.8 he “fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ He didn’t feel worthy to even breathe the same air.
So what Isaiah and Peter have in common, is they both knew their unworthiness to stand in the presence of God, much less speak and act on God’s behalf. The Bible is full of people like them.
The Old and New Testaments are a holy and dependable witness, and they both agree; God chooses the least likely people and small groups of people to call his own and do his bidding.
Right at the beginning of this letter, Paul writes the perfect description of the way God has chosen his Kingdom to come. He has chosen the wildly imperfect members of his own family to bring this perfect Kingdom; with us and out from us:
“For you see your calling, brothers and sisters,
that not many are wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, and not many noble;
but God chose the foolish things of the world
that he might put to shame those who are wise.
God chose the weak things of the world,
that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
and God chose the lowly things of the world,
and the things that are despised,
and the things that are not,
that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
that no flesh should boast before God” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29).
God claims the least likely individuals as his children and gives them the authority to speak and act in his name, and they’ve all got one thing in common: They’re not worthy. They’re woefully inadequate. Their feet are made of clay.
No one has to remind us of our shortcomings. We could all list reasons not to be called a child of God.
Yet, here’s the thing. God knows us warts and all, and has yearningly and joyfully reclaimed us as his own anyway. What’s more, God gives us the inspiration of his Spirit, the knowledge of his Word, and the strength of his grace and love.
“There is no one righteous; no, not one,” Paul told the Romans. (Rom. 3:10) When we share Holy Communion we’re invited to partake of these symbols of God’s grace, not because we’re deserving, but because God has made a place for us at the table.
And now at the end of this letter, in today’s reading, Paul is reminding the Church in Corinth of what they first knew, believed and heard; that this gospel of grace proclaimed to them is amazingly good news.
He does this by summarises the core of our faith – the source of all good news: That Jesus died for our sins and was raised from death in a body of flesh, so that all who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life in a body of flesh.
“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas (i.e., Simon Peter), then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, ... then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of l all ... he appeared also to me” (1 Cor 15:3-8).
God’s purpose in all of this is to keep reclaiming and bringing lost souls back to him – where they belong - with his great yearning-for-us heart. This is the coming of the kingdom of God.
Using the beautifully imperfect, whose very weakness permits and demonstrates his strength alone, God reconciles the world back to himself through this holy task he gives the Church.
He chooses and uses really unlikely churches and fellowships to bring life to the lost and the dead, and Scripture tells us Jesus will not return until this is complete.
He has chosen Drayton Anglican Parish. In fact he has chosen every church fellowship that may think they are too small and frail for such a task as ushering in the Kingdom of God.
In our meekness and our weakness, let us see the strength and power of God through us.
I thought I would be able to use all these fishing metaphors. But today’s gospel isn’t so much about fishing, as trust. Trusting the power of God to use us in all our unworthiness to show others what the Kingdom of God looks like, and help usher in the Kingdom of God in this time and place. Let me pray...