The Fifth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Luke 5:1-11

In Christ Jesus, who has compassion on us when we are anxious and have little faith, so that our hearts and lives are filled with the blessings of His grace, dear fellow redeemed:

It is not a good feeling to put a lot of time and effort into something and to see it bear no fruit. It might be trying to fix something, but it stays broken. Or working to improve a relationship, but it only gets worse. Or taking steps toward better health, but nothing seems to change. Experiences like these make us feel anxious and discouraged. We can see that we are not in control, and we don’t know how the situation can improve.

Simon Peter and his fellow fishermen were experts at their work. They knew how to fish, when to fish, and where to fish to give themselves the best chance at success. By the time Jesus made His way to the shore of the lake, they had already spent the night fishing, but they had come up empty. It was one thing to clean their nets after a successful outing, but it was no fun cleaning the nets after catching nothing. As they toiled away, perhaps they thought about the needs of their families and the bills that were due. Would the fishing get better again? Would they be able to continue in their trade? Or would they have to seek other employment?

As these anxious thoughts bounced around their minds, they were also listening to the words Jesus spoke to the crowds. It was not the first time they had heard Him. Peter’s brother Andrew was one of the first to follow Jesus after he heard Him identified as “the Lamb of God” (Joh. 1:36). At that time, he brought Peter to meet Jesus too. So when Jesus got into Peter’s boat and asked him to put out a little from the land, Peter did not hesitate to do it.

We expect that he was glad to hear Jesus teach, but perhaps he could not see how Jesus’ teaching connected to his daily life or to his nets coming up empty. This is something that we all struggle with. We are glad to hear what God has done to save us—that’s our spiritual life. But we can’t always understand how those spiritual things connect to our physical life and our earthly needs. This disconnect might sound something like this: “I am thankful for the forgiveness of sins that Jesus won on the cross, but forgiveness doesn’t put food on the table.” Or, “I’m glad to know that heaven is mine, but that doesn’t exactly help me with my problems at work or at home.”

This disconnect is what causes people to drift away from church. They put “church life” here, and “real life” here, and they figure that “real life” deserves more attention than “church life.” When they are in church, they might even act totally different than they do outside of church. But God does not separate the two; He pulls them together. What you hear and learn and receive in church is directly applicable to what you do outside of church.

Jesus brought His teaching right into Peter’s life. He told Peter to “put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” From a fisherman’s perspective, “the deep” was not an ideal place to go fishing. The time of day was not helpful either. Peter wasn’t convinced that Jesus knew more than he did about fishing. He said, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” But he recognized that Jesus was some sort of prophet, and he respected His teaching, so he complied: “at Your word I will let down the nets.”

We can’t always see what good will come from doing what the Lord wants us to do. No matter how much we help our family members or fellow employees or neighbors, they might still treat us poorly. By doing what is right, we are often left on the outside looking in. We’re left out of the in-group, passed over for promotions, struggling to make ends meet. If only we compromised a bit, went along with the crowd, did what everyone else is doing, then life would be easier and better for us.

One of the lessons we pick up from today’s reading is that no matter how good we are at something, and no matter how much success we’ve had in the past or how much success others seem to have, if it does not have the Lord’s blessing, it won’t succeed. On the other hand, something that might seem impossible to us, that might run contrary to our reason and experience, can succeed and flourish if it is the Lord’s will. This is why we cannot go wrong by following Jesus’ Word. Like a good shepherd that leads his sheep to green pastures and still waters, Jesus knows us and gives us everything we need.

Against his own reason and experience, Peter let down his nets into the deep. Imagine his surprise when we saw the drag on the net and the tilting of the boat. They had caught such a large number of fish, that their nets were breaking! They had gotten such an overwhelming haul that they needed help to bring it in. They signaled to their fellow fishermen to help, and both boats filled up and began to sink.

That is often the way of God’s blessings. He blesses us so abundantly that the blessings spill over from us to others, from parents to children to grandchildren, from family to family, from member to member in church, from neighbor to neighbor in the community.

Peter could not take credit for the large catch of fish, and neither can we take credit when we receive blessings from God. These are not just the blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation. These are the blessings of marriage, children, home, health, employment, possessions. But didn’t you choose your spouse, purchase your own home, work hard for what you have? You would still be sitting there staring at your empty nets if God did not look with mercy upon you and fill your life with all sorts of good things.

When we think how pridefully we have looked at the successes in our life, and how ungratefully we have received the gifts of God, we can understand Peter’s reaction to the miraculous catch of fish. He fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Peter thought that he knew his business. He was proud of his accomplishments. Then with Jesus next to him in the boat, he saw that he had been all wrong. It wasn’t about him. It was about the Lord who made him and called him to his work.

The same goes for you and me. God does not call you to look at life as what you can do for yourself. He calls you to serve Him and your neighbors with the abilities and strength that He supplies. He calls you to the work you do, “whether you are a father, mother, son, daughter, employer, employee,” as our Catechism says. He calls you to “let down your nets” where He has placed you and to trust that He will bless your faithful work.

This is the antidote for anxiety and worry. It is to trust that Jesus will see us through our trials and struggles, that He has the power to make it better, and that He will work good even out of difficulties. Peter learned this lesson. He also learned that the last thing he needed was for Jesus to go away. He needed Jesus to forgive his sins and save him from eternal death.

Jesus did not do what Peter said; He did not depart from him. Instead, Jesus said, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Jesus called Peter to a new vocation; He called him to preach in His name. Jesus does not call all of us to publicly preach like Peter. But He does call each of us away from our sinful pursuits, away from our selfish plans, away from the empty promises of the world. He calls us to hear His Word and believe it and to share this saving Word with others.

The hearts of the people around us are full of anxiety and worry. Even many of the Christians around us think they need to do something to earn God’s mercy and grace. They will never stop worrying about their salvation because they will never be sure they have done enough (and they haven’t). They are struggling against God, and they don’t know it. But He still cares for them just as He cares for you.

God the Father sent His only Son to suffer and die for you and the whole world. We were all spiraling down the whirlpool of sin toward our death. We had no anchor of righteousness to secure us, no effort of our own that could save us. The harder we tried and trusted ourselves, the more we failed.

But then Jesus joined us in the boat. He made the tempest of death be still by His death on the cross. And He supplied everything we needed to reach the shore of heaven by perfectly keeping the Commandments of God in our place. St. Paul writes, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2Co. 8:9).

Jesus’ work to save us when we could not save ourselves is what caused Peter to write in his First Epistle: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (5:6-7). Peter learned firsthand where all good comes from. He followed Jesus, and people are still being caught with the words he recorded by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Through the Word, the Holy Spirit has put faith in your heart to trust and follow the Lord Jesus. He has special work for you to do just as He did for Peter. Wherever He has placed you, whatever He has called you to do, you are right where you are supposed to be. He will bless your efforts. He will see you through the sad and difficult days. He will teach you to Cast Your Anxieties on Him like Peter casting the empty nets into the deep. Through His Word and Sacraments, He will fill you with the faith you need for each day and for each task because He most certainly Cares for You.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from “Miraculous Draught of Fishes” by Raphael, 1515)