For all these weeks since the Epiphany we’ve been reciting
our Baptismal Covenant. The font is up
here to remind us that we are washed in the power of the Holy Spirit. We hear over and over again that we are God’s
beloveds. We are taught and we teach, we
pay attention to our gifts and talents and we use as many as we feel comfortable
with, but we still have a hard time understanding why.
Why are we called into this place at this time? Why are we called to hear the Word of God? Why, if we live in this light of Christ, do we
hesitate when it comes to recognizing, to hearing that call?
All of us are called, in some
capacity, to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
Some are ordained, but most are not.
Most of us are not like an eager child
in the classroom, raising their hand to offer their answer to their teacher’s question. Waiting to offer our knowledge, our ability,
or to be singled out as someone with unique talents.
We doubt. We recognize our shortcomings, we are like Simon
Peter—confessed sinners. We are like
Moses—afraid to speak before crowds. We
are like Isaiah—people with unclean lips.
We are like Jeremiah—too young and inexperienced.
But God didn’t choose any of them for
their shortcomings. God chose them
because of their humanity. Their brokenness. Their fear.
Their doubt. Their inexperience.
And God chose you.
Like any of those heroes in the Bible,
we all are called.
The beauty of being called by God is
that we are called to come as we are each day and we are challenged to become
more each day.
Think about it. In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls the first four
of his apostles out of their fishing boats.
These are four men who spent days and nights floating in their boats on
the water, trying to gather fish in their nets enough to feed their families
and maybe sell a few to the people in their communities.
They didn’t need much, and they knew
that there would be good days and not so good days, but they were on the water,
doing work that sustained them and probably gave them some joy. I know a few people who would think this
would be a great life!
Today was not a great day on the
water. The fish were elusive. Their nets came up empty. While the men were cleaning and mending their
nets, preparing for tomorrow, Jesus was talking to the people gathered. The crowd became larger and Jesus chose to
step onto Simon Peter’s boat. They knew
each other because earlier, Jesus stayed with Peter and healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
I might find speaking to a crowd from
a boat a little uncomfortable, but Jesus used that platform to teach. And when he was done, he asked Simon Peter and
three others to go back out into the lake and toss their nets back into the
water.
Peter protested. He was tired.
He recognized that there are good days and bad ones, and today wasn’t so
good. He could live with that because he
had lived with it before and he would again.
This was his life. This was the
life of all the fishermen along the shore.
This is the life of most of us, don’t
you think? We have good days and we have
not so good days and we learn to accept that in life, we will have both and
everything in between.
But Jesus was persistent. And Simon was compliant. The result was an abundance of fish. Too many to haul into the boat, too much weight
for two boats. Too many fish.
So when we think, “I’m not good
enough, I’m not smart enough, I’m not strong enough, humble enough, old enough,
young enough, trained enough, patient enough.”
And it makes us think, “I’m not enough,” God does this thing—with fish, and
later with bread, too—and shows us how abundantly wrong we are. God shows us that we are just what is needed
for this world right now.
We see it in the coal placed on Isaiah’s
mouth. We see it in the net full of fish. We hear it in Isaiah’s words: “Here I am,
send me.” And in Peter and the other
three fishermen who leave their boats, leave the nets, leave the fish, and
follow Jesus.
What do you need to know or see or
experience to realize that you are enough? Can you see it in these ancient
stories? Do you hear it as a whisper in
your subconscious? What about when
someone invites you to use a trait or a gift or a talent you never nurtured, or
you have hidden?
Who you are is God’s gift to you. Because you ARE, you are enough. When you say “yes” to God, when you say “I
will, with God’s help” during our baptismal covenant, you are saying you are
open to all the possibilities that God is going to place in your path.
You are saying yes to being
changed. You are saying yes to being
forgiven. You are saying yes to being
challenged to walk in this world, willing to change it, all for God.
Simon Peter was a tough nut to
crack. We know this because his name
comes up repeatedly throughout the Gospels, questioning, doubting, debating
Jesus. But he always, always was willing
to learn, was willing to be corrected, was willing to change his mind. Yes,
even when he denied knowing Jesus, even in his frailty and fear, he was still
devoted, still committed, to following Jesus.
Today, today, Peter takes that first
step to changing his life. He takes his boat
out of the water, leaves the nets full of fish and together with Andrew, James
and John, becomes one of the first four Apostles. These men said “yes,” to God. They were willing to follow Jesus and learn
how to live in love.
They didn’t know that this journey
would lead them to upending the world.
They didn’t know that they would learn that God’s love was for everyone
and that Jesus would show them, show us, what loving could look like. They didn’t know that they would be reaching
outside of their familiar circles to bring gentiles to God. They didn’t know that their days would be
filled with big and small miracles, of healing, of breaking bread with
outcasts, of standing up for women. They
didn’t know. And still, they followed.
We know. We know, at least in part, what Jesus did to
change the way the world viewed love. We
know that when these four men, when these first Apostles agreed to become fishers
of people, they would learn that the love of God shows no boundary. They would become our teachers and our
examples of what it means to know and then show the abundance of God’s love.
Let us pray.
God
of abundant love help us to know that we are enough, that we are enough as we
currently are to be able to say yes to your call. Then, let us be open to all the ways you will
develop our ability to love others in the way of Jesus. Call us.
Teach us. Send us into the world
to show and share your story of love. Amen.