5 Epiphany C

February 7, 2010
The Rev. Susan J. Latimer

For an old friend, it came at the end of a long, dry period of life. He had felt stuck for a long long time – mired in a joyless place. All of a sudden, there was a shift. Doors that had remained closed suddenly opened, all at once.

He had a decision to make – should he go through these doors, following the path that now seemed laid out for him?

Should he take the risk of the unknown, or stay with the known? When he started out on his new path, new life and joy were his companions once again.

Sometimes, often, it comes as the fruit of suffering. Pete was an Infantry officer in the US Marine Corps for ten years.
In combat, he was badly wounded by shrapnel, and lived in constant pain. After trying every technique available to rid himself of the pain, with no effect, he decided it was up to him to keep trying. Over time, he developed a brand new way of dealing with pain and restoring muscle functioning. He now spends his life helping others find relief from pain, and has founded more than 25 clinics in this country and abroad….

When we launch out into the deep,
God’s grace can be overwhelming…..

It is said that
“Divine inspiration does not make sense to the rational mind”
( Carolyn Myss )

When God calls us, often the call seems impossible.

It makes no sense – it is too much to ask, we are not up to it.

Moses and Isaiah said as much –
“we’re not qualified – we are not worthy”

Paul had been a zealous persecutor of Christians, until God stopped him in his tracks on the road to Damascus.

Do we let ourselves hear when God calls to us?

Sometimes we find ourselves exhausted by fruitless labor,
discouraged by failure. And then we hear Jesus calling to us,
“Try once more”

It is so easy to say, “We tried that already, and it didn’t work!”
or
“That’s just impossible - nothing new can come of this!”

At times like that, I think of Peter and his fishing boat. I imagine Peter telling his story - the amazing story of faith, sounding much like a fisherman’s tall tale. I imagine he might have told it like this:

I often thought back to that day on the lake, years later,
trying to remember what it was about Him
that made it so easy
for Him to get a group of characters like us
to do something that seemed to make no sense at all.

After all, we had been fishing all night and into the early morning, with no particular luck, and we were tired and grumpy.
We were all looking forward to a long nap as soon as the nets were washed and mended.
But He came to the shore – right towards my boat, and asked if He could come aboard. Of course, I had heard about Him
news travels fast here
– and I guess it was my curiosity that caused me to say,
“Sure, come aboard.”

He asked us to pull away from the shore
the crowds were pressing in to touch Him –
so we lifted anchor and pushed out a ways
but close enough so he could still talk to the crowds.
I guess that’s when He got to me – I was so tired
and not in the mood to hear the same old prophet stuff –
but He was different.
I found myself listening despite myself, and growing more peaceful with every word He spoke.

When He finished His teaching, we all sat in silence for a few minutes. None of us wanted to move – we felt so peaceful there.
But we were physically exhausted – so we started to take up anchor again to move back in to shore.

That’s when He really surprised me.

“Launch out into the deep, Simon,
and put out your nets for a catch”

It was all I could do to keep from laughing.
You want us to do what??

I don’t have to tell you how ludicrous that sounded.
It was broad daylight, hot sun.
Definitely not prime fishing weather.
But I didn’t laugh.
Neither did James or John.

Something about Him was so compelling
that the three of us found ourselves launching our boat out into the deep water
without a word to each other.

And then – well, you know the rest of the story.
Nets so full they almost broke as we pulled them into the boat.
We even had to call to our friends on the shore to come help us pull in the nets. The fish filled both boats to overflowing…
The abundance was frightening, and He saw that fear in our faces as I fell at His feet, totally overcome by His grace and love.

“Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching people.”

And when we got back to the shore,
there was no question about what to do next.

All three of us touched our nets one last time,
then turned to follow Him….