Epiphany 5C 2025

Text: “Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:10-11).

Let’s give Peter his due. We pick on him regularly for the stupid things he says and does, but that is not the case today. Today, for once, he gets it right. In fact, he gets it right not just one time, but three times.

He, Andrew, James, and John were not new to fishing. They were professionals. They did not need some itinerant preacher coming along and giving them fishing tips. I mean, there is a reason I’m not out poking around your fields telling you when to plant and when to cultivate and which equipment to use. My advice would be theologically sound, but that is not going to help your yield. But, then again, I’m not Jesus. So Peter listened. He set aside his professional pride and followed Jesus’ instruction. Peter got it right.

Then he realized what he had just seen. For all the many, many, many times when Peter and the other disciples just don’t ‘get it’, this time he puts things together correctly. All of a sudden, Peter sounds like Isaiah when Isaiah suddenly found himself standing before God’s throne. “5 [Isaiah] said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”” (Isaiah 6:5). Peter phrases it slightly different, but the idea is the same. “8 [W]hen Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord”” (Luke 5:8). He understood that Jesus was far more than a man. Peter understood that he was standing in the presence of God. And, like Isaiah, he realizes that sinners do not stand in the presence of God. So he said to Jesus, “Depart from me.” Peter got it right.

But there was one more. “Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:10-11). Jesus invited Peter, Andrew, James, and John to follow Him and be His disciples. And, when He did, they turned their back on what would have to have been the greatest payday in their professional lives and followed Jesus. Peter got it right.

How about you? Are you getting it right?

To a certain extent, you can be excused for not getting it right. The miracles you see are usually hidden. You have heard the words of Jesus, but they are delivered to you by a very ordinary man. They are put into your hands, but in the form of a book that often sits on a shelf. Jesus came to you and called you as His disciple. But that call was hidden beneath the water in the baptismal font. He was hidden there, if you will, in that water.

The things God promises to deliver to you through His Word, the things He promises to give you in baptism, the things He promises to give you in Holy Communion are truly staggering— even greater than the windfall that He delivered to Peter, Andrew, James, and John that day. Why do you insist on clinging to the worthless things of this world instead of following Him as His disciple?

There is no mystery what the life of a disciple looks like: daily prayer, daily scripture reading, weekly worship, giving offerings, serving others, sharing your faith, living as part of this community (this congregation). But God’s Word does not interest you unless it tries to tell you how you can be rich and successful in this life. Prayer is for when you need something rather than a regular habit. (And, often, when you do pray, you resent the fact that God gives you what is really the best for you rather than what you want.) You give whatever you happen to have left over after entertaining yourself and making sure that you are comfortable.

How close are you to getting it right? How close are you to recognizing the presence of Jesus here in worship? How close are you to recognizing the priceless riches that He offers here? How close are you to hearing that call and living as a disciple of Jesus?

The Man speaking to Peter that day, the Man speaking to you through His Word, still today, left everything to come and find you. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left behind an enormous payday to follow Jesus. But it does not compare to what Jesus gave up to come find them. He left behind the riches of heaven, He stepped down from His glorious throne to come and find them and say “Do not be afraid.”

They did not need to fear being in the presence of God because Jesus does not fear the soldiers who would, one day, come to arrest Him. He doesn’t fear the crowd shouting, “Crucify Him!” He doesn’t fear the unjust accusations, the mockery, the false witnesses brought against Him, earthly rulers like Pilate doing what was politically expedient rather than what was just and right. He doesn’t even fear the whip and the crown of thorns and the nails and the cross. He couldn’t. His perfect love for the Father, His perfect love for you cast out any fear. Instead of condemning you because of your sin, Jesus stakes your sin, bears your sin, wears your sin to the cross. And there, instead of condemning you, he is cursed, afflicted, stricken, forsaken in your place. Jesus suffers for you, dies for you, and rises for you.

To Peter—and to you—Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid.” Those are not merely comforting words to a troubled heart. This is the absolution, the forgiveness of sins, the purest and sweetest Gospel. When the knowledge of our sin and God’s holiness pushes out every other fear so that we stand terrified of God’s wrath, and only God’s wrath, when we at last say, “God, I fear you.” God says to you, “I am nothing to be afraid of any longer because look, here is my Son, crucified for you.”

He did not wait for you to choose to follow Him. Really, if you want to know where you fit in to this passage, look to the nets that were so full they were breaking. Look back at the boats which were so filled with fish that they nearly sank. You are those fish. Well, not those particular fish. You are the fish that Jesus was talking about when He told Peter that he was now a “fisher of men.” Jesus sent pastors and other Christians to you to proclaim His Word and to gather you into the holy ark of the christian church so that, when Jesus returns for judgment, He will find this ship filled to overflowing with people from every tribe, people, nation, and language.

You leave here each Sunday sanctified for your work in this world. I don’t know about you, but I have often struggled with the image Jesus used here: ‘fishers of men’. It seems odd. It is kind of a strange image to use to describe witnessing to your faith. Perhaps Jesus used that image, in part, because He wanted to keep discipleship connected to their everyday life. He was not going to suddenly make them something that they were not. He was going to use them and the gifts He had given them to care for the suffering in this world and to preach the Gospel to every nation.

That is certainly what being a disciple means for you. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were called to be apostles. They literally had to leave everything and follow Jesus— their careers, their families, all of it. That is not the case for you. “I will make you farmers of men,” Jesus says to you. “I will make you mechanics of men.” “I will make you accountants of men.” Being a disciple of Jesus does not mean stepping away from your job and family and so forth. It means that everything you do there takes on new meaning.

I suspect that many of us know the feeling of working all night and accomplishing nothing. More than a few times in life, all of your hard work seems like it came to nothing. And yet, Jesus is working through you.

You have nothing to fear on Judgment Day. When the books are opened and the deeds of all people are made known, you have nothing to fear because your sins have been taken from you and placed upon Jesus. They are not yours any longer. But there is more. On that day, you will finally find out all the ways that you had an impact on the people around you beyond what you could have imagined. You will be amazed at how fruitful your life has been, even though all you did was try to be a good spouse, a good parent, a good worker. All you did was try to be good to your parents and caring to your neighbors and compassionate. But you are not just working for yourself. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ. The results may not be visible now, but, on that day, you will marvel. Because whatever you did for the least of these you did for Him.

Do not be afraid. He has made you His disciple. Go and follow Him.