Let's Try this Again

My absolute favorite thing about reading the stories and literature of the Bible is how the same passage or story can take on different meanings. Sometimes it just happens organically, sometimes we have to tell ourselves to look for something other than what we normally see, and sometimes someone tells us or teaches us about some part of the story that we hadn’t noticed or thought of before.

And if that weren’t a blatant enough of an opening, today is one of those days and I feel that this whole idea of different understandings has a double meaning for both us and this text. We’ll take a look at both the new take on this call story of the most well known, or as they are also called the inner circle of Jesus disciples, as well as how we might think of this in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.

To get there we need to go back in the Gospel of Luke and take a quick look at a story we skipped over at the end of Luke 4:38-39. That story as you can see up on the screen is the story of Jesus going to Simon’s house and healing his mother-in-law. This story, just like last week’s of Jesus preaching in his hometown, also appears in both Matthew and Mark but Luke chooses to place the story in a different order. Now some people might say that Luke just got the order wrong by placing the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law first and the call second, but I choose to look at it in this way: the gospels were written very intentionally with a very specific purpose so maybe there is a reason why Luke felt the story happened this way. And a possible reason is the new reading into the story I wanted to share with you.

So if it is intentional that Luke put Simon’s mother-in-law’s healing before his calling, then that means that when Jesus comes to Simon at the lake of Gennesaret, there is already some kind of relationship between him and Simon, and at the very least, that relationship centers around Simon most likely feeling gratitude for this healer. So when Jesus asks Simon to put his boat out on the water to be able preach to the crowds, it is not nearly as awkward a situation as it seems at first glance. They already know each other. Perhaps Simon feels not only do they know each other already, but perhaps he feels a sense of debt to pay to Jesus for healing his mother and so the least he can do is grant his request for his boat as a preaching platform.

So at this point Simon has seen Jesus heal his own mother-in-law. He has probably seen Jesus heal the other people who were brought to him that day and now he has heard him preach. Simon has had several interactions with Jesus and now that Jesus has finished preaching he requests another by telling him to put out his boat to deep water to fish during the day. The text tells us they already fished all night and caught nothing and anyone who has fished knows that early morning and dusk are usually the best times to fish. So this request to fish during the day isn’t a practical one, but again we see Simon answer by saying that if you say so we’ll do it. These different interactions between Simon and Jesus has caused him to do something he wouldn’t otherwise do because it would seem like a waste of time, yet he does it because of what Simon has seen and that growing relationship between them.

What results is nothing but miraculous to Simon as well as his fishing partners James and John. Simon has seen enough of what this man can do and is probably wondering if there is anything this Jesus can’t do. Simon feels unworthy to be in the presence of him. In response to that sense of unworthiness, Jesus calls him and his partners to follow him as disciples to catch people the way they have spent their lives catching people. And they left everything and followed him.

I had never thought about Luke’s specific way of telling the story before. And sure there might be that twinge that for Luke it wasn’t this random meeting and they just up and walk away, but at the same time there is something incredible about this building up of a relationship between Simon and Jesus that also has a profound sense of wonder to it.

In a previous call, our church had a woman in her 70’s start coming to worship. Then she started coming to the women’s Bible study. Then she started coming to a class I taught. She came to the class the senior pastor taught. Then she would show up every so often to the church office and drop off ziplock baggies full of change with a label that it was for the youth. One year when I was filming people for our Lenten videos, she asked to be a part of it and it was then that she shared with me that she had been to church on and off as a kid and very rarely since then and that before she came here she had not been to church for 30 years. She felt something was missing in her life and she felt a profound sense in that moment to go to church. She felt called to worship and service. It may have taken most of her life but she too, through interactions with Christians felt a sense of call to follow Jesus.

And that’s the other part of this story that really struck me. Is that we can look at Luke’s telling and understand that sometimes faith takes time. You would think that maybe Jesus healing Simon’s mother-in-law would have been an instant let me follow you moment, like we see some other people want to do in the gospels, but for Luke, Simon takes more time and Simon takes that building up of the relationship to get there, but once he gets there he’s all in, much like the woman from my previous call. Much like some people here at Grace, and in other contexts I have seen.

That is the beauty of the Gospel message. It can affect us and inform us each time we read it, which is why it is so important to read it. That is the importance of living out the Gospel message as well. We are the hands and feet, and voice of Christ. It is what we say and do that becomes those touch points for people to build that relationship with God.

The final beauty of it all and the blessing of it all is Jesus words: Do not be afraid. In all of our fears and anxiety. In all of our sense of unworthiness, Jesus is with us. Jesus follows up with do not be afraid by telling them they will catch people, which also might be anxiety producing, but without giving the story away, Jesus is with them every step of the way. Jesus helps them and guides them. He teaches them and loves them. Even when Jesus eventually does leave this world, he gives them the Holy Spirit to continue to be with them and promises to never truly leave them. That same promise is with us all. That no matter what…no matter what he is always with us. We don’t need to be afraid and that Jesus will continue to develop a relationship with us throughout our whole lives. He never gave us on Simon, no matter how many mistakes Simon made and he’ll never give up on us. Amen.