Master, at Your Word We Will Let Down the Nets - Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Trinity

Fifth Sunday after Trinity
July 17^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Luke 5:1-11

Master, at your word I will let down the nets.

   Some days before, Peter had seen a small-ish miracle when Jesus rebuked the high fever of his mother-in-law, and she was suddenly well, able to get up out of bed and serve her Guest. Peter probably also saw Jesus cast out a demon that was afflicting a man in the synagogue in Capernaum. Additionally, Peter had just heard Jesus preach a sermon from his own boat, which our Lord borrowed and converted into a temporary pulpit.

   So, after all this, when the Lord told Simon to head out to the deep water and let
down his nets for a catch, Peter answered "yes." Even though all through the previous night Peter and his companions had been fishing, without catching anything, Peter agreed to try what Jesus said.  Master, at your word I will let down the nets.

   We should try everything Jesus tells us to do. Though it often seems crazy, the word of Jesus is always a faithful guide. For example, the world for a long time has said that any sex between consenting adults is good.  “Just do it, there are no consequences.  And if there is a consequence, well, you can get rid of ‘that.’”   The world tells these lies again and again, and we are so tempted to believe it.  In recent years, the world’s perspective on sex has gotten weirder, and significantly darker.    

In contrast, Jesus has always taught us that sex is a gift from God, given for the use of married couples, a man and a woman who have publicly committed to be faithful to one another until death. 

    We have always struggled to protect sex and marriage as we should.  But the closer we can come to God’s way, the better for all, and especially for children.  As always, the way given by God is far better than the lies offered by the world, concerning human sexuality, and everything else. 

   For example, there’s work.  The world often says we work for our own interests, period, without a thought for others.  Every man, or woman, for him or herself.  But the Word teaches us that our work, beyond serving ourselves, is also a primary means by which we can love our neighbors and give glory to God.  

   Following the ideas of the world, in combination with our fallen selfishness, turns work into a burden, an affliction.  Because “I” always want more of the stuff my work earns. 

   But when we work as Jesus tells us to work, when, along with benefitting ourselves, we also seek that our work serve others, then we can find joy in each day’s labor, and rest in peace at night.

   Another lie of the devil, that fits with the world’s lies about work, is the idea that we can find joy in wealth. But Jesus tells us that He is our joy, for He is our creator and our provider.  Even more, He is our righteousness and life and salvation. What can the riches of the world offer to us, when we have the Lord Jesus?  He is our light and our salvation, we have nothing to fear, and true satisfaction.   

   Sometimes our family or friends suggest that it is better to be popular than to be Christian.  But if you make the foolish choice to pursue popularity with the world, you will soon learn how hard that is to achieve.   And even harder to maintain.  Worldly favor and popularity are fleeting.  But God through His Word, especially the Word that comes in and with the Water, gives us the acceptance that lasts forever, the divine popularity of being a beloved child of the Heavenly Father.

   Our proud flesh, our human pride, wants to say we can earn peace with God by living a good life.  And we should live right.  It’s a real blessing when people try to be good neighbors and good family members.  I’m all for it.  But true peace is impossible when sin and death still hound us.

   Jesus offers us peace, true peace, everlasting peace, in Himself, in His own God-and-man being.  He is our peace, peace with God, and each other, peace won by His blood bought forgiveness of all our sins.  This peace is what we need, and this is what we have, in Christ Jesus our Lord.

   We should ignore what the devil, the world and our sinful nature tell us. We should always listen and try to do all that Jesus tells us to do.  But we are not capable.  Truly, we are not capable of meeting God’s standard, because sin still clings to us, and God’s standard is perfection, perfect holiness.  Our reborn spirit wants to do what Jesus says, but our flesh is weak.  And so, far more than we care to admit, we do not do what Jesus tells us.

   So today let us give thanks and praise to God for the great number of fish that Peter, James and John caught that day, because through this miracle Jesus revealed His identity as God, and the purpose of His ministry, His mission.  

   Why did the eternal Son of God enter into human flesh and walk the earth, living among sinners, suffering, dying, and rising again?  It was not primarily to declare again the requirements of the law of God.  The law of God is right and true, but Moses had and still has that covered pretty well.  Jesus did not come primarily to preach the Law.  We need and cherish the Law, because it makes life livable.  But this same good Law, because of our sinfulness, kills us.  Rather than reveal the peace of God for sinners, the Law always accuses us.   

   And yet, God will fill His nets.  To do this, He sent Jesus.  And to do this today, He works through His elect, His chosen people, drawn from the same bunch of sinners that fill the world.  God works through them, through you, through your works and your words, to catch even more sinners in the net of His Church.

   This is the plan and purpose of Jesus, and it is hard to believe. It is much easier to think about doing what Jesus says, to follow the law.  This makes sense.  Even though we never succeed. But, to believe that God became a man to come into my life, to rescue me from my sins, from which I cannot free myself?  That last part is hard to admit, that I cannot even begin to save myself.  And the first part, that God became a man, for me, is hard to believe.  And then we are to believe that the Lord will use me in His mission?  This is a very strange plan.  And yet, this is who Jesus is and what He came to do.  This is what He is still coming to do. 

   Yes, today, the same Jesus who revealed Himself to Peter is also truly here, with us.  His presence is invisible, but quite real.  This is fearful. Consider for a moment: the Holy One of God is truly present here, among us.  Then remember your wasteful living, your worst moments.  Perhaps, with Simon Peter, we will fall at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinner.”

   Such self-judgment is just and true.  But Jesus will not leave you in it.  He has chosen you, and He joined Himself to you, in your Baptism.  Jesus has made you a favored child of his Father, and the Father never abandons His favored children.  In the washing of the water with the Word, you have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you to keep your faith alive.  Faith in Jesus that receives the not guilty verdict that Christ won for you. 

   There exists a fearful possibility that we could reject the gifts of Christ, given to us through our Baptisms, and through the spoken Gospel in all its forms.  The sinner in us can still reject.  But God does not renege on his promises. 

   You, the baptized, have, right until the last day of your life, the daily opportunity to repent of your sins and return to the baptismal promises, to benefit from the forgiveness and life poured out on you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Never forget that. 

   Also never forget that what Jesus has done for you, He desires to do for all.  The promises of Baptism, the promises of forgiveness and acceptance by God, are for all people, all who are brought to repentance.  And so, at Jesus’ word, with Peter, we let down the nets.    

   What are these “nets” we are to let down?  Well, the Spirit works Christ’s mission through His Word, the net which speaks of serving others and speaking the truth, and confessing the true God with our words and deeds.  Finally and decisively though, the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus are the content of the Master's word, the sticky part of the net.  To let down the nets is to preach Christ crucified, the power and wisdom of God.   

   The Good News of the Cross and Resurrection are the final word of Jesus, and the only effective bait to catch and save sinners.  The Word of the Cross is the central core of the net that the Apostles, and later pastors, and the whole Church use to fish, seeking more sinful men and women, in order that they too receive the Peace of Christ.

   Thank God we have been caught in the net of Jesus, and drawn into His Holy Church. We implore the Spirit to keep us safe while we are gathered, and as we go out into our daily life.  We look forward with joy to be useful laborers in the mission of Christ, which is still developing, here in South Dakota, and throughout the world.

   Let us pray:  Master, at Your Word, with Your Word, and by the power of Your Spirit, we will let down the nets. Empowered by Your Body and Blood, given and shed on the cross and received here at this altar, help us to love our neighbors and confess all that You have done for all of humanity, trusting that Your Word will never return to You empty, without accomplishing what You want, and achieving the purpose for which You sent it. Amen.

   In this prayer, in these promises, we live in peace, the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, and that guards and protects our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto to eternal life, Amen.