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Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity
Luke 5:1-11 + 1 Kings 19:11-21 + 1 Peter 3:8-15
Casting a net to catch fish – that’s what Jesus was doing here all week long. Most of you are aware that we hosted Vacation Bible School this week. We followed a “fish” theme, that ancient symbol used to represent the Christian Church, with that simple but foundational truth represented by the Greek letters for the word “fish.” “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior.” It was a pastor and a few VBS teachers who were lowering the nets, but it was Jesus Christ, God’s Son, the Savior who was really doing the fishing, drawing children – and adults, too! – to his Word, and through his Word, to Him.
Casting a net to catch fish – that’s what Jesus is doing right now, and every Sunday from this place, and every time the net of His Gospel goes out anywhere in this world. Jesus, the Christ, who came into the world to save lost sinners, Jesus the Son of God who died and who rose again, Jesus the Savior who got into Simon Peter’s boat that day so long ago to go fishing is still going out fishing with his Gospel net to catch men – men, women and children – for His kingdom. Jesus is the Catcher of men. 1) It’s Jesus who casts the Gospel net. 2) It’s Jesus who fills the Gospel net.
IT’S JESUS WHO CASTS THE GOSPEL NET
Jesus cast the Gospel net on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He preached first from the shore, and then from Peter’s boat. He preached against their sin and rebellion against God. He opened the Scriptures to them to show them how high God’s standards were, so high that every sinner falls short. He preached Himself as their Redeemer who would bear the sins of the world and cover them with His own righteousness. He preached forgiveness of sins for all who trusted in Him, as he preached on other occasions, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” From his own mouth Jesus cast the Gospel net.
But it wouldn’t always be that way. After he ascended into heaven, Jesus would still be casting his Gospel net, but he would do it through the mouths of his disciples. It’s just that, where our Gospel today begins in Luke 5, Jesus still didn’t have any full-time disciples. So he directed Peter and his companions to row the boat out into the sea and cast their fishing net. Peter and his companions had been up all night trying to find the fish with their nets, but there were no fish to be found; they came up empty. But now, at the word of Jesus they went out, they cast their nets, and you know how that turned out.
The point of this miracle was not to emphasize Jesus’ power or the physical blessings he gives in his grace, although his power and grace are very real. The point of this miracle was revealed in Jesus’ words to Peter, “From now you will be catching men.” Just like Jesus cast the Gospel net from his mouth, so Peter and his companions would be casting the Gospel net from their mouths. And just as Jesus was the one who guided their nets to where the fish were, so it would always be Jesus, there in the background, getting them right where he wanted them, so that he could cast his Gospel net through them.
Jesus would get them where he wanted them, for example, in Jerusalem, on the Day of Pentecost, when the ascended Jesus saw to it to gather in Jerusalem a whole crowd of people from every nation. And there Jesus sent his own Spirit on the apostles, and Peter cast the Gospel net that day, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, for the forgiveness of your sins.” 3000 souls were caught that day in the Gospel net. Peter did the preaching, but it was Jesus in the background, gathering the people, casting the net. It was Jesus catching men for his kingdom.
Jesus has been casting the Gospel net ever since. He does it through the blessed office of the holy ministry as the Church calls men into the same apostolic office, to go and preach the Word in this place and that place, throughout the world, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior, and administering His Sacraments where he distributes the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation that he won on the cross.
Jesus is also there casting his Gospel net when a Christian witnesses to a friend – that simple message of “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior” – when we speak his Word to our children and to our neighbors and to our families. Not all Christians are called into the public ministry like Peter was. But the very same Peter says to all Christians, “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that is in you.” There’s your chance. Cast the net! But realize, it’s really Jesus casting it through you, catching men for his kingdom.
He puts us right where he wants us. It’s never an accident. Every conversation that turns to spiritual things. Every Bible or Gospel tract that is picked up and read in a waiting room. Every Divine Service celebrated, every Bible class or Sunday School lesson taught , every Vacation Bible School held – wherever and whenever and to whomever the Gospel is preached, it’s Jesus’ doing. Jesus has arranged everything to find his elect – those whom God chose in eternity to be saved through faith in His Son. Jesus sails out into the world with his Church, and through his Church, he will find with his Gospel every last one who is meant to be found.
Isn’t that a great comfort for us? Our goal as a Church is not to grow. (It’s not to shrink, either, or to maintain the status quo.) Our goal is not to be effective in our community, it’s not to bring people in, nor to keep people here. Jesus, our Master, Jesus the Catcher of men, has given us one task, one goal, one purpose: to cast the net, to preach the Gospel, with the full assurance that it’s always Jesus in the background, finding the fish, and doing the catching.
That’s not to say that everyone who hears the Gospel will be caught in the net. Far from it. But as a Lutheran preacher put it 100 years ago, “Even though many people, most people run away from the Lord and His Word and are lost, some – a good number! – are won, converted and saved. Those who are supposed to come, they come. Those who are supposed to hear, they hear. From the number of the Elect not one is left behind.”
Jesus the Catcher of men is there with his Church casting the net. And Jesus, the Catcher of men, is the one who fills the net, too.
IT’S JESUS WHO FILLS THE GOSPEL NET
You remember how Peter and his companions worked hard all night and caught nothing? That was no accident. Jesus, the ruler of the seas, saw to it that their nets came up empty that night, in order to bless them with this more important lesson the following day, to teach them about fishing for the souls of men. They had to come to grips with the fact that none of their hard work would ever catch a single fish, a single soul for Christ’s kingdom. No bait would work. No coaxing of the fish would help. No mistake or weakness on their part could stand in Jesus’ way. They had to despair of themselves and their labor and their efforts. Jesus alone could fill the nets. Only the Spirit of Jesus, working through the Word of Christ, can take an unbeliever and turn him into a believer.
The same is true today. Jesus is the one who fills the Gospel net, who draws people in and catches them for his kingdom. We should never dare try to sell Jesus to people. We dare not market our church. “Oh, come to my church. It’s so comfortable, and the people are so friendly and we have such good potlucks and programs and music.” No, that may work to fill a church building with people, but that’s not how Jesus fills his kingdom with people. He draws them into his Gospel net, and sends forth his Spirit who works faith through the Word, where and when it pleases him.
You can’t help the Holy Spirit, and you can’t hinder the Holy Spirit, either. Where the Gospel is rightly preached and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution, there the Holy Spirit will be adding souls to Christ’s kingdom. And you can’t judge the catch by how big or how fast a church grows. You have to see the catch of men as Jesus sees it – all people everywhere, of all time, who hear and believe his Gospel – they all fill one gigantic net. And if you could see how the nets have filled and swelled throughout the world, throughout the centuries, if you could see all of the people in the Church who have been caught into Christ’s kingdom – you would be astonished, just as astonished as Peter and his companions were on that day of the great catch of fish.
You would be astonished, and like Peter, you would fall down at the feet of Jesus in fear, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.” Like Peter, you would realize that you don’t deserve to be here in the presence of this great Fisherman. You don’t deserve to be caught in Jesus’ net and saved for all eternity while so many perish eternally. You don’t deserve it and neither do I. You are sinners, and so am I. Recognize that all you have, all you bring to the table is sin. But don’t ask Jesus to go away from you because of that. Don’t go home downtrodden and depressed because of that. Hear the words of Jesus to Peter, because the words of Jesus to the sinner named Peter are his words to every scared and downtrodden sinner, “Don’t be afraid!”
Don’t be afraid, because Jesus has not come to destroy you, but to save you. You know that. It’s why you gather here, to hear him say to you again through your pastor, “Don’t be afraid.” Don’t be afraid. It’s no accident that you wound up here this morning. It’s no accident that the Gospel net has found you. Jesus had each one of you in mind, to bring you here this morning, to bring some of you here this week at VBS, that you should be where the Gospel net is cast, so that, by the power of his Holy Spirit, you might know him as Jesus, Christ, God’s Son, Savior – so that you may be caught for his kingdom, to live eternally with him, to become part of His holy Church, and even to become instruments through which Jesus, the Catcher of men, catches others. Amen.
