Vocation, the boat from which the Gospel-net is let down

Sermon for Trinity 5

Jeremiah 16:14-21  +  1 Peter 3:8-15  +  Luke 5:1-11

Since it’s part of today’s Gospel, let’s talk a little bit about vocation this morning. It’s a very practical doctrine that the Lutheran Church has always emphasized as the thing that defines the Christian life on earth. What are you here for? What are you supposed to do? How are you to serve God? How are you to serve your neighbor? The answers to those questions are all to be found, at least in general, in a person’s various vocations.

A vocation is literally a “calling,” the roles you’ve been given to play in this life. Father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, hearer of God’s Word, preacher of God’s Word, student, teacher, subject, citizen, ruler, neighbor, employer, employee, and every godly occupation that exists for the good of society. These are all vocations. A person will have several of them all at once, and they will change throughout a person’s life.

Today in our Gospel we encounter three of Jesus’ early disciples dutifully fulfilling their vocation as fishermen. In addition to the ordinary usefulness of their vocation—providing food for their community, a glorious, God-pleasing thing—Jesus found another use for their vocation in today’s Gospel. They had spent the night working hard at their task (without anything to show for it, either). They were on the shore, mending their nets—a menial task, but an important one that was faithful to their vocation. Then along comes Jesus, who meets them in the course of carrying out their vocation and turns it into a tool, an opportunity for extending His kingdom. The point in today’s Gospel is that God uses Christians in their vocations, not only to preserve and to prosper society, but also to spread His Gospel. Vocation is the boat from which the Gospel-net is let down.

Peter, James and John already knew Jesus. They had already become part-time disciples of Jesus, Christians, if you will. They had been called by the Gospel to believe in Jesus, placing them at once in the vocation of hearers of the Word, as all of us are, too.

As we said, they already had the vocation of fisherman. How did they come by that vocation? There was no miraculous sign telling them as children that they should become fishermen someday. It happened “naturally,” so to speak. They grew up near the Sea of Galilee. Zebedee, the father of James and John was a fisherman. Simon Peter’s father was likely also a fisherman. So it wasn’t a natural career choice for them. And yet God was behind the scenes, governing things. He had a plan for these men and their vocation that they couldn’t have known anything about until Jesus came along.

As He found them on shore, mending their nets, He got into Simon’s boat and asked him to put out a little bit from shore. And there Jesus stood in Peter’s boat, preaching to the crowds along the shoreline, teaching them about God, about their sin and God’s free favor, calling them by the Gospel to believe. At this point, the fishermen, too, were simple hearers of the Word; they weren’t the ones doing the preaching. They simply offered their vocation to Jesus, to use as He pleased. Their boat became His pulpit.

But when He finished preaching to the crowds, He wasn’t done using their vocation yet. He had more lessons for them, and also for us.

He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

Now, according to their vocation, they knew that this didn’t make any sense. This wasn’t the time for fishing, especially after a whole night of catching nothing. And yet Peter was willing to have his vocation guided by Jesus. So they let down their nets, and you know what happened. They caught a lot of fish, so many that two fishing boats started to sink for their weight.

Simon knew, according to his vocation, that this was no ordinary catch. Jesus had guided the fish through the water and the boat through the sea and the fish into the net for this miraculous catch of fish, teaching them their first lesson out on the water: Jesus is the Lord of creation. He rules over the earth and guides and governs the events of history to carry out His own good purposes.

And that knowledge brought Simon Peter to his knees in terror. You might think it would be “cool” to stand in front of Jesus and watch Him perform a miracle like this, but Simon, who was there to see it, knew better. He fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Now, Simon wasn’t a murderer or a drunkard or a thief. And if he compared himself to other people, he would be counted as a good and decent man. But when he compared himself to the Lord of creation, standing there in his boat, he knew the truth, as the Psalm declares: If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Answer: no one. Our track record of iniquities, sins, is long. It includes the selfish deeds, the harsh words, the self-centered thoughts. It includes laziness and being slow to carry out the responsibilities of your many vocations, because those vocations were given to you by God to serve Him and your neighbor tirelessly, not to serve your own desires and cravings. So Simon was right to acknowledge his sinfulness before God’s holy Law. He can’t stand before the Lord of creation, if he’s being judged by his deeds.

But the second lesson Jesus taught out there on the water was all-important. Instead of departing from Simon, as Simon begged Him to do, Jesus revealed His grace: Do not be afraid. That’s a lesson in God’s mercy toward sinners. He promises mercy and forgiveness, not because we’re worthy of it, but because of Jesus’ worthiness, Jesus’ life, Jesus’ suffering and death. The same Gospel that Jesus had proclaimed in general to the crowds on the shore He now applied personally to Simon, right there in the boat.

And then a final lesson was taught that day: From now on you will catch men. That was a special call Jesus gave to Peter, James and John. When they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. In other words, Jesus had called them at this point to leave behind their vocation as fishermen in order to become fishermen of another kind, “fishers” or “catchers of men.” This was the call into the Office of the Holy Ministry, the vocation of preacher, which, in certain ways, is like the vocation of fisherman.

The preacher, at Jesus’ bidding, goes out into the world and lets down the net of the Gospel. He doesn’t set out bait for people. He doesn’t lure them in. He doesn’t try to sell salvation to them. He simply lets down the net, the promise: God is gracious for Christ’s sake. God offers forgiveness to sinners and a new life and an eternal inheritance, freely, because of Jesus. Believe the good news! And Jesus, working through His Holy Spirit, gathers men from all nations into that net, not an impressive number in each place, but when added up, through time and across the globe, it’s an enormous catch.

Those who hold the vocation of preacher—a divine call given at one time directly by God, and now, given through the call of the Church, even as our seminary graduate, Josiah, has now been called through the Church to serve the saints in Richmond, Missouri—those who hold this vocation are called to leave other jobs behind, although some of us, like St. Paul himself, also continue part-time in other jobs in order to help support themselves, in order to be less of a financial burden on the saints to whom they preach.

But there is a lesson here that applies to all: The kingdom of Christ is filled with people by the preaching of the Gospel, and each Christian has a part in that, according to his or her vocation.

Some are called to preach, but most are not. All are called to be hearers of the Word. And the hearers of the Word are called to support the preachers of the Word. That’s part of your vocation, to support preachers with your weekly attendance and with your regular offerings. And in the process, you yourselves are being served by God through the Means of Grace.

Not only that, but, as Peter writes in today’s Epistle, All of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this. That unity of mind, that compassion, that love and tenderheartedness and courtesy are things we are all called on to practice in every vocation we have. And God will use those works of love to serve His kingdom.

What else does Peter say to all Christians? Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.

No matter what your vocation is, you are called to sanctify or to set aside the Lord God in your hearts, and to be ready to give a defense of the faith. Parents do that with their children, and sometimes, children with their parents. Students do that with friends, and sometimes with teachers. Workers do that with coworkers, and sometimes with their employers. Neighbors do that with neighbors. Citizens with citizens, passing on the promise of the Gospel, inviting others to come and hear Jesus, to come and get to know Jesus through the preacher whom Jesus has sent.

In all these things, in all these ways, God gives His people opportunities to become His instruments for spreading His Gospel, for extending His kingdom. Your vocations are the boat from which the Gospel-nets are let down. May God grant you wisdom and understanding to see the opportunities He has placed all around you to spread the Gospel of Christ, and may He grant you courage and strength to use all your vocations in the service of His kingdom. Amen.