THE SCENE
Simon Peter is not called to discipleship because Jesus has encountered an extraordinary individual with great leadership potential. in fact, the story portrays a rather ordinary individual who has just completed a nights work fishing. Jesus comes across Peter while he is cleaning his fishing nets - a mundane and necessary function. The story is about regular ordinary people leading regular ordinary lives - a story about a fisherman without a catch and a carpenter who leads the fisherman to the fish. Luke is inviting us to consider that while we often look for encounters with God in extraordinary circumstances and spiritual experiences, God prefers to come to us in the ordinary routine of our daily lives.
God is present to us in our morning routines of preparing for our day. God is present to us throughout our workday; our encounters with other people; and our encounters with our families. God comes to us in the ordinary routines of daily living - we have only to be open to the experience.
SET OUT FOR DEEPER WATER
A first glance of Luke's story would have us understand that Jesus continually calls us to go deeper. In the fishing story, it is in the deep water that Peter achieves the abundant catch. So to in our lives, abundance will be found when we are ready to risk going deeper - leaving behind the familiar shallow waters that keep us feeling comfortable and secure. Staying in "shallow" water is a great temptation - it doesn't cost much and it doesn't take a whole lot of courage. Deeper water, however, is darker - less secure. In deeper water we cannot see the dangers but yet it seems that Jesus is telling us that it is only in going deeper that we will find abundance of life; abundance of meaning; and the ability to pass on this abundance to others (catching other people).
There is a great spiritual principle at play in this passage and that principle is the notion that we begin our adventure of faith in shallow water but that is not where we are called to stay. We need to go DEEPER to find the abundance that God has for us.
So what is this act of going deeper? It is an act of engaging in regular worship in community with other Christians. It is taking time to study the Scriptures, the Word of God, be that through personal reading or Bible study offered through our local church. It is giving of our time, talents and treasures to the work of the Church; and most importantly, it is giving of our time to follow the Gospel ordinance to "feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and bring drink to the thirsty". These are some of the ways in which we "set out for deeper water."
LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND
Simon Peter's boat was his source of livelihood - his security and means to abundance. At the end of the story, he walks away from it all and follows Christ. Is Jesus asking the same of us? Are we to leave behind our jobs; our volunteer efforts; our families; and our money? In other words, walk away from our comfort and security - our means to abundance? It would take a lot for us to walk away from them. If we are honest, the request of Jesus to leave it all behind seems not only surreal, but irresponsible. In fact it is - if we think that this passage is about leaving it all behind then we've missed the point.
It is true that Jesus is firm and clear about not letting our worldly security (money, family, friends, things) be the place where our heart and motives lie, but there must be more to this story than walking away from it all and becoming a monk or missionary.
The Church presents this story to us as we draw near to the end of the season of Epiphany. Epiphany means "showing forth" and is about the manifestations of God's glory in our daily lives. The encounter of Jesus and Simon Peter on the shores of lake Genesaraet is about one such manifestation. The story is challenging us to get outside of our comfort zones - our circles of power - the things we rely on. When we place too much trust and faith in the things that bring us comfort and security then we will inevitably miss the extraordinary manifestations of God in our ordinary lives. What Peter realizes in this encounter with Jesus is that there is something more to life than fishing and that abundance means more than comfort and security - abundance is the result of an encounter with God.
CATCHING PEOPLE
Peter follows Jesus command to set out to deep water. Here, in the depth of Christ's presence, he discovers abundance and because of this his life will never be the same. The story, as Luke commends it to us, is about seeing and feeling what Jesus does and then doing the same. In this story, Jesus does not call us to be preachers telling others about why our faith and interpretation of the Scripture is better than theirs. That's nothing more than Bible thumping. In this story Jesus is inviting us to personally follow him into deeper waters - letting go of our protective walls and comfortable faith that separates us from our neighbour. He is calling us to be transformed in the encounters we can have with God in our everyday ordinary lives. Only when we are transformed - when we encounter the abundant love of God - only then will we be able to gently transform those around us. This is discipleship.
If going into deeper water frightens you...then join the club...it should frighten all of us. But remember the final words of Jesus in verse 10: "Be not afraid...from now on you will be catching people."
No comments:
Post a Comment