The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY (Retired)
Today's three readings have one big thing in common. Each is about a calling
from God to people, and the similarities and contrasts among the three readings
give us quite a bit to ponder.
The first reading is the prophet Isaiah's story of his own call to be a
prophet. He was nearly overwhelmed with the glory and power of God, and of all
that God means and stands for. At the same time, this vision of the grandeur and
power and glory of God made him recognize his own unworthiness. He is mightily
aware that he cannot compare himself to God. Besides God, Isaiah...and we...are
nothing. It's like looking at an elephant and a flea standing together. We, you
see, are the flea! God is so much more wise, powerful, knowing and holy than we
are. How can we possibly stand in his presence? Our first reaction, like
Isaiah's, would probably be to throw ourselves face down on the ground, so that
we are not blinded by all that glory. We have to somehow acknowledge our
lowliness and unworthiness to even see all this glory. And at the
same time, like Isaiah, we are captivated and engrossed by all that beauty and
power. We must have some small connection to it. We must
believe. We must find a way to serve it, and the God it
represents. And so, like Isaiah, we timidly pray: Here I am, Lord. Send me
to do your work. I must do what I can for you.
Now, look at the Gospel reading. Jesus is teaching the crowds, sitting in a
fisherman's boat so that the crowds do not press around him. He needs to be
where everyone can see and hear him, not lost in a crowd. As he finishes
teaching, he asks the fisherman, Peter, what luck he's had. Peter admits that
they caught practically nothing during their night fishing trip. It's usual to
fish at night, when the quiet makes the fish more easily caught...they come
closer to the surface at night. Of course, it's also more dangerous to fish at
night...if you fall overboard, you are less likely to be seen and rescued. The
people of the Middle East tend to think of the sea as being sort of like the
primeval chaos...dangerous, evil abounding, difficult to save oneself from.
Along with the fears of falling overboard and drowning, these cultural fears
will be in the back of Peter's mind.
Jesus tells Peter to put out into the deep. Peter must have thought Jesus was
crazy. Go fishing in the middle of the day? Well, the rabbi was only a
carpenter, not a fisherman; what did he know about fishing? But Peter decided to
humor him. He and his crew went to work on the oars and soon were out in the
deep part of the Sea of Galilee. Perhaps, knowing that this sea had a reputation
for sudden storms coming up out of nowhere, they were a bit worried. They
probably kept looking at the sky, trying to judge the weather. Soon, Jesus told
them to put down their nets. They did so, not expecting to catch anything in
full sunlight. The fish go deep, in daytime. Much to their surprise, they pulled
in full nets, nets so full that they nearly burst, nets so full that they needed
help from another boat to bring the catch to shore. And after this gigantic
catch, Jesus calmly invited them to leave their boats and nets, follow him, and
help him catch people instead of fish.
Do you see the similarities between the calling of Isaiah and the calling of
Peter, Andrew, John and James? All of them were astounded and surprised...Isaiah
by the glory and splendor of God's power, Peter and his friends by Jesus'
teaching and later by Jesus' instructions to go fishing at this weird time of
the day. All these people who were called to serve God had one big thing in
common...none of them knew what they were getting into. None of them could see
what was going to happen to them, or what serving God would ultimately mean for
them. But somehow, all of them felt strongly impelled to accept the call, and
set out about the Lord's business. We know from the rest of the book of Isaiah
how well God cared for him, providing food, shelter and comfort in times of
danger. Peter and his friends had just seen a gigantic catch of fish at a most
unusual time of the day, a symbol of the fact that God would provide for them as
they went about his business. And so, with no knowledge of the future, no
knowledge of what lay ahead of them, simply trusting in God for no good reason
they could put their finger on, they all set out to serve the Lord.
Paul's letter to the church in Corinth reminds us that we, too, are called by
God. We, too, are for whatever reason impelled to accept the work of serving
God, and so we come for Baptism, expressing in our Baptismal promises our faith
that God will provide for us if we only do the work he calls us to do for him.
Paul reminds us of exactly what we believe, as we take up this work: that Jesus
died for our sins, rose again, and called his followers together to spread the
Good News; that God's grace will be enough for us, providing us with what we
really need to live Christ's way and do Christ's work. We, like Isaiah, Peter,
Andrew, John and James, are called to serve the Lord, we respond by being
baptized into his name, and go forth, not knowing what may await us, but
confident that the Lord will provide what we need to carry out his business.
Many churches have, over the inside of the main door, a little reminder of
this. Some of them simply paint over the inside of the main door a reminder:
You are now entering the mission field. The word mission
means "what we are sent to do." I have seen one church whose sign over their
main door, where you see it as you leave the church, says, You were chosen
and called. Now be about His business. However we are reminded of it, we
all know, and need to remember daily, that we are called to do God's work, and
that he will provide what we need to do it.
Amen.
