"Yet, If You Say So, I Will" - Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany

Yet, If You Say So, I Will
Epiphany 3 – Narrative Lectionary 3
January 22, 2017
Grace, Mankato, MN
Luke 5.1-11

The first church I served had a balcony similar to ours, except it doubled as a classroom. The church had literally turned itself around, switching the entrance with the chancel and altar areas. This was to accommodate an education and office addition. However, this balcony was deeper, lower and not as well lighted, almost looking like a cave. Being good Lutherans, most of the congregation hung out there and occasionally I’d joke about seeing beady eyes looking out at me from underneath. That is, until one day Hubert responded to my not so subtle pokes by saying, “At least we’re here.”

Ouch! And thank you, Hubert. I didn’t want to hear that, but I needed to hear what he said. I was reminded of Hubert this Tuesday as leaders from the Minnesota River Conference of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod gathered here for fellowship, worship and learning. As we do for our worship on Wednesday evenings, I broke up the attendees into small groups to discuss biblical text—today’s text—and then asked them to share something of what they discussed. Pr. Jay Dahlvang of Bethlehem pointed out we are following Jesus by showing up here on Sundays and Wednesdays. This is an important reminder because we can feel inadequate in terms of following Jesus compared to Peter and the others in today’s story.

Two weeks ago, as we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism, his identity as God’s beloved Son was affirmed. The heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended and rested on Jesus and God said, “You are my beloved in whom I am well pleased. We discovered that this is our identity as well, God’s beloved children. Last week in the sermon at Nazareth, we learned that Jesus’ mission to bring good news to the world flows out of his identity. What he does comes from who he is. The same is true for us: what we do comes from who we are. We love and serve because we are loved. Yet, I think that many of us think that we are not up for what it means to follow Jesus. We say we can’t possibly do what we think God wants us to do, that we don’t have what it takes to be followers.

But our reading for today tells us that’s not how it works. Following Jesus is not about us; it’s about God in us. Peter and his crew worked all night and caught nothing. They’re cleaning up and tired and want to go to bed so they can do it all over again, hopefully with better results. When Jesus asks him to go into deeper waters and try again, Peter understandably protests. But, there must have been something in Jesus’ invitation that made him say, “Yet, if you say so, I will.” The resultant catch of fish so overwhelms Peter that he recognizes he’s in the presence of the Holy One.

And when Jesus tells Peter to drop everything and follow, he does not call Peter to fish for people because he’s good at it, but because Jesus can do it through him. That’s something we need to remember as we live out our callings to follow Jesus. This is important as figure out what it means to join God’s mission to love and bless the world and it’s especially important because Jesus often invites us to follow him into deeper waters.

I have been humbled by how many of you have rowed out further than your comfort zones in so many ways, but I’ll mention a recent example. I have greatly appreciated your willingness to try something new with our service teams. Leaders have stepped forward to make sure that the ministry happens on Sundays and Wednesdays. A number of you have agreed to try new things and, even with a few bumps, the results have been wonderful.

Several of you have agreed to be elected to various teams at our annual meeting next week, including two of you who are willing to serve as leaders on council. But I need to tell you that we still need two more. Now, if you think you don’t have what it takes to serve on council, that’s perfect; you’re just the kind of person God calls and can work with. As I’ve noted before, there’s no expiration date on our baptism certificates. However, if you need further encouragement about the blessings of following Jesus into deeper waters, speak to Marlene Roede about how God has used her through serving on council these past three years. Thank you for being here today and following Jesus. Like Peter, God doesn’t call the gifted, God gifts the called. Let us all say to Jesus, “Yet, if you say so, I will.” Amen.