Year C 5th Sunday after Epiphany 2022 Deep Water Abundance

 Year C 5th Epiphany, 6 February 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Deep Water Abundance”

Collect: Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Good morning, friends. Surprisingly, the numbers have declined quickly, and we are able to gather in-person. We thank God for that, and we continue to stay vigilant with caring for each other by wearing masks. Two of our staff have had breakthrough COVID, and it, they promise me, is no cakewalk. It was, and remains an awful disease, and the vaccines and boosts have made things survivable.

Looking at our reading for the day, we see Jesus continuing in his ministry, with an “Oh, by the way” miracle. That is what Epiphany is, God’s glory breaking through.

I could not help but look at our church and the last few years when I read today’s reading. It seemed, to me, that God was speaking to the leap of faith we are currently being asked to take.

Let’s start with the context, because that is the filter through which we need to see the rest of the story. Jesus was going along the shore, and the “the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.” The people were hungry for the word.

If I could define the last few years, I could not sum it better than that. The world over my lifetime has become increasingly complex, and when things get complex, people either shut down and ignore it or they look for simple answers or scapegoats. I can point to examples, many, many, many examples for each and every one of these. You probably can, too.

The people wanted clear direction, clear instruction, wise counsel. I do, too.

Especially in these days, we need to see how to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Our neighbor might be different from us in the ways the world divides us, but they, whoever they are, however they act, whatever choices they prefer, are also beloved by God. The difference is how we see them. Not in who they are.

It used to be seen that our choices define us. It has become that our choices divide us.

We are as hungry for the word of God as these folks were. As I emphasized a few years back, “Y’all Need Jesus!” We all did, and we all still do, maybe all the more. May we turn to Jesus today, like those along that Galilean shore, as well.

But Jesus saw that in that context, he needed to do something different. The ordinary would not work. Seashore. Fishermen. Jesus saw an opportunity instead of a detriment. A preacher has got to preach. So he found a way.

He got in the boat of a certain Simon, with his partners James and John. I am sure those names sound familiar. I hope they do. They had been washing their nets after an unsuccessful night on the Lake we call the Sea of Galilee.

But they helped the teacher out. They let him do what he was about. And when he got done, he instructed these men who were raised on the water to go out to the deep water. Now we have the words of Simon Peter, and they could be a statement of faith directly following Jesus’ teaching, or they could be resignation to prove that the experienced knew better. 

[Faithfully] "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

Or, [Skeptically] "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."

This is the reason we had to come up with emojis in our emails and texts, so people could see how we mean things. Tone is near impossible to convey with words alone, unless you add stage directions. 

But after being invited into the deep waters, something happened. Where the experts saw futility, Jesus saw abundance. When the experts said the timing was wrong, Jesus said “Now is the time.” When the experts were listening to their doubts, Jesus invited them to listen to their faith.

And what did they find in the deep waters? Abundance!

Once I was on a sailing trip, crossing over the Gulf Stream. The captain stopped our boat for us to take a dip. I remember looking down. The crystal clear waters had been fascinating the whole trip, watching the shadows play across the sand bars and coral reefs. But all that changed in the Gulf Stream. When I looked down, even in broad daylight, there was no bottom. I had become used to and appreciated seeing the bottom. Being from Virginia, I was used to the deep green of the Atlantic coast, not being able to see the bottom after a few feet from shore. But here, I appreciated the clarity. I could see the fish, the occasional shark, and everything else. But here, as I stood on the edge of the boat and looked down, I saw the rays of the sun go down, down, down, and not ever stop. Three feet off the water and I had an experience of vertigo. I had never felt that before. The thought of getting in to swim became terrifying. There was no bottom. Now my rational mind knew, I only swam on the surface, and that I would float, and float well. The depth did not matter when I went swimming. But when I peered into the depths, all my irrational fears could think, “What’s down there?” [Sidenote: I eventually did go in and loved it, but that initial fear response surprised me and does to this day.]

But that question, “What’s down there?” remains.

Three years ago we started the theme, LEAD HOLY SPIRIT INTO THE DEPTHS OF GOD. The banners are still up around the church because the church was closed for so long. 

We got the theme from the scripture, I Corinthians 2:9-10:

9 But, as it is written,

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

    nor the human heart conceived,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.

St. Paul is leaning back on the prophet Isaiah [64:4], looking spiritually into that question that loomed in my fear. “What’s down there?” 

We say it with trepidation, but the Holy Spirit says, “Let’s find out!”

We look with trepidation when there is fear, whether conscious or not. We look in hope when there is love. Perfect Love drives out all Fear, as Scripture promises. [I John 4:18]

The Abundance was in the Depths for Simon, James, and John. The Abundance could be found when casting out in Faith. In fact, that is the only way it can be found. Our collect today speaks to that.  

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life…

Bondage in our sins, and the fear that does not allow us to break the shackles, OR, Freedom of the Abundant Life. Your choice. Jesus came to give us that choice. “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand!” or to take away the calcified churchy language, “You can change your ways because God’s Rule is already here!”

We are, and have been in Deep Waters. Waters where we have been held in the Uncertainty of a pandemic and others’ competing reactions to the reality of this worldwide trauma. We only reopen this weekend because of our responses to these external events. We are in Deep Waters of fear, and doubt, and uncertainty.

Jesus promises us that if we have the faith of a mustard seed, we can say to a mountain to move and it will move. That takes a lot of faith. It takes a lot of prayer. And it takes a lot of shovels. It requires all three.

We move into a season of faith, of casting out into Deep Waters. With the world the way it is, it is hard to hear the voice of Jesus telling us it is okay to cast out our nets even if we are weary from a fruitless night. If the last few years have not seemed like a pointless night, sometimes it has for me.

I love speaking to God’s people. I always have. And some weeks it was hard to have the faith to trust that when we “cast our bread upon the water” of the internet (using the biblical phrase) that it would return. But as we re-opened, new families came in that we had never seen before. We had 16 pledge units last year that had not given a pledge the year before. We have had 16,778 hits on our videos in 2021. Online weekend services had 7,998 hits alone. And that is households not individual people. With things as they are, even when we regather this weekend there are those who are only joining us online for their comfort and/or safety. And that is why we trust. That is why we cast our nets into the Deep Waters of cyberspace.

Friends, when we are on the receiving end of Grace, abundance in what we are given, or abundance in growing ministries, or abundance in God’s love and forgiveness of us, we can feel unworthy and maybe even despairing. Simon Peter did. After what he said to Jesus, and then his boat nearly sank from all the fish, he fell on his knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” But Jesus looked beyond his feelings of the moment, and may he look beyond ours.

Jesus looked at him with the same eyes of abundance and faith with which he saw the fish below the boat. He declares over Simon Peter and his buddies, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” He not only overlooks his worry, but forgives his sin as well, and commissions him to make a difference.

As we cast our nets in faith, peering out into the Deep Waters, may we see with Jesus’ eyes of Faith and Abundance. May we see the opportunity that way! May we see the fields of Ashland and Hanover that way! And maybe most importantly after such huge social traumas, may we see ourselves the way God sees us. We are gifted with more than enough, and we are commissioned to make a difference in our neck of the woods.

Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen