Luke 5:1-11
- Context 4:13-21
The passage is part of a larger passage which is not just about the preaching of good news and personal salvation. It is far more than that.
Isaiah 61:4-9 It is about national restoration and prominence. A day of justice and vengeance. A time for the rebuilding of the national esteem and release from the captivity of an oppressive enemy.
4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
5 Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
6 And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
8 “For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
Nothing could have been more welcome in Galilee. A region fiercely independent and considered not quite Jewish enough because of the large number of foreigners there. It was incendiary and the home of a number of zealots and rebels. They had their own Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters and Patriot Party. They were waiting for their anointed leader and Jesus sounded, at first, like the one. This passage and Jesus’ statement about its being fulfilled would only stir that up in Galilee. He raises their expectations of making Israel great again and restoring the lost glory.
Then he turns them into a mob intent on killing him because he basically excludes his own home from the restoration. The return to glory, prominence and esteem will not happen here.
But people in the other towns in the region are anxious to keep him there because of the benefits. Stay and build your ministry headquarters here. We can give you credibility and support in exchange for access to your power. There is always the desire to leverage the powers of Jesus. We want the Christian Party or the Christian economic program. We want Christian success. What does Jesus say to that? “I have bigger plans than that.”
- The calling of the disciples.
The structure of the story is so interesting as you read it.
At the beginning, the people and Jesus are center stage and the unnamed fishermen are offstage washing their nets. Jesus is teaching…but we don’t even know what he is teaching if we read this as if it was for the first time. So far in the book there have been no stories or parables or any kind of content. They are just listening to the word of God.
Jesus gets into Simon’s boat – which moves Simon Peter into the picture along with the other fishermen.
Jesus, Simon and the other disciples become the center of the picture and then Simon is the narrow focus of the story.
Then the focus shifts again to leaving everything and following Jesus – not Peter, not the crowds, not the teaching, not the miracle but their leaving everything and following Jesus.
Jesus, the carpenter, is Jesus the fisherman because he catches Peter and the others and moves them from casual observers to followers. They move from being almost off stage entirely to center stage to exit as they follow him.
- But the part that intrigues me the most is Peter’s response to the miracle.
Why did he not respond this way to the miracle of his mother-in-law being healed? Probably because it was not as spectacular or it did not affect him as directly. It was simply a fever going away and nothing much was made of it. This was different.
This makes him afraid and conscious of something more than he has been through all the healings so far. It’s odd, really, because it is his biggest success in life. It’s a windfall catch. So big the boats are sinking with the enormous haul. It would be like a sudden and unexplainable success in business that should make you thrilled. Instead, it makes you realize something else entirely. What is that? Why is that? Why is the biggest success of his life the cause of such a crisis? A sudden success can do that. An author has a bestselling first book and cannot repeat it. An athlete has an extraordinary season and it tips him into destructive behavior. You may have read the story of the recent death of Tony Hsieh who sold his company, Zappos, for almost $1 billion dollars but died in a shed from drugs and smoke inhalation. Success killed him. We’ve seen it many times.
A sudden and oftentimes unrepeatable success can overwhelm you with a sense of your own inadequacy and you know it was a fluke. It’s what we sometimes call the imposter syndrome. I don’t feel as if I deserve this and I’ll be exposed for who I am when people find out. “Depart from me, success, for I have not earned it. Depart from me, joy, for I have done nothing to deserve it. Depart from me, love, for I am unlovable.”
- I read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon this week that made me think about a number of reasons Peter might have had for wanting Christ out of his boat – not just what appears to be the obvious reason. They are reasons that might apply to some of us. Why do we want Christ out of our boat? Why might we say “depart from me” like Peter?
It is false confession to say “depart from me” out of our own superficial sense of guilt. We want to be rid of the reminder of our sin. It seems like the easy and honorable way to say we are not worthy to be near someone so good. We make ourselves look bad for a moment but then we can go back to what makes us comfortable. It’s like saying “I’m sorry” and hoping that’s the end of it.
I want to protect God’s sensibilities from my sin. I am not a good person and you should not associate with me. Of course, this just shows me in my own eyes what a good person I really am. I have God’s best interests in mind.
Depart from me is a kind of heroic resignation to sin – like one of the old melodramas where the villain has been inspired by the innocent heroine to try and turn over a new leaf but it doesn’t work. His dark side will not let him go and he wants her to not be caught up in his life. He rescues her and is the tragic hero of the story.
Depart from me proves my ability to issue orders to God. I know what is best. I can be in control and tell God to come and to go according to my understanding.
Depart from me is an excuse for despair and self-pity. I am alone in this world and no one can rescue me from this despair. There is no hope – and having you in my boat would make me hope. I would, honestly, rather be hopeless. It’s easier. It’s safer.
Depart from me can come like it did with David when he said, “That which I feared has come upon me.” We all have a fear of being exposed for who we are and a quick confession and getting Jesus out of the boat makes that less likely. What do the demons say to Jesus? Depart from me. Leave me alone. Don’t do to me what you have in mind. Leave things as they are. Sin wants nothing more than to have us say depart from me. We have learned to live with this.
Depart from me could be a natural shrinking back from the call of God – like Jeremiah or Gideon or Moses or Jonah. We are not good enough for this. It is not guilt as much as comparison to some notion we have of who God chooses for His work in this world. It’s a way out.
- Whatever it was with Peter (and I believe it was this) our first response to being in the presence of real holiness is a sense of fear, total unworthiness and an inexplicable joy. We don’t understand that what makes us say “depart” makes God want to draw near. We think we are incurable and God says this is what I came for. We do not have to clean up. It is always the response of law when it meets grace. Law cannot imagine grace. Law says, “I need to hide” and Grace says, Ready or not, I am coming for you.”
We think revelations come on the mountain top but the love of God comes in the bottom of a sinking boat filled with stinking fish. We want to build cathedrals that say “look at me” and God wants only to sit with us where we are and overwhelm us with his goodness and extravagance. We want to catch Him and he catches us instead. It is fly fishing, isn’t it? It is a gradual drawing in from being a bystander to part of the story to the central part of the story. It is the story of Jesus catching Peter as much as calling him. I like what C.S. Lewis said about young atheists because it is true of the way Jesus catches Peter. “A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere–‘Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,’ as Herbert says, ‘fine nets and stratagems.’ God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.
- The finish of the story is found in the last chapter of John. It is like a pair of bookends. Jesus comes back to the beginning of his story with Peter – back to the first recognition of his own sin but it is different this time.
1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee.[a] It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus[b]), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.[c] 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Jesus Reinstates Peter
15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”
17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep. 18 Then he said to him, “Follow me!”
How is it different?
Peter’s acute awareness of sin is even greater than at the beginning. He has denied Christ. He has doubted the resurrection. He has gone back to the old life.
But his response is completely opposite. Instead of saying “depart from me” he leaps out of the boat and runs toward him.
Jesus changes him from a fisherman into a shepherd – a totally different calling. He calls him to care for people who stink worse than fish.
One thing and the most important thing remains the same. The end of the story is still “follow me.”
That is always the point of the story. No easy explanations or assurances. No promises of future miracles or an easy life. In fact, when we read how each disciple dies it is only the opposite. Still, just follow me.
For whatever reason, you may be saying “depart from me” this morning and what Jesus says is nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. Grace is greater than all our sin. “I am coming for you. Follow me.”