Casting Nets

February 6, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Luke 5:1-11[1]

Simon and the others had caught nothing. After a disappointing night of fishing, they were cleaning their nets. There is a crowd gathering, and the focus of their attention, Jesus, hops in Simon’s boat and asks him to push off so he can speak from out on the water. As his voiced carried across the water to the folk gathered on shore, Simon had a front-row seat.

This was probably not the first travelling preacher Simon had heard. There had been others. Some, like John had called people to repentance. Others tried to gather an army to take on the Romans. This one was different. He wasn’t trying to get people to go somewhere in particular, or do something for him; rather, he spoke about becoming closer to God, cleaning up their hearts and souls, and caring as much for others as they did for themselves. He may have even used the cleaning of the nets as a metaphor for washing away sins and becoming like new again.

What he did next was also different. He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”[2] In practical terms, this was a big ask. First of all, they mostly fished in the shallows, closer to shore. That’s where the fish were more likely to be searching for food, and would be an easier catch. Then, knowing they had worked all night and caught nothing, Jesus asks them to go out to fish again. Then again, Jesus seemed so confident that they would catch something. “If you say so, I will let down the nets.”[3]

Doesn’t it seem as though it’s when were at the end of our rope, we’ve tried and tried without success, that God steps in, Jesus reaches out to us, not knowing whether we’ll even answer. In this moment with Simon, Jesus takes the risk, choosing this fisherman out of all the others, asking him to do what seems impossible. Neither of them could know there would be fish to catch out there, but Jesus asks him to trust, and try anyway.

People like the predictable, the routine. It is scary to take a risk on something new. Yet that is what Jesus is asking, of Simon, and of us, to put out into the deep, unfamiliar waters, to break with our routine and allow the extraordinary to become possible. Keeping to the safe and familiar, to the shallows, keeps us from experiencing the wider, deeper world out there. The most profound and significant experiences of God and life are found in the unknown, the unfamiliar, the moments when we’re asked to stretch beyond what we know to something more.

For Simon, there was something about this man that compelled him to leave the shore, and the shallows, and cast his nets in the deep water. Maybe it was that no one had ever asked him to trust in that way, by someone who risked looking the fool if this didn’t work. If there were no fish out there, Simon would not be surprised, and there would be no loss except for the need to clean the nets again. The worst that could happen is we don’t catch anything, again.

When the nets began to strain with the catch, Simon knew this was no simple preacher. He becomes aware that he is in the presence of the divine. He also recognizes that he is unworthy of such holy recognition, a sinful man who would rightly fear the power of God. What happens next is the real moment of transformation. What happens next is why we all respond to Jesus with trust, gratitude, and hope.

Jesus, the Son of God, mediator of the divine in human form, does not strike down Simon for his sin, his doubt, nor for any of his failings. Instead, Jesus casts a net to bring him in. Jesus casts a net to pull in James and John too, to capture their hearts and invite them into the relationship which will change their lives. “Do not be afraid,” he says, I’m not here to punish sinners, but to change you into saints. I am here to call you to the work of casting nets to catch people.

The thing about the net that Jesus is casting is that it is not the kind of net that turns animals into food. This is not a net that imprisons, but a net that frees. This is a net that pulls people from danger and death into safety, life, and love. “From now on you will be catching people.”[4] Not to make them captive, but to save them and set them free.

Simon and the others have been caught in the net of Jesus. Their lives transformed by this experience, these fishermen become disciples. In a commentary on this passage, Howard Gregory captures the change in Simon. “Having hauled in this huge catch of fish, having been given the opportunity to make a good return, thus reversing the earlier fruitless expedition, Simon now does the strangest thing. He pulls ashore his boat, with the catch, and walks away from it, livelihood and all.”[5]

Many of us recognize this moment of transformation. Something changes, perhaps our circumstances, perhaps something inside, and we make a vocational change. We may be forced out into the open water, or choose to walk away from what is not working for us anymore. For some, like me, it is a call to service in the ministry. Perhaps, like me, you have also made a life change. I used to work at a bank, and I made pretty good money. I walked away, and it cost me. It meant putting God at the center of my life, changing my focus from my self toward others. It has meant hard work, sometimes after a long night when no fish were caught. But following the Master has its rewards.

Not everyone in the crowd on the shore was convinced to follow Jesus. We only know that Simon, James and John went with him that day. But the net that is cast by the Lord is a big net, and we are still being caught in it today. I am grateful for the change it brought about in my life. I am blessed to have made a positive difference in the lives of people I have served. And I pray that you, too, may feel that net holding you close to the One who transforms hearts and sets spirits free.  Amen.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] Luke 5:4.

[3] Luke 5:5.

[4] Luke 5:10.

[5] Howard K. Gregory, Pastoral Perspective on Luke 5:1-11 in Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Vol. 1, David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, General Editors (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p 336.