Text: Luke 5:1-11 (1 Kings
19:11-21, 1 Cor 1:18-25)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Our Gospel begins with a sermon. And for most people, this sounds boring. A sermon? Really? A guy standing in a pulpit just talking? It sounds like school or something. Who wants to hear that? Right?
But the crowds actually pressed in to hear Jesus preach. For they wanted to hear “the Word of God.” For a Christian sermon is not a TED-talk, not a school lecture, not a sales pitch, not a stump speech, and not a stand-up comedy routine. A Christian sermon is just what our Lord’s sermon was: the Word of God.
In the sermons Jesus preached, He preached the Word of God because He is God. In the sermons His representatives preach, we preach the Word of God because “we preach Christ crucified.” The Word of God is considered a speedbump to some, and foolishness to others. To those who are perishing, the Word of God is either getting in the way of what we want to do, or it is just a waste of time to talk about some guy who lived two thousand years ago – again, at least to people who are “perishing” in St. Paul’s words. If the proclamation of God’s Word is this to you, then you are dying inside, falling inch by inch into hell.
But “to those who are called,” no matter your ethnic group or your skin color, Christ is the very power and the wisdom of God.
For look at the power in our Lord’s preaching. Immediately after the sermon ended, the Word of Jesus brought forth a miracle and changed the course of world history.
Jesus needed a place to preach from. There was no auditorium and there were no microphones. There was no pulpit. So Jesus climbed into a boat and invited people on the shore to listen to His preaching. Simon (who later was better known by his nickname “Peter”) was listening to the Word of God after a long and unproductive night of fishing. Along with his business associates James and John, he washed his nets and prepared to go home emptyhanded on this morning. But he listened to Jesus.
Jesus told him to take the boat out a little deeper and try again.
Imagine that! A preacher, a rabbi of all people, is telling Simon, the professional, the best time and place to catch fish. Even after a long night of nothing. He could well have told the preacher to mind his own business. But as annoyed as he probably was, he agreed to humor the rabbi. He said, “But at Your Word I will let down the nets.” But at Your Word. For again, this was not a lecture on fishing, but a sermon. This was God’s Word. And Simon the fisherman knew that the Word of God is important – even if it seems a little crazy sometimes. Simon acted in faith. Even in spite of himself, he took the Word of God to heart, and he did as the Word instructed him.
After all, it was the Word of God that created the universe: “Let there be light, and there was light.”
What happened next was a shocking miracle. Simon put down the nets as instructed, and instead of coming back empty, the catch was so large that the nets were breaking from the massive haul. The men had to signal for help to drag the load of fish into the boat. In fact, another boat was brought in, and it too was filled with fish, so much so that both boats began to sink!
This is the power of the Word of God, dear friends. And we hear this Word through preaching, specifically the preaching of Christ the one who was crucified. This preaching is Good News, and it bears supernatural power.
In the grand scheme of things, it might not seem like much of a miracle to catch fish. But to Simon, this confirmed that the Word of Jesus is indeed the Word of God.
The Word of God is not found in that which is loud and bombastic and powerful in the eyes of the world. For the world loves the great and mighty and rich. The world loves that which is dynamic and emotional, and that which draws attention to its own power. But let’s not forget the lesson that God taught the prophet Elijah. Elijah was eager for a Word from God, and God showed him first of all where not to find it.
The Word was not found in a “strong wind” that “tore the mountains.” The Word was not found in a rumbling earthquake. The Word was not found in a blazing fire. Instead, the Word came from a “low whisper.” Because the voice of the Word of God is not a function of how loud or impressive it is in worldly terms. What makes preaching the Word of God isn’t that it happens in a stadium, or that there is a polished musical presentation with stage lights and the kind of music you hear at a concert, nor is it the Word because the church is huge and a source of awe to anyone who looks at the building.
The power of the Word of God is in the message encoded in the sound. A whisper has power because there is meaning in it. And when the message comes from God, that low, almost inaudible voice, has more might than all of the nuclear weapons on the planet combined.
The prophet Elijah was himself a preacher, but he forgot that it is the Word of God that does the work. It is not in what we see with our eyes: and it is not prevented by such things either: not the opposition of powerful people, nor the hatred of those who do not want to hear and who want to silence it.
The Word of God is powerful because it is God’s Word – whether it is a mighty voice over massive speakers, or whether it is whispered to a person on his deathbed. The Word of God causes fish to be caught in nets, but more importantly, the Word catches men.
Simon would become the leader of the apostles whom Jesus would nickname “Peter,” meaning that he is like a rock. And for all of his faults, and after many failings, Simon Peter stood firm in his ministry of preaching the Word of God and drawing men into the nets of Holy Baptism, into the Good News of the forgiveness of sins, into the Holy Christian Church.
Like all faithful preachers, Simon Peter proclaimed Christ crucified, whether men received it or received it not. And he did indeed catch men in his nets – all by the power of the Word of God. And the bringing of people into eternity is a greater miracle even than the astonishing catch of fish.
Such is the true power of the Word of God.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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