When Jesus Speaks . . .

February 7, 2010
The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany

Luke 5:1-11
On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (ESV).

   Several years ago, there was a popular television commercial about a brokerage firm named E.F. Hutton. The commercial began by showing a large group of people eating in a trendy restaurant. At one table, a woman asked another for the secret to her phenomenal success in the stock market. The wealthy lady gave her reply, saying, “Well, my broker is E.F. Hutton, and . . .” She never completed her sentence because, at the mention of the name of E.F. Hutton, everyone in the restaurant became instantly silent. For several seconds everyone was frozen in time as they strained to hear what E.F. Hutton had to say. The commercial ended with these words: “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen.”

   It was a catchy ad. But this morning, on the basis of our text, I would suggest to you that, when Jesus talks, even E.F. Hutton listens. That is, when Jesus talks, things happen. Things happen when Jesus speaks because his words are God’s words. His words, unlike ours, do not merely fill the air. They convey divine power and authority by their very utterance.

   We see this in our text. Jesus was just beginning his earthly ministry. We find him preaching the Word of God to a crowd along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. His teaching was so moving that the people pressed in around him to hear what he had to say. To get some breathing room, he stepped into Peter’s empty boat and began to preach to them a short distance from the shore. In Jesus’ day preachers didn’t stand in pulpits but sat down facing the people. And so, Jesus sat down in Peter’s boat to preach and teach.

   When he finished his teaching, it was time for the object lesson. And nobody ever forgot one of his object lessons! It was time for him to teach them the real power of his Word. So, he said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”1 Here, Jesus was telling Peter to get into his boat and put his nets down in the deep water.

   To Peter’s ears—and to the ears of any Galilean fishermen—these words from Jesus seemed contrary to reason. Peter was thinking, “Launch out? But Master, we’ve fished all night and didn’t catch a thing! Launch out? Everybody knows that you fish at night not at midday. It’s too late in the day to fish! Launch out? You just don’t fish in deep water with nets . . . at least not in the Sea of Galilee!”

   Like Peter, God’s people throughout the ages have often thought that what God has promised and commanded is not logical, that it is contrary to reason. Think of the patriarch Abraham. In his old age God promised him a son through his wife Sarah. He must learn the painful lesson of patience as he waits for the birth of a son. He struggles in his faith and with his wife as she laments her infertility. Even in the presence of the LORD, she laughs at the suggestion that she could conceive and bear a child.2 Time passes. Nothing happens. No son is given. What would the great patriarch do?

   Would he give up on God’s promise? Yes, at least in part. And he does a dangerous thing. He places his own reason above God’s revelation and promise. Sarah, at age 76, has given up any hope of bearing a child. So she suggests that her husband have relations with her maid Hagar. Perhaps, she thinks, this is how God’s promise would come to pass. And, behold, when he is 86, Hagar bears Abraham a son. His name is Ishmael.

   How dangerous is it to place reason above God’s revelation? In the case of Abraham, his decision to have a child by way of Hagar would prove to be disastrous. Regarding Ishmael, God said that he would be “a wild donkey of a man,”3 and that his descendants would become a great nation.4 And who are the descendants of Ishmael today? They are, in large part, the Arabic–speaking nations of the world, and almost all of them have embraced the religion of Islam. Its founder, Muhammad, was himself a descendant of Ishmael.5

   Needless to say, the relationship between Islam and Christianity has not been cordial. In the 7th and 8th centuries Islam spread by the sword through the Christian states of northern Africa. It extended even across the Mediterranean into Spain. In the 11th–13th centuries, European Christians launched a series of ill–begotten, military Crusades against Islam in the hopes of recapturing Jerusalem from its Islamic occupiers.

   More recently, we need only think of the events of the last 50 years to be reminded that, even as Ishmael was a “wild donkey of a man,” so also are many of his modern descendents.6 911 was, for the West, merely an historical wake–up call. Thousands of years after Abraham placed his reason above God’s revelation, the sons of Ishmael and the sons of Isaac are still feuding!

   Like Abraham, we can also place our reason above God’s clear Word. God tells us what to do and how we should think, but we find God’s ways unreasonable. We say,

1. Why should I remain with my spouse when another is more desirable and will make me happy?
2. Why should I forgive the person that has wronged when he doesn’t deserve it?
3. Why should I obey the laws of the land when so many of them are stupid?
4. Why should I tithe? After all, what’s the church ever done for me?
5. Why should I go to church when I get nothing out of it?
6. Why should I listen to sermons? After all, I can’t remember a single one?
7. Why should I go to a Bible class? I would just be a waste of time.

   Why? Why? Why? Why should I listen to God and not my own heart? Primarily because your sinful heart and mine has an appetite only for what is evil.

   But, perhaps, you desire a more reasonable answer. Okay, then, if you do only what pleases you, you will end up miserable. And why is that? Because the relentless pursuit of happiness will never make you happy. Indeed, Eric Hoffer notes, “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”7 Happiness, you see, is a gift of God, given by his grace that catches us by surprise. We do not catch it; it catches us. And happiness seems to be most prevalent among those who are content with what they have. St. Augustine was right when he said of God, “You have formed us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they find rest in thee.”8

   But if we return to our text, we will learn with Peter the blessings and power of God’s promise . . . and in doing what our Lord promises. Peter speaks as every Christian should when he says to Jesus, “Master, we have toiled all night, and have taken nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets.”9

   So Peter launched out and let down his nets. And suddenly, the nets began to tear because there were so many fish in them. They signaled another boat to help. They pulled as many fish out of the nets as they could. But the weight of the fish was so great that each boat began to sink! The whole catch of fish—summoned into the nets by the will and Word of Christ—testified eloquently that Jesus was then, is now, and always will be, God in human flesh. And because he is incarnate deity, what he speaks and what he commands must, of necessity, take place. Yes, when Jesus speaks, all things listen. They cannot but do as he commands.

   This astonishing miracle was, for Peter, a double epiphany, a double light–bulb moment. The first and most important epiphany was that the miraculous catch revealed that Jesus was the enfleshed Son of God. Of this Peter and the others had no doubt. For when Jesus speaks, all things listen and obey.

   The second epiphany was Peter’s sudden realization of just how sinful he was. At once he fell to his knees before Jesus and said to him, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”10 You see, when we stand in the presence of God, we cower. Because God is holy, we who are unholy tremble because of our utter sinfulness.

   But no sooner had Peter said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinner” than Jesus gives him the Gospel. Jesus says to him, “Stop being afraid.”11 And when Jesus speaks saying, “Fear not,” he means what he says. Yes, when, Jesus speaks, Peter is to listen and believe!

   There is only one reason why Jesus tells Peter not to be afraid of his sins. And there is only one reason why we should not likewise be afraid. That is because Jesus, on the cross, shall catch all sinners in the net of his redemption. Proud reason says that his death is utter defeat and failure.

   But God’s Word and promise is that Christ’s death delivers forgiveness and life to all sinners who trust in him. Did Jesus not say, “It is finished”?12 Yes, he did! Did the Roman centurion not say after Jesus’ death, “Truly, this was the Son of God”? Indeed, he also did! Only the death of God, only the death of the Son (who is God) is sufficient to atone for all human sin! And did Jesus not rise from the dead on the third day? Indeed so! His resurrection is the evidence that God, the Father, accepted the sacrifice of his Son as payment–in–full for all of our sins!

   Thus, when Jesus speaks, we listen. He says to us, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”13 Again he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”14 And the Gospel says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”15 Indeed, when Jesus speaks, we listen. And his strong Word bespeaks us righteous. And we believe his saving Word. In the name of Jesus who gives us life by means of his death. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Endnotes

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