Wandering Heart: Jesus Sought Me
Welcome to this first Sunday in Lent. Several of us gathered to begin our Lenten journey on Wednesday. We received a cross of ashes on our foreheads or hands to remind us that Lent is a time for us to return to our Creator who formed us from the dust of the earth, that our lives are finite, so we want to spend every precious moment in tune with God, living whole, abundant lives—the kind of lives we were created to lead. In recognition of our origins in the earth, in acknowledgment of our finite days, we received ashes and remembered that dust we are, and to dust we shall return. If you were not able to be with us on Wednesday but would like to receive this reminder, I will meet you at the altar after worship.
The life and faith of Peter, Jesus’ disciple, will guide our journey this Lent. In Peter,
we see a person who is both steadfast and unsteady, a dear friend and a betrayer, a follower and a wanderer. In Peter, we often see ourselves. By following Peter’s journey, we will watch the story of Jesus unfold through the eyes of a very normal human trying to figure it all out—just like us.
Welcome to this journey of discovery. May the peace of God be with you.
Reading from the Gospel: Luke 5:1-11 (NLT)
1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So, he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.
8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.
Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus.
Hear what the Spirit is saying for God’s people. Thanks be to God.
Message
Listen as I tell you a story about Peter.
It had been a long night. Simon – not yet known as Peter – and his brother Andrew, along with James and his brother John – their partners, had been out all night on the sea. They had gone out into the deep water and lowered their nets, the weights dragging the bottom edge down into the sea, and then pulled them along the edge of the sea, then onto the shore, but time after time there was nothing in the nets when they got there. Again and again they had pulled the heavy nets back into the boats, headed back out into the deep water, dropped them in, then rowed back down another section of the shore and back in towards the land. All night they had done this with nothing to show for it.
Finally, as the dawn light had started to show in the sky, they had given up. Simon and the brothers and their hired hands had pulled the nets to shore and had begun to clean them, scraping away the weeds, throwing back the too-small fish and dead fish and shellfish. It was always hard work, but never so hard as when there were no fish to sell. How would they pay the harbor taxes? What would they tell their wives???
In the night and as he had been working on the nets, Simon thought about the strange things that had been happening of late. He and Andrew and Zebedee’s boys had been drawn to John, the prophet who baptized in the Jordan. They had heard him speak of turning from sin and back to God. They thought he might be the Messiah who had been foretold and for whom all good Jews were waiting, but he talked of one who was coming who was greater than himself who would not baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit and fire! They weren’t sure what to make of that.
Then a man had come. Yeshua, Jesus, was his name and John had baptized him, but then something strange had happened. As he came out of the water, there was something like a dove that came down from heaven and settled on him and what seemed like a voice came from the heavens. Simon wasn’t sure, but it had sounded as if the voice said something about Jesus being their dearly loved son. Then Jesus had disappeared into the desert. He was gone for a long time. Simon sort of forgot about him, just stored away that memory and took it out every once in a while to ponder what it meant.
Then just a few weeks ago, this same Jesus had come to their synagogue in Capernaum, the one near his home, and he had spoken with such authority! Another time, Jesus was there and so was Crazy Jacob, the one everyone knew was possessed by an evil spirit. Simon was never sure what to do around him and usually Crazy Jacob could be found hanging around the edges of town, but there he was in the synagogue. No one was near him, but they had all heard the voice of the evil spirit in the man speak of Jesus as if he knew who he was. Jesus had called the evil spirit out of the Crazy Jacob right there! They didn’t know what to think! Simon was astounded and just a little afraid of Jesus. Who did that? Called an evil spirit out of a man like that?
What happened next was even more astounding! He was not too sure of him but also very curious, so Simon invited Jesus to his home when they left the synagogue and Jesus accepted. Simon’s wife’s mother, Salome, was very ill. His wife and her brothers, James and John, were worried. She had such a high fever. They sent for the doctor, but he hadn’t come. Jesus stood by her bed and just like he had cast the evil spirit from Crazy Jacob, he cast the fever from his wife’s mother’s body! Salome was so completely healed that she got up and fixed a meal for all of them.
Lost in his memories, Simon was startled when he looked up just then and there was Jesus standing in front of him.
Simon knew Jesus was nearby teaching. He had seen the crowds gathering on the shore just a little ways from where they were working on their nets. He wasn’t surprised. He had heard that Jesus had healed many more people after that day at his house, had been preaching in many of the synagogues in Galilee. He was gaining a bigger and bigger reputation. Yet Simon still wasn’t sure what he believed about him. Could he be the one John the Baptizer had talked about? Could he be the Messiah?
Jesus was there now, standing in front of him. He asked Simon if he could be taken out into the water on his boat, so that he could continue to speak to the people gathered. The water would carry his voice. Jesus stepped into the boat, and Simon called his brother and some of the workers and they pushed the boat a little way out into the water.
After a time, Jesus seemed to be finished with his teaching. Most of the people were wandering away. Simon and Andrew had finished cleaning their nets and were spreading them to dry in the sun. Then Jesus said the craziest thing. He said they should go out again to catch some fish. Simon tried to tell him: We fished all night. The fish must have moved to fresher water. Tomorrow they would try further down the coast. But Jesus was persuasive. Simon remembered, this was the man who had healed his mother-in-law. He owed him. So what if there weren’t any fish out there to catch? Maybe Jesus just needed to get away from those who were still lingering in the area hoping to hear more of his teaching.
Simon called to Andrew and then to James and John, the Master says to go back out. Let’s humor him. Who knows?
They got in their boats, pulled in their nets, and headed out. Jesus watched until they got to a what looked like as good a spot as any and told them to let down the nets. Peter and Andrew and their helpers threw the nets out and watched them sink. The started to row parallel to the shore, just as they had done earlier, but something felt different. There seemed to be a drag on the boat. Simon thought, “There must be something under the water catching the bottom of the boat,” but then Andrew shouted for him to look over the side. Simon couldn’t believe what he was seeing – so many fish caught in the net, so many that the boat was listing to one side. All of them began to try to pull the net in, but the boat was going to capsize!!
Simon shouted for James and John to come help, and soon the other boat was coming alongside and between them they were able, just barely, to get the boats and the amazingly full net of fish to shore.
Simon, his chest heaving from the task they had just accomplished, hadn’t been able really to take it all in until they were all there on the beach surrounded by the piles and piles of fish. Then it hit him. This was the dearly loved Son of God. This was the Messiah! He wanted to shout. Andrew was there, a great smile on his face, pounding him on the back, laughing at all the fish.
Then Jesus was there standing in front of him. Suddenly Simon was overwhelmed. This, this was the son of God! He stumbled away from Jesus and fell on his knees, his head in his hands. Then he held a hand out, as if to keep Jesus from coming any nearer. “I…I…I can’t. You are… I’m not… I am too full of sin to be close to you! Don’t come any nearer! Please….just go away.”
But Jesus didn’t go away. In fact, he stepped nearer and put his arm around Simon’s shoulders. He looked him in the face, and said, “Don’t be afraid, Simon.” He looked around at Andrew and James and John and all those who had helped haul the fish in. “Don’t be afraid! You’re going to learn to fish for people as easily as we caught these fish!”
And so Simon and the others left their nets and their boats and they began to follow him.
Pray with me.
Jesus, Son of God, Savior, you seek us out and we don’t always see you standing right in front of us. And then we do, and we fear we could never measure up, that you couldn’t possibly use us to fish for people, use us to tell the good news, allow us simply to be in your presence. And yet, you have said over and over that we have nothing to fear, that we don’t have to measure up to anything, that we just have to be willing to be found. Find us, Lord. We want to be found. Amen.
An Invitation to Be Found
River of Grace by by Lisle Gwynn Garrity
Inspired by Luke 5:1-11
Acrylic painting on canvas with digital drawing
I invite you to gaze on the artist’s rendering of an image to go with today’s text. Immerse yourself in what you see. Live into the story you see there.
Just as we do when we sit silently in God’s presence, focus on your breathing, settle into the rhythm of your breath, in and out. Perhaps a word will surface that will sharpen your focus on the image. Let everything else fade away around you as you look.
What does the artist want you to see? What meaning do the images you see hold for you? What do you feel about what you see on the page, on the screen, in your imagination, as you think back on the story you’ve just heard? What are you thinking? What do you feel?
Write your reflections in your journal.