Gospel
THE HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
ACCORDING TO LUKE
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
LUKE 5:1-11
Sermon: The Rev. Dr. Maryann Amor
You can almost see the scene unfolding. Simon, exhausted, frustrated, washing his empty nets after a long, fruitless night. He is a fisherman—he knows what he’s doing. Then along comes Jesus, a carpenter, telling him to go out again, to cast his nets just over there.
I imagine Simon’s response is filled with skepticism, maybe some sarcasm, and many, many dramatic eye rolls: “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
I love gifs, and this one that I will have Dan put up on the screen—this is how I imagine Simon.
We will flip the slide, please, Dan. The gif is great, but she won’t stop eye rolling.
Maybe Simon is humoring Jesus when he throws the nets back, maybe he’s just too tired to argue, but I really think that he is fully expecting another empty net.
But then—the nets fill. More fish than he’s ever seen. So many that the boat begins sinking under the weight. And in that moment, everything changes. Simon falls to his knees, realizing that this is no ordinary teacher standing before him. He recognizes his own doubts, his own smallness in the face of something greater. But Jesus doesn’t focus on the details of Simon’s response. Instead, he says: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
The miraculous catch is not just about demonstrating who Jesus is, the son of God. It is also about preparing Simon and the other disciples for their calling. They will leave their nets, their familiar world, and take on a new mission: bringing people to Jesus, drawing them into the kingdom, casting out into deep waters with faith.
And as they do this, their nets will often be empty. This mission will not be one of instant success. They will face rejection, discouragement, exhaustion. And in those moments, they will need to remember this day. They will need to hold onto the truth that the work is not in vain. That even when it seems like nothing is happening, Jesus still says, "Keep casting your nets. Trust me."
And this is true for us too. There are days when we pour our energy into ministry, into relationships, into trying to share the good news—and it feels like nothing comes of it. The world is changing, and sometimes it seems like fewer people are listening. Fewer people are showing up to our efforts to share what we believe, what means so much to us. The nets feel empty.
But Jesus says to us, "Go out again. Try once more. Cast your nets, even when you’re sure nothing will come of it."
Because the moment will come when the nets are full, when the catch is beyond anything we expected.
Our world is hungering right now for connection, for something more. Probably all of us are feeling angst within our hearts. I was in my women in ministry spiritual direction group on Monday, and pretty much everyone was saying they have to stay off social media and the news because the threats coming from the United States are taking a toll on their mental health, because they are deeply impacted by all the horror we have seen recently with the plane crashes in the news, with young lives lost.
We are also still coming out of the pandemic, and while we might think we are over it, everything we had before hasn’t fully returned. How we connect and relate with each other is fundamentally changed. People are more isolated than ever, loneliness is rampant. Add to this, the many struggling with food insecurity, homelessness, suffering from various mental health issues or addictions. Take all of this together and yes, things do feel pretty awful and hopeless right now.
And what this shows us, so clearly, is that there is a hunger, a need, a space for us, as a church family, to respond in a way that others are unable to. We are called to try, to cast our nets…not for ourselves, not to see, as some have put it, more bums in the pews, but to share with those around us the hope of our faith. To cast a net of love, joy, welcome, connection, and family far and wide and invite people in.
And whether we see results from this today, tomorrow, or years from now, we are called to trust that God is at work. There is a quote I recently heard at a mission conference I attended and it came to my mind as I wrote this sermon: “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” That is the work we are called to do. We plant seeds, we cast our nets, knowing that we may never see the full results—but trusting that God will bring the growth, bring fullness. So our task is not to count the fish but to keep fishing. To trust in Jesus. And to follow his call to us.
Amen.
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