Christ Lutheran Church: Welcome

Title

Because You Say So

Luke 5:1-11

February 7, 2010

Rev. Dave R. Garwick

This sermon is based on the Gospel Lesson where Jesus climbs into a boat that belongs to a fisherman named Simon. This man was soon to become the chief apostle whom we usually refer to as Peter. You might think of this episode as the “fishing opener” of the Gospels. I know that we’re still in football season, but since most of us don’t have much to talk about in tonight’s Superbowl, I thought we might as well think about fishing openers.

You know that so much of what Jesus did with the apostles was during fishing from boats. Once when they had no money to pay taxes to Caesar, He told them to cast on the right side of the boat when lo and behold they pulled in a fish that actually had a coin in its mouth! Then, the day after He had been put to death, the resurrected Jesus appears to distraught apostles who had had no luck fishing all night and He calls out to them from shore telling them where to drop their nets. And they hauled in a huge catch. There was the time that He was sleeping in the back of the boat when this sudden storm threatened to sink them all until Jesus commanded the winds to cease. And of course there was the time that Jesus came walking to them on the waves in the night when again it was Peter who jumped into the water to walk out to Him, until he took his eyes off Jesus and started to sink. Well, this morning’s Gospel Lesson is the one I call the fishing opener because this was the very first of all the boat episodes.

But this is isn’t only the first of the boat episodes. This lesson is also the very first time recorded in the Bible that Jesus actually told anyone to do anything. That is something that He did quite a bit. In fact, in just the next five chapters, Jesus tells people what to do at least forty-three other times. He would tell evil spirits to come out of people and then command them to be silent. He would command the forces of nature. He would tell the apostles all kinds of things to do and not to do.

This episode is not only the first time He told people what to do, it was the first of several times that He told people to do things that would make absolutely no sense whatsoever according to human wisdom or experience. Put yourself in Peter’s position. He was a professional fisherman. He had been out all night with his partners who also were professional fisherman. These guys knew what they were doing.

Along comes this preacher. And, yes, a miracle healer. But a carpenter. A carpenter! A carpenter who tells them how to fish. And what He tells them to do makes about as much sense as you might expect from a well meaning non-expert. What He tells them to do is to go back out right where they had been all night and had not caught a single blessed thing all night. Night is when expert commercial fishermen get their best catches when the daytime sun does not force the fish to the bottom. But now this back seat driver fisherman tells them to go out again ... to the very same spot .... in broad daylight and let down their nets.

Nobody who has ever gone fishing with me would ever take any advice from this preacher about how to catch fish. So what did Peter say to this well intended preacher-carpenter? "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets." Luke 5:5

Did you get this: “But because You say so, I will let down the nets." Because You say so. Not because it made any sense at all to Peter who knew better. But simply, “Because You say so.” Simply that and nothing more. “Because You say so.”

I will believe something for one of two reasons. Sometimes I believe something because it makes sense to me. But since I’m not always the sharpest knife in the drawer, there are a whole lot of things that do not make sense to me – especially some of the biggest, thorniest questions in life, in this world. In my own world.

The other reason I will believe something is because of who said it. The only doctor I go to is the one I trust. The only mechanic I go to is the one I trust. The only lawyer I go to is the one I trust. When they advise me to do something, I do it, whether it makes total sense to me or not. When my dentist tells me that there are two or three options of what can be done, my only question to him is to ask him what he himself would do. That then is what I will do. Even if it costs me more.

God is faithful. Jesus has never gone back on a promise to me. He gave His life to save mine. I will trust Him even if what He says makes no sense to me at the moment, even if what He tells me to do costs me. There are so many things that Jesus has told us to do that do not make sense at the moment according to worldly wisdom, according to my self-serving, short sighted instincts.

Things like, “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” Luke 6:22

Or how about this one: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.” Luke 6:22-28

All I can say to all of this is, “Because You say so.” Notice one more thing: Peter did not invite Jesus into his boat. Jesus simply climbed in there with him. Know that Jesus IS in the boat with us. Peter did not think to ask Jesus for help – he had already wrapped things up. But again it was Jesus who knew Peter’s trouble and it was Jesus who offered the help. All that was left for Peter was to say, “Because You say so, I will let down the nets."

And one last thing. Jesus did not do this just to fill Peter’s boat with fish. He did it for Peter to fill God’s boat with souls. “Now I will make you fishers of men.” When you realize that Jesus is in the boat with you and when He tells you to do the most unreasonable things and you discover how He has filled your boat, then remember why. Let down your nets, people.

Amen. May it be so.