TITLE: “Caught in the Net of the Preaching of Christ ”

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Our text for today is the Gospel lesson just read.

When you first think about it, fishing and preaching don’t seem to have a lot to do with each other, do they?  One involves praying, writing and speaking God’s Word, and the other involves bait and tackle, nets, getting up early in the morning, and above all, patience.  In our Gospel lesson today, though, our Lord Jesus proclaims to Peter that he will become a fisher of men.  He won’t fish for men with nets and fishing rods and the like, but Peter would become a fisher of men by casting out the Word of Christ through preaching, and then waiting to see what the catch would be.  This is a picture of how God works in the world through the Church, and it gives us a picture of how we are to hear the Word of God in our own lives as well.

The crowd was pressed upon Jesus, and hearing the Word of God as He was standing by the lake.  He stepped onto Simon’s boat, asked him to push off from the shore, and sat down to preach.  Peter’s boat became the first Christian pulpit.  After He finished preaching He decided to give Simon Peter a visible demonstration of the power of His Word.  He told Simon to put out into the deep and lower the nets for a catch.  Now any self-respecting fisherman like Peter knew that was crazy!  You catch fish at night, and along the shore, not out in the deep.  However, Peter had seen this Jesus do more amazing things, so he covers himself by saying, “Master, working hard through the whole night, we took nothing: but at your word I will lower the nets.”

So they go out to the deep waters — recalling the “deep” waters of the Creation in Genesis — with the Spirit–filled Word of Jesus once again moving over the surface of those waters, as though to bring about a “mass Baptism” of those who were lost at sea.  We already know how the fish will come to represent men and women — adrift in the deep.  But thus says the Lord: “Cast out your nets and let them be rescued.”

Imagine Peter’s surprise when they caught so many fish that they had to signal their partners in the other boat to come and help them with the catch!  The Lord who spoke the world into being had spoken a word and they had more fish than they could handle.  It is no wonder that Simon and the others were amazed at this.  What was Simon’s response?  He fell to his knees and said, “Depart from me, because I am a sinner, Lord.”  In the sight of God’s holiness and power, Peter, like Isaiah, falls to his knees and cries out that he is not worthy to be in the presence of God.

The Word of God is such a power, doesn’t it?  By His Word the heavens and the earth were created; by His Word all the earth was filled, and the crown of His creation, Adam and Eve, were made.  By His Word the flood came over the earth, and afterwards the rainbow.  By His Word our pitiful words were confused at the Tower of Babel.  By His Word the Red Sea parted and the people of Israel came across safely.  By His Word the Son of God was prophesied to come into human flesh.  By His Word He crushes and kills with the Law, as we see with Peter here.  This is what is happening to Peter.  He has caught but a glimpse of the awesome power of God, and it terrifies Him that He can do nothing to save Himself.  He realizes that his entire life is in the hand of God, and it is a frightening thought.  Luther once remarked on this:

If Christ is to help, there must be trials, trouble and toil, and it must come to this, that we despair of all human counsel, comfort and ability (Church Postils, v. 4, p. 144).

It is a strange thing, isn’t it?  On the one hand, Christ commands us to work, and on the other hand shows that our work accomplishes nothing.  If the work of the disciples had accomplished anything, it would have happened during the night, when the fishing was good.  Christ commanded them to let out the nets in broad daylight, to show them that all of their so-called work was useless without the grace and presence of God.

So what is the purpose of the work that we do, day in and day out?  We have all sorts of work to do.  Jobs, home life, school, whatever it may be, the temptation is always there to put your trust in the fact that you are a good person.  “I take care of my family, so I’m a good Christian.”  “I do well in school, and I don’t get into trouble, so I must be good.”  Or whatever.  Add to that is the fact that our culture would have us believe that all life is really about is making choices, good or bad.  If you make better choices, then your life will be better.  Christ says baloney to such nonsense!  Peter and the disciples made all the right choices, they had done everything right to catch the fish, but it amounted to nothing without Christ and His Word.

Christ here shows Simon Peter, the disciples and you that all works are as nothing without Him, and so it is no wonder that Peter was terrified.  It’s terrifying!  And it should be.  The Law crushes and kills and forces the pitiful sinner to see himself as he truly is: nothing without Christ.

But thanks be to God that our Lord does not leave it there.  After Peter’s cry of despair, Christ says to him, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching men alive.”  Christ absolves Peter, and gives him an amazing promise: not only is Peter forgiven, but also Christ will use Peter to forgive the sins of others.  This is really a foretaste of Christ’s commission to Peter and the other apostles in John chapter twenty: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (Jn. 20:22-23).

And so we get the perfect picture of what Christian preaching is all about.  Preaching is about delivering Christ and the forgiveness of sins.  The purpose of preaching is to catch men alive, to get them caught up in the net of the Gospel and into the boat, that is, the Church.  It is no accident that the portion of the church where you are sitting is called the nave, that that is a Latin word meaning boat.  In our text the boat is where Peter and the others come into the forgiving presence of Jesus, and so it is with you.  Just like Noah and his family in the ark, so also you are kept safe here, in this place.

Like the fish in our story, it is so easy to get caught up in the ebb and flow of the waters of the world.  Our lives apart from Christ have no purpose, we drift and go back and forth without knowing finally why or where we are.  The preaching of the Gospel is the net that brings you into the boat where Christ is with His people.  Just like it is in the fishing of our story, so the preaching of the Gospel will bring many people into the Church, but not all.  Like Peter, the pastor can only let out the net and see what catch the Lord will give that day. 

Luther says that the net in our text is the office of preaching, and then says the following:

And as the net suffers through being let down into the water and becomes wet, so must the office of preaching suffer through all sorts of trials and persecutions in the world, even to the extent of being rent and torn.  It cannot produce profitable or fruitful results in all men; yet great power and much fruit are found in those who remain steadfast and are kept to the end.  It is our comfort, however, that Christ, through our preaching, will lead his own into the boat, and will keep them there, although we know that we cannot make devout men of all to whom we preach, and that we cannot escape persecution on account of our office; yea, though we know that many will fall away even among those of whom we felt sure that we had them in the net. (Church Postils, volume 4, pp. 165-166)

It is very easy for pastors and indeed for the whole Church to be sidetracked and distracted from the purpose Christ has given us.  Pastors who preach the Law and the Gospel will suffer as the net suffers, but it is the message that is the important thing.  The office of preaching is the net that draws you into the boat where Christ is to be found.  We are all the fish who are caught in this net of Christ’s forgiveness.  You are caught, not to be food like the fish in our story, but to be fed at His Table.  Here Christ gives you Himself for food.

What a glorious mystery and blessing God has given to us!   Caught in the net of the preaching of the Gospel.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

And now may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith unto life everlasting.  Amen.