In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.
This morning we had two gospel readings and,
of course, two epistle readings. The second one
was for the movable feast, the Saints of North
America. And the first one, from St. Lou, was
about the miraculous catch of fish. And it's
that first one that I want to focus on in the
words that I'm about to share with you. You might
have noticed there's a certain logic to our epistle
and gospel readings. After the Feast of the Holy
Cross, we shift into gospel readings from St.
Luke. This is what is popularly called the Lucan
jump. We jump from St. Matthew's Gospels to St.
Luke's. And St. Luke has a definite structure
to his Gospel. We begin with the infancy narratives.
Much of this information from tradition we believe
he received. from the Virgin Mary because of
its content, the Annunciation, and the birth
of John the Baptist, and of course our Lord's
birth, etc. And then his baptism. And then he
moves out after his baptism. Jesus goes on retreat,
so to speak. He goes into the desert for 40 days
and 40 nights, and there he is tempted by the
devil. This retreat was to strengthen him for
his public ministry. And his public ministry,
he, after this time in the desert, in the wilderness,
Jesus went back to his hometown, Nazareth, and
there began his public ministry. The people were
astonished at his teachings, at his teachings
and at his wisdom. This astonishment was seen
in the first several miracles that he performed.
And then what I think is particularly significant
is the one where Jesus went to the synagogue
on Saturday. And it was his turn to read, and
he took up the prophecy of Isaiah when the book
was handed to him. Apparently, it was a custom
that someone who did the reading would give a
few brief words of encouragement or enlightenment.
And so, after Jesus finished the reading, he
sat down and handed the book back and took his
place. And all eyes were upon him, St. Luke says,
expecting him to say something. And then he clearly
inaugurates his public ministry when he says
the spirit of quotes from Isaiah, that reading
he had, the spirit of the Lord is upon me to
preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release
to captives. recovery of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
This, the acceptable year of the Lord, is the
time to act, for God to act. This is the inauguration,
so to speak, of the Messianic era. All eyes were
fixed on Jesus, and he said, Today, this scripture
has been fulfilled in your hearing. To the amazement
of people that Jesus would claim that these words
of Isaiah are directed to him, obviously as the
Messiah. People were amazed at when Jesus performed
these miracles and at his teachings and knowledge.
And they frequently would say something to the
effect, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
the carpenter's son? And I'm frequently, I enjoy
reading the bumper stickers. And my favorite,
they have interesting messages. Sometimes you
could be dangerous putting a bumper sticker on
your car. Someone might not enjoy what you're
advertising. But this advertisement is fantastic.
The one that I saw. My boss is a Jewish carpenter.
What a magnificent message. and an inspiration
to anyone who reads that. My boss is a Jewish
carpenter. Today's gospel, again, is at the beginning
of Jesus' ministry, and we have the miraculous
catch of fish. Labored all night, didn't catch
a thing. Anyone who's... Gone fishing. This was
not a sport for Peter, James, and John. This
was how they made their living. But anyone who
has gone fishing is amazed, I think, at the fickleness
of the fish. Sometimes they bite, sometimes they
don't. For us, you know, it's just fun to catch
fish. But that was their livelihood. And what
was the reaction? Two things I want us to take
from this gospel. What was Peter's reaction,
Simon Peter? He fell at Jesus' feet and he said,
Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.
Those should be our words, not literally that
he depart from us, but Peter's recognition. of
his own sinfulness, and how distant is a spiritual
space between God and we poor and imperfect followers
of his. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,
O Lord. We must acknowledge our sinfulness. We
do this daily in our morning and evening prayers,
to receive Holy Communion. We declare our sinfulness
and our unworthiness. But the irony is, we don't
say, depart from me, O Lord. We say, let me come
to you and receive you in Holy Communion, O Lord.
So that's the first idea. Recognizing our own
sinfulness and unworthiness. Every day, how much
we need God's grace and God's help. The second
one is, near the end of the reading, it tells
us that Jesus' disciples, his new disciples,
left everything and followed him. It was an unreserved
declaration of faithfulness. and loyalty to Jesus.
That should be our inspiration. No matter what
we do in life, and when I give talks to young
people, especially if they're thinking, what
should I do in life? What should I be? And no
matter what you choose, you will be successful.
If you are successful, And the one important
thing, the one thing needful, was just to be
a follower of Jesus Christ. Because if you do
not obey God, keep his commandments, do what
he knows we want him to do, you're a failure,
no matter how much success or how much money
you might make. The one thing needful. to follow
Jesus and to do his will so that we can say with
that bumper sticker, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.
Amen.