In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. This is a vivid, dramatic,
and amazing scene that St. Luke describes to
us today. Have you noticed we jumped from Matthew,
which we've been reading since the week after
Pentecost, all the way up to last week, and now
we're going to move, this is called in a priest's
garden, Luke and Job. And so we begin to read
from the Gospel of Luke. And the church says,
start with chapter 5, verse 1. Jesus, in chapter
4, had been to vast mountains of people. They
were following him everywhere. And he was healing
people. And he wanted to have time to help them
there as well. So he came down. And he came to
the lake. And there were vassals and people waiting
for him to teach. And he saw the two boats, as
you heard. You know the story. And he got into
one of them. It happened to be Simon, who would
become Peter. We have a fresco of St. Peter here.
You see there's a little rock. There was a school
field trip here on Thursday. The Healdsburg School
came, the fourth grade classes. They always do
every year. And one of the kids looks up at that
fresco and says, there's a rock there. What's
that? I hope you can all explain that, but I'll
tell you right now, just in case you can't. A
parishioner went to Rome, I won't say who, and
took the private tour of the Church of St. Peter,
that magnificent and huge church in Rome. And
went under where St. Peter had been buried. And
she took a rock from the floor. You're not supposed
to do that. And she brought it back. And Father
Patrick plastered it in there. Because Peter
was named, his name was Simon. The Lord gives
him the name Petros, Peter. It's a nickname.
It's like Rocky. Simon Bar -Jonah. Simon, son
of Jonah. Simon Johnson, Rocky Johnson. There
you go, in our parlance. So, in any case, the
Lord had healed Peter's mother -in -law. And
so Peter knew him. He had not been yet a disciple
when this event took place. And after the Lord
is teaching, he says to Peter, go into the deep.
Peter had been fishing all night. Nothing. Go
into the deep. Let down your nets. Fish. And
Simon Peter answers him, Master, we're fishermen.
You're the carpenter. We've toiled all night.
What are you talking about, basically? He's thinking
rationally. He's thinking realistically here.
There are no fish out there now. And it's daytime.
We're the experts. We're the fishermen. I think
we know. But then, in his humility, having heard
the Lord speak and having seen his mother -in
-law be healed, he realizes who he is talking
to. And he says, nevertheless, okay, at thy word
I will go. I will go out and let down my nets.
And Jesus gives the sign of what is to come.
It's not a magic trick. It's not a magic trick.
The miraculous catch of fish is not about setting
up a successful fishing business so that it would,
I don't know, finance the whole project of evangelism
for Jesus. Jesus was poor. He had only the clothes
on his back. This miraculous catch of fish is
not about that. It's about the divine power,
the grace of God, the Lord's power over nature,
the holiness of Jesus, who has come for the salvation
of the world. And the boat is the church. And
the fish, obviously people being brought to Jesus
for life, for salvation. These men, Maybe Peter
owned his own boat. That it was subsistence living.
You know, he could go out and if he didn't catch
anything, he didn't eat. He had nothing to sell.
And Jesus does this amazing miracle and Peter
is overwhelmed with fear and wonder. And he falls
down at Jesus' feet and he says, Depart from
me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Now this response
might seem a little odd to us. But is it? No,
it's not. Peter is confronted. He's awakened.
He's astonished by the mighty, loving power of
God crashing in on his world. In his own... As
the master... of all things in heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them. This change
of heart is more impressive than the miracle
of the catching of the fish. What does it mean
then? The apostles left everything. They didn't
say, oh, let us tidy up and we'll be with you
tomorrow. They caught this amazing catch of fish,
and it says in the gospel, they left it all behind,
and they followed this homeless, penniless, poor
man who has the words of life. And because they
were astonished, and they were awakened in their
soul. And that's why the gospel is given to us
today. To awaken us in our soul. To give us trust
in Christ. The trust that brings obedience. The
word obedience has a bad connotation. Some are
abused out of their obedience. But that's not
what this is about. This is to be able to hear.
To obey is to hear. To follow Christ. It's about
offering ourselves. Leaving behind. The sin and
the non -essentials of our life. The things that
keep us from being with Christ. You know, with
Christ, there's not a, you must do this, you
must do that. The Lord gives us absolute freedom.
There is no, you must, with Jesus Christ. But
he who believes in me, says Jesus to us, even
now today. As a gift of everlasting life. Belief,
not as a mental construct or an idea or a religious
concept, but faithfulness. Doing what you can
do in your situation of life. To do what the
future apostles did that day. To follow Jesus
with all their heart. I have seven ways, let
me suggest to you. that we can do that. The epistle
itself laid it all out for us. But let me give
you these ways. First, love is always first in
any list. But love God. Love God first. Love
him with the entirety of your being, your mind,
and your strength. More than you love family.
More than you love things. More than you love
video games. More than you love food or any other
thing of pleasure. More than your job. And how
do you express that love? Is it just in our mind?
Prayer. We express our love by prayer. If we
love someone, we want to embrace that person.
Run to them. Be with them in their presence.
Enjoy. their presence pray pray with your heart
that's how you will express your love and by
prayer you will then want to dive into the holy
scriptures to know more about the lord and what
god is giving you his word so it will become
alive and not just pages in a book second again
love If we love God, if we express our love through
prayer, much more, says St. James, do we express
our love for God by loving everyone, even the
most unlovable. And that's a miracle of God's
power and Holy Spirit working in you. To see
the image of God in someone else, that's divine.
This is also about forgiving everyone, as you
would wish. To be forgiven by God. It only harms
us to nurture anger and resentments in ourselves.
So love. Number three. Nurture the attitude.
That everything that you have. Comes from God.
And actually belongs to him. Everything. All
your personal traits. All your material possessions.
all your friendships, everything you have is
from God and therefore belongs to God. And we
offer that back to him even now, today, in the
bread and wine. Number four, live righteously.
Speak righteously. Speak ethically. Be honorable.
Work hard to support your family, your church.
your fellow citizens. Support your church with
your tithes and your offerings. Live righteously,
ethically, honorably with love. Number five,
because you have love now, because God's love
is pouring through you in everything you do and
you think, be merciful then and give alms to
those who don't have love or anyone to love them.
who have less than you do, without judging or
criticizing or analyzing their life. Number six,
because you love God, and because he says, blessed
are the peacemakers, be a peacemaker. Easy, if
you're on social media, do not respond to agitated
comments. Be a peacemaker. In your life, with
your family. Try to bring about reconciliation
between people. Not because you have incredible
powers of negotiation. But because you love God
first. And his love will be working in you. Number
seven. The no -brainer. The absolute easiest
thing that every single one of us could do. And
we're doing right now, go to church. Go to church
as much as you can. Worship the Lord who has
given you everything. Labor for the good of the
parish. Find ways to be astonished by what God
is doing in your life so that your soul will
awaken and you will be able. even to do what
St. Peter did that day, to fall down at the feet
of the Lord and say, depart from me, I am a sinful
man, because you see how holy and good he is,
and you see your own sins. And then he picks
you up and calls you. All of you, brothers and
sisters, you are all an irreplaceable part, a
member. of the very body of Jesus Christ, the
church. These seven steps, they're just a beginning.
They're the things that distinguish an Orthodox
Christian from just about any other person living
in the world, and they're the things that will
allow you to be astonished at the Lord's majesty
and beauty and love for you, which will change
your heart. This is how we follow Jesus. This
is how we become his faithful disciples. And
isn't that the true goal of our life? To our
Lord be glory, now and ever, to ages of ages.
Amen.