Vicar Noah Herren
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 9/10, 2018
Catching
A catch phrase is an informal collection of words that we recognize immediately, it’s a colloquialism. A catch phrase derives its meaning and vitality from repeated use and it relies on a common understanding of the surrounding culture. We’re all in church, so when I say the phrase “fishers of men,” I imagine we have a similar understanding and ideas about what that phrase means. We know it’s from the Bible. We know that Jesus says it. We *may* know that it’s from the gospel of Matthew. And we know that it marks a major shift in the life of some of the disciples.
Now we’re an inclusive church, so we would use the phrase “fishers of people,” and today our reading is from Luke not Matthew. In Luke’s version of this story, Jesus uses the phrase “from now on you will catch people.” When I first read this translation “catch people”, it caught me off guard. It seems to lose some of the poeticism and well, *syllables*, of “fishers of men” or “fishers of people.” Also in my mind the word “catch” seems to imply entrapment or being captured. So today I’d like to explore some other ways in how we can imagine what it means to “catch people.”
Jesus was catching the attention of the crowds as they followed him around Galilee to the shore of the lake. They pressed up on him so much that he had to ask Simon Peter to take his boat out a little bit from the shore just to be able to teach. There was something about Jesus that grabbed people and made people want to learn more about him. The crowds were enamored of him by his performing of miracles or his teaching in the temple.
Jesus still catches our attention today. We may be taken in by an impressive worship service, the beauty of a cathedral, the architecture of a church, a moving musical piece. We may get introduced to church through some outreach activities, volunteering in the neighborhood, or through a friend or connection. But in all of that we’re standing on the shore. We’re still kind of at the beginning. We’ve caught sight of what Jesus is up to, but barely put our toes in the water.
When Jesus says to Simon Peter, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch,” he calls him to a deeper level of discipleship. The crowds are magnetized to Jesus, but it’s through Peter that we see what true discipleship requires.
Deep water calls to mind the narrative in Genesis when the spirit hovers over the deep and God creates the world from a watery chaos. In psychoanalysis, the sea is representative of the unconscious, the things that go on below the surface that we are largely unaware of. You can envision Freud’s iceberg metaphor, where we only see the tip of the iceberg and all that we don’t see lurks below. Although the deep water is chaotic and scary and unpredictable, it also serves as a place of pure potential. We are birthed into something new by passing through these deep waters.
I don’t know how many of you listen to catchy pop radio. One of the phrases you’ll hear if you do, is “catch feels” or “catch feelings.” Catching feelings is an unexpected emotional response. It describes something that happens when you’ve been spending a lot of time with a friend or acquaintance, it may even be a physical relationship, but it’s mutually understood that the relationship is casual. Then unexpectedly, and with no warning, you want the relationship to be more than it was before. It’s like catching a cold, but with emotions.
Simon is obedient albeit skeptical when Jesus successively implores him to do more things. First, row out from the shore. Then, go into the deep water. Then let down the nets, even though he knows from time and experience, there are no fish. But after Simon pulls in this massive catch of fish, something happens and he catches feelings for Jesus. And I don’t mean to say that it’s in a romantic way, but something significant has shifted in the relationship. This profound moment catches him off guard and Simon falls down to his knees and humbly repents.
Simon isn’t just hanging around with Jesus anymore, not just lingering around the periphery. He has gone into the deep water and caught feelings. Simon’s awareness of the glory of God causes a radical shift in his priorities and perspective.
“Do not be afraid” is kind of a catch phrase of the angels. Every time there is a theophany, every time God is revealed to someone, an angel says, “Do not be afraid.” Here God is revealed through this miracle catch of fish. Simon is overwhelmed and Jesus speaks comfort to him through words that acknowledge his emotional state and call him forth into mission. “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch people.”
Back on the shore, Simon, along with James and John, catch the spirit and get caught up in the work the Spirit is doing. The Spirit had been at work long before Jesus was even born. The Spirit moves, carries, and directs Jesus and all those connected to his ministry. Even after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Spirit carries out from Jerusalem through Galilee and Samaria and all the way to the ends of the earth. The disciples in this story get caught up in the work of the spirit and will be part of that movement for the rest of their lives. They leave everything behind. Once the Spirit catches you, there’s no turning back.
Jesus uses the context and speaks the language of those he pursues. He doesn’t come in lofty phrases to Simon. He uses a boat as a pulpit. He engages the nets and the catch of fish as a metaphor and a sign. He asks reasonable things of Simon that his skills and knowledge allow him to accomplish. Jesus catches us where we are and calls us as we are to join in the work of the Spirit.
Today as we turn to table may we be stirred, invited, and caught up in the God’s work in the world. And in the spirit of the faithful, let us respond in heart and song with a phrase of humility and abandon, “Here I am, Lord.”