Put Out Into the Deep Water
Luke 5:1-11, 5th Sunday of Epiphany Year C
Preached February 4, 2007 at Hope UMC
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
Peter had a lot of reasons not to do this: he’d been fishing all night, they’d already fished that spot, fish are always in the shallows, what did a carpenter know about fishing anyway – a lot of reasons to say no. But he did. He put out into the deep water, and let down his nets for a catch.
We avoid deep water. Generally we want to stay in the shallows, where we can see the bottom, where we are in familiar territory. Whatever we do, we don’t want to get in over our heads.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
The Bishop spoke to the Confirmation students last week about a very practical program the UMC is involved in: Nothing But Nets. She talked first about the UMC, a little of how it works, and how big it is – 10-11 million people worldwide.
Then she spoke of malaria – it kills 1 million people a year, 3000 people a day, 1 person every 30 seconds. It comes from mosquitoes that bite at night – we know all about mosquitoes here; can you imagine not having screen windows? Children are very susceptible. But a net has been developed, insecticide treated, that can cover a bed of a family of four. $10 buys the net and some training for the family to use it. Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated has been trying to distribute these nets and when he traveled to Africa he discovered that the UMC was everywhere. So he called the UMC headquarters and asked if we would help distribute these nets. Now there is a partnership between Sports Illustrated, the NBA, and the UMC – with a $3 million challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – to buy and distribute these nets. They last a few years.
I held my child who was sick in the middle of the night in the ER this week and thought about the mothers losing their children to this disease. For me a thought like that is putting out into the deep, going into the deep part of my fear, the kind of thing that gnaws at me in the middle of the night. But Jesus says, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.” I’m buying some nets. I’m starting with five.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
Another place that is scary to consider is thinking about global warming, or climate change, depending upon your perspective. The news has been dire this week, as more and more people are coming to the belief that something is going on, that we are in trouble. This cold snap isn’t proof of anything; our world is changing quickly.
I’m hearing people of faith of all sorts talking about this more, wondering what we should do. And suddenly the people of Hope are talking about this too. The Trustees are exploring how we might become more green, which means using less energy, which means, among other things, reducing our energy bill. We’ve had a consultant come in who switched out, for free, some light bulbs so more of them are compact fluorescents. Our new boiler is a good thing, and the trustees are looking at what else might help.
And we are going to look at this issue during Lent. The texts during Lent in the Old Testament are about the people’s relationship with the land, a good way for us to consider this topic. Our Wednesday night programs will feature some videos and speakers and worship on the issue.
This isn’t easy, and we haven’t done this sort of thing before. But Jesus says, go into the deep places, and let down your nets. Go into the scary places and see what I will do for you there.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
In ancient times the deep water was a symbol of chaos, the evil chaos at the beginning of creation before God began to work. Deep water is a symbol for all that is dark and unknown.
Peter had to put his nets into the deep more than once in his walk with Jesus. This fishing story started it all, but Peter time and again had to face the deep, unknown, scary part of his own heart as he followed Jesus. We see in the Gospel stories how little Peter understood of his own heart, and of death, as he encouraged Jesus to stay on the mountain when Moses and Elijah showed up there in glory, as he professed his faithfulness only to deny Jesus hours later, as he struggled to believe that Jesus was alive again on Sunday morning.
But Peter went into the deeps of his own self. He put out his nets over and over, even in the same places, and he kept following Jesus. He didn’t let his failure of faith stop him in the end; he went on to be one of the greatest leaders of the early church. And the Bible does not paint him that well – we know his faults, his failures. He went into the deep place, even the deep place of failure, and his nets were full to bursting, time and time again.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
What deep water is Jesus calling us to?
Preached February 4, 2007 at Hope UMC
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
Peter had a lot of reasons not to do this: he’d been fishing all night, they’d already fished that spot, fish are always in the shallows, what did a carpenter know about fishing anyway – a lot of reasons to say no. But he did. He put out into the deep water, and let down his nets for a catch.
We avoid deep water. Generally we want to stay in the shallows, where we can see the bottom, where we are in familiar territory. Whatever we do, we don’t want to get in over our heads.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
The Bishop spoke to the Confirmation students last week about a very practical program the UMC is involved in: Nothing But Nets. She talked first about the UMC, a little of how it works, and how big it is – 10-11 million people worldwide.
Then she spoke of malaria – it kills 1 million people a year, 3000 people a day, 1 person every 30 seconds. It comes from mosquitoes that bite at night – we know all about mosquitoes here; can you imagine not having screen windows? Children are very susceptible. But a net has been developed, insecticide treated, that can cover a bed of a family of four. $10 buys the net and some training for the family to use it. Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated has been trying to distribute these nets and when he traveled to Africa he discovered that the UMC was everywhere. So he called the UMC headquarters and asked if we would help distribute these nets. Now there is a partnership between Sports Illustrated, the NBA, and the UMC – with a $3 million challenge grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – to buy and distribute these nets. They last a few years.
I held my child who was sick in the middle of the night in the ER this week and thought about the mothers losing their children to this disease. For me a thought like that is putting out into the deep, going into the deep part of my fear, the kind of thing that gnaws at me in the middle of the night. But Jesus says, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.” I’m buying some nets. I’m starting with five.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
Another place that is scary to consider is thinking about global warming, or climate change, depending upon your perspective. The news has been dire this week, as more and more people are coming to the belief that something is going on, that we are in trouble. This cold snap isn’t proof of anything; our world is changing quickly.
I’m hearing people of faith of all sorts talking about this more, wondering what we should do. And suddenly the people of Hope are talking about this too. The Trustees are exploring how we might become more green, which means using less energy, which means, among other things, reducing our energy bill. We’ve had a consultant come in who switched out, for free, some light bulbs so more of them are compact fluorescents. Our new boiler is a good thing, and the trustees are looking at what else might help.
And we are going to look at this issue during Lent. The texts during Lent in the Old Testament are about the people’s relationship with the land, a good way for us to consider this topic. Our Wednesday night programs will feature some videos and speakers and worship on the issue.
This isn’t easy, and we haven’t done this sort of thing before. But Jesus says, go into the deep places, and let down your nets. Go into the scary places and see what I will do for you there.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
In ancient times the deep water was a symbol of chaos, the evil chaos at the beginning of creation before God began to work. Deep water is a symbol for all that is dark and unknown.
Peter had to put his nets into the deep more than once in his walk with Jesus. This fishing story started it all, but Peter time and again had to face the deep, unknown, scary part of his own heart as he followed Jesus. We see in the Gospel stories how little Peter understood of his own heart, and of death, as he encouraged Jesus to stay on the mountain when Moses and Elijah showed up there in glory, as he professed his faithfulness only to deny Jesus hours later, as he struggled to believe that Jesus was alive again on Sunday morning.
But Peter went into the deeps of his own self. He put out his nets over and over, even in the same places, and he kept following Jesus. He didn’t let his failure of faith stop him in the end; he went on to be one of the greatest leaders of the early church. And the Bible does not paint him that well – we know his faults, his failures. He went into the deep place, even the deep place of failure, and his nets were full to bursting, time and time again.
Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
What deep water is Jesus calling us to?
posted by Michelle at 1:44 PM
1 Comments:
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