SERMON TITLE: Here I am,
Lord
Preached by the Rev.
John Lee on February 4, 2007 at DPUC
Luke 5:1-11
5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God,
5:2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
5:3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."
5:5 Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets."
5:6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.
5:7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
5:8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!"
5:9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken;
5:10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."
5:11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Here I am, Lord
The good news of hope is
the unique message of the Christian gospel. What makes a Christian a Christian
is this hoping with the never ending hope. This hope is not a simple dream. It
requires our commitment. It calls us to our obedience. Today’s Gospel reading tells
us this hope. Through this good news we can put everything aside and follow
Jesus.
This is the word of God, a
word of great encouragement and hope.
Let’s hear the story. Jesus
was standing beside the lake
of Gennesaret Sea
of Galilee to hear the Word of God. Jesus saw two boats there at
the shore of the lake. The crowds were excited to hear Jesus’ teaching. At that
time, there were fishermen who had just come back from fishing.
They were washing their
nets for the next day.
Jesus found the boat
empty. It was strange. But he needed a space to move, so he got into one of the
boats. That boat was belonging to Simon. To speak to the crowds, Jesus asked
Simon to put out a little way from the shore. Then Jesus sat down and taught
the crowds from the boat. There is no record of what Jesus’ teaching was about.
But Jesus sensed that the owner of the boat was discouraged, who was sighing
with a sad face. They had fished all night. But they had only an empty boat to
show for their efforts. They had worked hard but had failed.
When Jesus had finished
speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your
nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we have worked all night
long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the
nets." When they had done this, they caught so many fish. Their nets were
beginning to break. So they called their friends in the other boat to come and
help. And they came and filled both boats.
Boats were filled with
fish and they began to sink. What a success! Simon Peter, James and John, sons
of Zebedee, all were amazed at the catch of fish. Then Jesus said to Simon,
"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." When they
had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. This
is a dramatic story of at least three young people who changed their life goal.
It is a story of moving into new life. Let us think in more detail.
So many people were gathering
around Jesus. This story does not mention about what Jesus was teaching. But it
is easy to know what Jesus was teaching. Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of God
No matter what they did,
no matter what their life goal was, when they heard about the coming future that was calling them to join in, they
said YES and followed Jesus. They said YES to Jesus and turned around from old
ways of life and moved into the same life goal. When we read the story of Jesus
and disciples, we can tell the disciples are not very much educated, some are
hot tempered, some doubtful, and some not very much faithful.
They are like us. They
have all different characteristics and talents. Some are good and some like Judah
Can we say YES? In our
Christian history, there are so many who said YES, and there are martyrs who
risked their lives for living out God’s will.
Some historian interprets
the Christian history as the history of martyrs. This hope changes our life
into a meaningful one. That’s why so many devote their lives into witnessing
this good news of Christ. Life does not stand still. There isn’t a once-for-all
experience. It was Winston Churchill who said, “Success is never final. Failure
is never fatal. It is courage that counts.”
No matter how many times a
person has failed there is always the chance that the next attempt will
succeed. “Victory belongs to the most persevering,” said Napoleon.
We sometimes success and
sometimes fail. However in each and every moment, Jesus Christ asks us. “What
is your life goal? What do you live for? Did you make good money? That’s good.
Is it the end of your life goal? Is there anything further or beyond what you
see and touch?...” Jesus loves us. Jesus cares for us. So Jesus must have so
many things to tell us.
I am sure that what Jesus
wants to know about us, and that what he is curious to know from us is “What is
the purpose of life and are you satisfied with it?” We learn and develop
throughout our lives. We rethink what our life goal is and we adjust of make a
majour redirection of it. And in our high
point
These failures don’t have
to be endings.
Jesus teaches us two
things. In our failure, never be discouraged. Try again and again, dig deeper
and deeper, go wider and wider until you succeed. Another important factor is
that what we possess does not mean the whole thing in our lives. There is more
than that. What it counts for our lives is not what we have, but what we do for
the Lords favour. What Jesus Christ counts is not our past, but our future
life, what kind future world we are going to build in this our fast changing
digital era. When we think about our future, we suddenly become powerless.
However we don’t have to
worry. God is with us always. Only one thing we have to learn is to make room
for God. In most times, we calculate and estimate, and assess what we have and
what we can do. But we forget to think what God can do for us and with us. We
pray to God to come and help us, but do expect God only in a certain way that
we think is possible. God is with us
always! In God, all things are possible. This is our ultimate hope, and we live
in this hope. This hope is solely rested in God, not the situation.
The future world and
future life is coming regardless of our wanting it or not. In this uncertain
and fearful future, God will be with us. Whatever comes in our future, what we
have to keep in the core of our faith is “love”. It is in short, “Love God and
love your neighbour as yourself.” This is the first priority we have to set in
our daily lives. This is what Jesus meant when he taught us to seek first the kingdom of God
When Jesus comes to us and
asks us what is our priority of life, what shall we say? When Jesus comes to us
and calls us, “Come follow me!” what shall we answer? We are part of the long
history of God’s mission, the church
of Christ
This site is prepared by the Rev. John Young-Jung Lee,
a minister of The United Church of Canada
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Updated February 4, 2007