[Greetings, Church fans! I had a nice vacation in a much warmer climate. Nothing like a little golf to reinforce the virtue of humility. This week we look at how Jesus meets us where we are and invites us to where we are called to be. The text is below, the video can be seen by clicking here.]
An confused angler and decided to go ice fishing. He grabbed his gear, stepped out onto the ice, and started to cut a hole when he heard a booming voice shout:
“THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”
The man jumped up and looked around, but he didn’t see anyone. He carried on cutting into the ice, and again, the voice boomed:
”THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”
Still nobody. The man goes to a new spot and started drilling another hole when the voice shouted for a third time:
”THERE ARE NO FISH UNDER THE ICE!”
The man looked up into the blinding light and said ”Is that you, God?”
The voice answered, ”NO, IT’S THE MANAGER OF THE ICE RINK!”
Our God can act very powerfully at times, but he never does anything violently. Take the call of the first disciples in today’s gospel reading from Luke. While I am convinced that this is not the first time that these four disciples have encountered Jesus, nevertheless, the way he enters Simon Peter’s life shows us how God takes him and his companions where they are and invites them into what they are called to be.
Jesus arrives on the scene while Peter, James, John and Andrew are just finishing up the night’s work. Fishermen in that part of the world would work at night, shining lanterns over the water near the boat to attract the fish and then casting a weighted net over the side. It was hard, repetitive work. No doubt the four were pretty tuckered out when Jesus arrived. They may or may not have been expecting Jesus to stop by. But, like all in Israel in those days, they were looking for the coming of the Messiah.
The first thing Jesus asks Simon Peter is simply to borrow his boat so he can have a better vantage point to teach the people. When we go to the Holy Land this Fall, you will see the very place. It is a little cove that forms a natural amphitheater. Several hundred people can assemble there quite comfortably. Someone speaking from a boat about 30 yards offshore can be heard quite well. Peter, Andrew and John have already spent a day with Jesus earlier, so it is an easy favor to grant. I often imagine what it would be like to be Peter sitting in the boat with Jesus, listening to him teach the crowds. He’s very much in his comfort zone. No risk here.
But Jesus has something greater in store for Simon Peter and the others. His command to set out into the deep seems futile. Simon knows his business. Fishing in daylight is futile in those waters. The fish simply aren’t there. I imagine he figured it couldn’t hurt anything to humor the carpenter turned rabbi. It’s nothing he hasn’t done before. The only difference this time is that Jesus is with him.
There is a lesson for all of us here. So often when we are trying to discern the will of God, we expect him to act powerfully from the outset. We want the huge, the outrageous, the bombastic—a sign in the heavens. Christ is much gentler than that. He takes us where we are and invites us into what we are called to be. He prepares us to recognize him acting in little ways, so that we will not be overwhelmed when he acts in profound ways. There is no part of our life that is separated from God. May our hearts be open to him in the mundane so that we may recognize and follow him in the profound.