2 Lent Year C

“LORD, WILL THOSE WHO ARE SAVED BE FEW?”
A sermon by: Fr. Gene Tucker
Given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, February 28, 2010
Genesis 15: 1 – 12, 17 – 18; Psalm 27: 10 – 18; Philippians 3: 17 – 4: 1; Luke 13: 22 – 35

“Lord, will those who are saved be few?”

This is the question that catches our attention in today’s gospel passage.

Have you ever found yourself wondering, “What about that person? Are they going to be among God’s chosen ones?” Put another way, we could frame the question this way: “Are they – those people over there – are they in, or out?”

It’s natural for us to wonder about this question from time-to-time. Truth be told, we clergy wonder about it quite often, as we make our way mentally through the roster of our congregation’s members, trying to ascertain each individual person’s status with God. (Yes, I know: no pressure!) As clergy, we are charged with building up each individual person’s relationship with God, charged with seeing to it that each person has the opportunity to come into a personal and intimate relationship with God the Father through God the Son, with the support and guidance of God the Holy Spirit.

So, it’s natural we priests would be concerned with this question.

As your Rector, I am deeply concerned about this question, about each one of you and your relationship with God. (Yes, I know, I’ve said it before, “No pressure!”)

People in Jesus’ day were also concerned about it. We can see this concern in the question that is posed to Jesus as He made His way toward Jerusalem. In effect, the question posed asks not only the question “Who’s in and who’s out?” but it also asks the question, “What’s the ‘big picture’, Lord?”

But notice that Jesus redirects the question away from the “big picture”, from the great, big plan, from knowing who’s in and who’s out, to the personal, the specific, the individual.

In so doing, Jesus puts the burden squarely on the shoulders of those who heard this question, on the shoulders of the unnamed person who asked it, and squarely on each of our shoulders, as well.

This gospel is very difficult to hear. It is also difficult to understand completely. (As a warning, I will say that next week’s gospel text is equally difficult to hear, for it comes from the first part of chapter thirteen of Luke.)

But this is Lent, that season that forces us to look at the “difficult, hard stuff” of Jesus’ teachings. Lent, like our cycle of Scripture readings, forces our noses and our eyes right into the things we’d just as soon avoid.

Thank God for Lent, and for the lectionary. Thank you, Lord, for making us look at the tough stuff

In order to take away as much meaning away from today’s gospel passage, we would do well to check into the context in which this question and the Lord’s answer falls. That will tell us a lot about its meaning and its applicability.

For an understanding of the context, we must back up to the very beginning of chapter twelve of Luke’s gospel.

There, in verse one, we see that Jesus is addressing His disciples, who are standing among the large crowd that had begun to follow Jesus toward Jerusalem. He then tells the disciples, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy….”

Ah, now we can understand what group was the target (or, in truth, the immediate target) of Jesus’ remarks. It was the Pharisees, that lay group who sought to uphold the minutest details of the Law of Moses, the Torah. These Pharisees were the keepers of legality, along with their allies, the priests and the scribes. Indeed, if we look at Luke 14: 1 – 6, we see that it is a leader of the Pharisees who criticizes Jesus for healing a man who had dropsy for 18 years on the Sabbath. Jesus sums up their attitude by reminding the Pharisees and their allies that the “Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Obviously, the Pharisees and their ilk had gotten their priorities mixed up.

It seems clear that the Pharisees – and anyone else who might try to claim a close relationship with God on the basis of their own efforts – thought they were “in”. They thought their privileged status resulted from their strenuous and diligent efforts to observe strict and legalistic applications of the wisdom that sprang from the mosaic covenant. But, in the process, they managed to kill off the spirit of the law which had come through God’s revelation to Moses. Theirs was a good-looking structure on the outside, but it was dead and corrupt on the inside. That’s the classic definition of a hypocrite: a person whose outside doesn’t match their inside.

But, lest we think that we are off the hook in terms of the harshness and directness of the Lord’s teachings, let’s remind ourselves that, in chapter twelve, verse one, that Jesus is also addressing His disciples, and also the crowd. Notice how He moves the focus of the discussion from the general to the personal: He is asked, “Lord, will those who are save be few?” Put another way, this question focuses on “them”, on “those people over there”. But Jesus’ response moves the question away from others to us. He says “(You) strive to enter through the narrow door.” His response is direct, it is personal.

Dear friends, we are the Lord’s disciples today. (Or perhaps, we are just members of the crowd, looking on.). And so, Jesus’ words fall on our ears today, and they are intended to make their way straight to our hearts.

If we are honest in assessing the impact of Jesus’ teaching, we can see that the objects of Jesus’ teaching are principally the disciples and the crowd, not the Pharisees. Peruse at your leisure the overall scope of chapters twelve and thirteen, and you’ll see what I mean. There, Jesus addresses the issues of discipleship, of following Him to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem, out to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, as we go forth as the Lord’s disciples and as His apostles. There, He tells them that being a disciple means foregoing family relationships (Luke 12: 49 – 53). It means persecution (Luke 12: 4 – 12), it means not getting hung up with material possessions (Luke 12: 13 – 21), it means being watchful to know the signs and the seasons of God’s acting (Luke 12: 35 – 48 & 12: 54 - 59).

Being the true target of Jesus’ teaching, we have to face the reality that it is us that Jesus is talking to. Just as this troubling and penetrating teaching has come to generation after generation of the Lord’s people who have earnestly sought after God and God’s truth, now, today, that word comes and bores its way into our hearts, our minds, our souls.

So what would be the essential message as we try to figure out how to “enter by the narrow door”?

In answer, may I offer the following as beginning points for our consideration:

Learn from the example of the Pharisees: We begin by considering the group that Jesus mentions first as He begins to address the twelve disciples and the crowd that had gathered around. They are “hypocrites”, Jesus says. Their insides don’t match their outsides. Here, Jesus is calling us into a wholeness of life, in which what we say and do outwardly has to be supported by a careful and close scrutiny, so that our motivations for what we profess are solidly connected to a deep and lasting thirst for God’s truth.

Don’t rely on our own efforts: Here, we come to the crux of the Pharisees’ problem: they thought that they could lift themselves up into God’s acceptance by their own bootstraps, by their own efforts. “Look at us,” they seem to be saying, “See how scrupulously we keep the Law of Moses. Aren’t we so good!?” The early Church would face just this sort of an attitude in the fourth and fifth century heresy which became known as Pelagianism. Named for its founder, the priest Pelagius (lived from c. 360 – 422 AD), this movement within the Church essentially maintained that we could improve ourselves spiritually by our own efforts.

Contact with God doesn’t equate to being in God’s grace: “We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets,” Jesus says. This might mean that those who claim to be part of God’s family are doing so on the basis of a casual relationship. But such a casual relationship cannot substitute for a close and personal walk, the walk that the disciple is called to undertake.

Go to the source of truth: “Strive to enter by the narrow door,” Jesus says. Perhaps another way to consider the truth of this statement is that we are called to seek out the way forward. Jesus is the way forward. His teaching, His truth, is the way forward. Here, I am reminded of another comment that Jesus made, namely, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14: 6)

The time is urgent!: At some point, the door will be shut, Jesus says. Put another way, we might characterize this part of Jesus’ teaching in this way: “Don’t put off the walk of true discipleship. The time to begin walking is now!”

Work!: We have our part to do. “Strive,” Jesus says. It’s an active verb, and it is an imperative one. It commands us to do our part in seeking God.

AMEN.

1 Lent, Year C

“TAG TEAM MATCH”
A sermon by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, February 21, 2010
Deuteronomy 26: 1 – 11; Psalm 91: 9 – 15; Romans 10: 5 – 13; Luke 4: 1 - 13

We begin this first Sunday in Lent as we do every year, hearing the gospel reading which recalls to us Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.

As we enter into this holy season, we would do well to recall that this forty day period is the model for the season of Lent itself, which is forty days long, minus the Sundays (which are always Easter celebrations).

This year, we hear Luke’s version of Jesus’ encounter with the devil.

As we hear this text, the image that comes to my mind is that of a wrestling match….The devil makes a move, testing Jesus to find his weak spots, and Jesus responds, parrying the move and neutralizing it.

We would do well to look more closely at the devil’s moves. Then, we would do well to look at the entire history of humanity’s wrestling match with the forces of evil as we find its prototype in the account of the Fall in Genesis, chapter three, which continue to our own day.

For knowing one’s opponent and his tactics is key to claiming victory.

So, we turn now to the text before us today:

Notice that the devil appeals to three areas of human need. All three areas are vital to human survival. They are:

• The need for food. The devil tempts Jesus to take some food, by turning a stone into a loaf of bread.
  
  
• The need for power and control. Next, the devil offers Jesus all authority over the kingdoms of the world.
  
  
• The need for safety. The last appeal is to safety. “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here (the pinnacle of the Temple), for it is written, ‘He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you.’ ”

We said a moment ago that Jesus’ opponent appeals to basic human needs. Notice that the first
appeal focuses a particularly weak part of Jesus’ condition at the time of His temptation. Jesus had not eaten during the forty day period that He was in the wilderness. At Jesus’ greatest moment of weakness and need, the appeal which is launched is targeted to His weakest, most vulnerable spot. An appeal to the need for food is the avenue of which seeks victory over Him.

But we are called to hold in view the entire sweep of biblical history as we consider this encounter between the forces of evil and the forces of God, a cosmic wrestling match – if you will – in which we human beings enter the ring of life and partners with God, a part of a tag team.

I think that’s a good way to look at the forces which are arrayed against each other, and it’s a good way to see how we fit into the equation of power between good and evil.

In truth, human beings have entered the ring of life, and have struggled with the opposing forces of evil since the dawn of time, ever since the time of Adam and Eve’s stay in the Garden of Eden.

Adam and Eve’s struggle against temptation and evil, as it turns out, is remarkably similar to Jesus’ wrestling with the temptations which are put in front of Him.

To shed some light on this struggle, it is to the account of the Fall, found in Genesis 3: 1 – 19, that we turn.

Recall with me that the serpent’s first appeal is to the matter of food. He says to Eve, “Did God say, ‘You shall no eat of any tree in the garden?’ ” Now, we know the rest of the story, for we read a few verses later that Eve saw that the tree “was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes…”

I can’t resist pointing out – at this juncture – that the serpent’s appeal to Eve begins at the same point as the devil’s appeal to Jesus: with food.

Food is a requirement for human survival.

Next, notice that the serpent’s appeal to Eve is to power, control, and thereby, it is an appeal to safety. He says to Eve, “…God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

With knowledge comes power, control, and safety.

This appeal is also remarkably similar to the devil’s appeals to Jesus, which offer power, control, and safety.

Biblical scholars have long noticed the similarities between the temptation of Eve and the temptation of Jesus.

But there, the similarities end.

Eve failed the test. Knowing her vulnerabilities and just what approach to take, the forces of evil exploit those weaknesses to their advantage. Eve is in the ring with evil. God is in her corner, but she ignores Him, choosing to wrestle with the opposing forces alone.

Here, we would do well to notice another similarity between Eve’s temptation and Jesus’: Evil seeks to isolate us from our partners in this struggle. “Divide and conquer” is the strategy that is often used against us.

But here, we notice another aspect of the two temptation accounts: God’s word is twisted, in an attempt to cause doubt. Allied to the tactics which seek to divide up the team we are part of, this tactic also seeks to further isolate us from God, on whose team we fight.

In each case, the forces of evil seek to twist and misuse God’s word. “Did God say?” the serpent says to Eve. Likewise, the devil quotes Psalm 91 in his last attempt at tempting Jesus.

You and I, by virtue of our births into this world, enter the ring of life.

By virtue of our baptisms, we enter the ring as members of God’s team, for we have been claimed by Him as His own for ever.

And oftentimes, we may feel as though we are all alone in this struggle with temptation and with evil.

We may forget that God is in our corner, ready to assist us whenever we engage the forces of evil which beset us, day by day.

Satan would love for us to think just that way, that we are all alone down here on earth.

We become easy prey that way.

Appeals to our basic human needs will be the avenue of probing, as the evil one seeks to find our weakest areas, our most vulnerable pressure points. Appeals to the need for sustenance in some way – or, put another way, appeals to our basis needs for survival – or to the possession of power and control, will be the avenues of approach, in many cases.

We will be tempted to doubt the truth of God’s word, for doubt can separate us from the power of God which is in our corner of the ring, if we do not forget.

Knowing our opponent and his tactics is the key to victory.

Knowing our opponent and remembering that we are part of God’s team is key to victory.

Jesus remembered both of these strategic points in His victory over the devil.

Jesus’ victory in the wilderness begins to turn the tide of defeat over the powers of evil that had been present from that day in the Garden of Eden until that encounter in the wilderness.

Jesus will go on to seal the victory over the powers of evil on the cross on Good Friday. For, you see, it turns out that the devil had overreached himself this time by taking on Jesus, seeking to claim yet one more human victim. But, the devil failed to see that Jesus is one with God the Father, inseparably united. The devil had no power over Jesus, for as the devil reaches out to claim yet one more human victim, like a fish going for the bait, Jesus baits the devil into defeat, using the devil’s own weakness, his desire for power and control over humanity, as the means of defeat.

Jesus’ victory is our victory. We are on God’s team, and Jesus is in our corner, ready for us to simply call Him into the struggle with the powers of evil and death.

Knowing that we are part of God’s team, knowing the tactics and the weaknesses of our opponent, and claiming God’s overwhelming power, are keys to claiming victory over Satan and all his works.

May we claim victory with the Lord this Lenten season.

AMEN.

Last Epiphany, Year C

“THE PORTRAIT APPEARS”
Exodus 34: 29 – 35; Psalm 99; I Corinthians 12: 27 – 13: 13; Luke 9: 28 – 36
A sermon by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, February 14, 2010

Ever watch someone paint a portrait? It’s especially fascinating to watch the process of the image unfold as bits and pieces of it begin to take shape on the canvas. If we cannot see the model or the person being portrayed in the painting, the process becomes particularly fascinating. Then, we get glimpses, here and there, of the image as it begins to take shape. We guess about the person’s identity, features and personality as the artist recreates these things. Salient features of the portrait catch our attention, and serve as markers in our growing understanding of the person whose likeness is being captured in still life. Eventually, with painstaking, patient work, the full image appears.

Today, Jesus serves as the master artist. He begins to shape the image of Himself that the disciples are beginning to see and understand as He reveals Himself on the mountain top, as we hear it today in Luke’s account of what has come to be known as the Transfiguration.

Surely this event served to mark a major advance in the understanding of the Lord’s identity for those early disciples who witnessed it, Peter, James and John. They remembered this event with vivid clarity.

Before we consider how this image is being constructed, and what the significance is of this emerging portrait of the Lord, we would do well to remember that we hear this text each year on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. But, in fact, the Transfiguration itself is so important an event as a marker in our Lord’s earthly ministry that we hear the account of it not only once each year, but twice. For, in addition to hearing it today, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany each year, we also hear it on the Feast of the Transfiguration, which is August 6th.

So, what is at work here?

What does God want us to understand about Jesus’ identity, and about the importance of that identity not only for us, but for the first disciples?

For clues, we might look at two aspects of the event:

• The glorious transformation of His appearance
  
  
• The appearance of Moses and Elijah

We turn first to the transformation of Jesus’ appearance. Luke tells us that Jesus’ face changed, and His clothes became dazzling white. Notice that the three disciples who witnessed this event saw Jesus’ glory. The use of this word is significant, for it, along with the presence of the cloud, evoke the images we hear and read today in the passage from Exodus, chapter 34. There, we read that Moses’ face shone as he came down from the holy mountain, for the glory of God was reflected in Moses’ face, so much so that he had to cover it with a veil. But as we consider the events that surrounded Moses as God gave the Law to him, we also recall that the mountain where all of this took place was also surrounded by a cloud (see Exodus 19: 16).

These things, the dazzling white clothing, the change in appearance of Jesus’ face, and the coming of the cloud, all indicate God’s presence, both in the Exodus events and in the Transfiguration. What is experienced in both instances is the glory of God. The Hebrew language has a special word for this glory: shekinah.

With the presence of God on the mountain at Sinai, and on the mount of Transfiguration, time collapses. No longer are we located in the time of Moses, or of Jesus. Instead, we catch a glimpse of eternity, and we are given a glimpse of God’s glory, that same glory that Jesus had with His Father before all time and place. The portrait begins to emerge.

Now, we should turn our attention to the meaning of the presence of Moses and Elijah.

We’ve already mentioned Moses in our recollection of the events which surrounded the giving of the Law in Exodus 34. Moses is the Lawgiver, the one through whom the Old Covenant came.

But what about Elijah? What is the significance of his appearing? For an answer to that, we must do some digging in the Old Testament, and then we must recall some of the questions which were posed to John the Baptist and to Jesus at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry to come to a conclusion about Elijah’s role in all of this.

We begin with the Old Testament, turning to the book of the prophet Malachi. In chapter 4: 5 – 6, we read this: “Lo, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.”

By the time of Jesus, many in Judaism took these verses to mean that the great prophet Elijah would come just before the Messiah was to come. Elijah would herald the coming of the great Messianic age. As confirmation of this conviction, we need only to recall the questions that were posed to John the Baptist. Recall that he was asked by the priests and Levites who were sent by the Jews (John 1: 19 – 21), “ ‘Who are you?’ He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ ”

At its root, the questions these priests and Levites posed to John the Baptist have everything to do with the coming of the Messiah. Notice that they want to know if John the Baptist is Elijah, the herald of the messianic age.

So, the presence of Moses and Elijah seems to signify that a new covenant is about to be ushered in, and that the Messiah has, indeed, come.

And, as we noted with the change in Jesus’ appearance, the dazzling appearance of His garments, and the presence of the cloud, all tending to collapse our sense of time, so, too, does the appearance of Moses and Elijah collapse time. Now, these two timeless figures appear, erasing our sense of the passage of years. We are now in God’s time, often called kairos time.

We are caught up in the eternal purposes and plan of God.

As God had called a people to Himself in the giving of the Law of Moses, so now does God call a new people to Himself in the new covenant, which will be given through the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Notice that Luke tells us that Moses and Elijah discussed with Jesus His coming departure, that is, His death in Jerusalem.)

The Messiah has come, and the voice which comes from the cloud confirms the one-ness of Jesus with the Father. It is the voice which was heard at the baptism of the Lord, “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him.”

The portrait begins to appear with clarity and with force of meaning.

Now, we are the ones who witness the Lord in all His glory, the glory He possessed before time and place.

Now, time collapses for us as we renew our own citizenship in God’s kingdom.

Now, we catch a glimpse of the shekinah of God, as we ponder the brightness of the Lord’s image as it burns in our hearts.

We are drawn into God’s eternal purposes for us and for all humankind.

We are the people of the New Covenant, the inheritors of the messianic age which Jesus ushered in with His death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and His eventual coming again.

But how are we drawn into God’s eternal purposes?

We are drawn by God’s holy word, which confirms Jesus’ identity for us just as it did for Peter, James and John. God’s holy word begs us to learn that Jesus is “My Son, the Chosen, listen to him.”

We are drawn by the Holy Communion, for time collapses as we commune with the Lord, and with all those across time and space who commune with Him in the Sacrament. For the Lord’s table prefigures the heavenly altar around which the Church Triumphant now gathers, and around which we will also gather in due course.

The portrait emerges with clarity and with force, erasing all sense of time and place.

Thanks be to God!

5 Epiphany, Year C

“SIMON PETER’S CALL AND CAREER”
A sermon by Fr. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, February 7, 2010
Judges 6:11–24a; Psalm 85:7–13; I Corinthians 15:1–11; Luke 5:1–11

“Do not be afraid; henceforth, you will be catching men.”

These words of our Lord’s mark the end of Simon Peter’s call to ministry, and they are the blueprint for the remainder of Peter’s life work.

In order to understand our own call from the Lord, and our own “ministry plan”, we would do well to take a closer look at this incident, marking the aspects of it that have characterized the Christian summons to ministry on the Lord’s behalf.

We begin by noting some details that Luke provides for us in the account we hear today.

First of all, notice that Simon (later to be known as Peter) is a partner in a small business with James and John, who are sons of Zebedee. Apparently, they have two boats with which to fish on the Sea of Galilee.

Secondly, it appears that Jesus seems to invite Himself into one of their boats, so as to better address the crowd that had begun to follow Him. The significance is that Jesus has taken the initiative, and the initiative will remain His throughout the interchange that is to follow. Put another way: Jesus is in charge.

Third, we notice that the fishermen have apparently given up on their work, for they’ve gotten out of the boats and are mending their nets. But Jesus asks them to put out into the water again. Without hesitation, but with some protest, they do so. The protest comes from Peter, who says, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing….”

But there must’ve been something very compelling about the way Jesus spoke to the three men. (Don’t you wish you could have heard the tone of His voice and the look on His face? Perhaps they would have underscored the overpowering nature of His request.)

At any rate, the men do as Jesus has said. Peter confirms it by saying, “But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Of course, now follows the immense catch of fish. Peter notices that Jesus’ request is an indicator of something far deeper, far more meaningful, than the word of a total stranger who’d gotten lucky with his instructions about where to find fish. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord,” Peter says.

Peter’s first address to Jesus and his subsequent one bring us to our fourth observation: The first time Peter addresses Jesus, he calls Him “Master.” (Here we need to turn to the Greek, for the word Luke uses is epistata, a word that only Luke uses in his gospel account, a word that means “one who stands in authority”. Apparently, Peter already is beginning to recognize something unique about Jesus, though it’s possible that Peter is simply being polite…I leave it to you to ponder that question.)

The second time Peter addresses Jesus, he uses the word “Lord” (kyrie in Greek). Normally, this word has divine connotations, which are often associated with it. Notice also that Peter kneels at Jesus’ feet as he asks Jesus to depart from him. Peter is aware, apparently, of the divine powers that are at work in the Lord.

Let’s turn now to the nature of Simon’s call, noticing as we do so that Jesus is actually fishing for him in His invitation to become a “fisher of people” (as the more modern translations often put it). But what is Jesus using for bait? The answer might well be the demonstration of God’s power at work in Him, see in Jesus’ supernatural knowledge of where to find the fish that had eluded the three men all night long the night before. As the huge haul of fish is drawn into the nets, Simon Peter, along with his partners, are drawn to this mysterious man whose knowledge of the situation surpasses their own, experienced knowledge of the ways of fishing in the Sea of Galilee.

The remainder of the story is quite familiar to all of us: Simon, James and John all leave their boats and their small business to follow Jesus. In time, Jesus will draw other disciples into the fold until there are twelve of them.

And the works and the teaching that Jesus did also are familiar to us. But as we look at the accounts of the miracles, the healings, and the teachings that will follow, we can see two patterns that are common to the occupation of fishing emerge. (It’s also worth noting that fishing for fish and fishing for people have two distinctly different outcomes: When considering fishing for fish, a good day for the fisherman means a bad day for the fish. With people, it’s just the opposite.) These two patterns are present in our reading today:

• Fishing for people, one-on-one: Jesus encounters individuals and asks them to come into the kingdom. In one-on-one encounters (much like His invitation to Simon Peter), Jesus asks individuals to come and follow Him. We can think of Jesus’ invitation to the healing of the man with leprosy (which follows today’s account immediately in chapter five), or the call of Levi, the tax collector, to become a disciple (chapter five, beginning at verse 27) as examples.
  
  
• Fishing for people, in large groups: Just as Jesus encounters and invites individuals to enter the kingdom, so does He invite large groups to take up citizenship in the kingdom. In today’s account, we read that Jesus got into the boat in order to better address the crowd that had begun to follow Him. We will see this again and again as the gospel unfolds. Think with me of the feeding of the 5,000 as an example (see Luke 9: 10 – 17), or the teaching in the Sermon on the Mount (known in Luke’s account as the Sermon on the Plain) (see Luke 6: 17 – 49). Jesus calls large groups to come and follow Him.

This pattern, present (as we said a minute ago) in today’s reading, and present in the pattern of Jesus’ own activity, will be present in Simon Peter’s career as well. As we turn to the other book that Luke wrote, the Book of Acts, we will see Peter’s powerful and compelling invitation a large group of people to become a follower of Jesus as he fishes for people on the Day of Pentecost. His sermon was the direct cause of the conversion of about 3,000 people. But Peter’s work and career will also consist of individual, one-on-one encounters, such as the one with Cornelius (see Acts 10: 1 – 8, 17 – 48).

But in “fishing for people”, what will attract them? What would be the bait (if we may return to the image of fishing for fish)?

I think the answer would be: The evidence of God at work in the person of Jesus Christ. Simon Peter noticed it that day on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd who’d gathered on the shore that day to hear Jesus speak from Peter’s boat must’ve recognized, as well. Those who encountered Jesus, either in a one-on-one basis, or in large groups, also recognized it. Cornelius recognized it, as did the group who heard Peter speak on the Day of Pentecost.

God at work in the person of Jesus Christ….that is what attracts us, and it is what has attracted countless thousands of Christian believers down through the centuries.

It is this that attracts us, and calls us into service for Christ. As we are called into a relationship with Him, we, too, are called to share what we’ve found with others, whether it be in individual encounters in our daily lives, or in groups.

From now on, we will be catching people!