GOSPEL
READING, Part 1 Luke 5:
1-3
Once
while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was
pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there
at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing
their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to
Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore.
GUIDED
MEDITATION, part 1 “Being
Jesus”
Our
Gospel reading today is a story to experience for its evocative power. Put
yourself in this story and imagine that you are Jesus, standing beside the lake
of Gennesaret. Imagine yourself exhausted
from teaching all day in the sun. Feel the crowd pressing closer and closer. Imagine then asking a nearby fisherman to take
you out in his boat just a little way from the shore. You need some distance from those calling you
to do more and more. Surely you have felt pressured and exhausted by many
demands. So you can understand how Jesus
might have needed a new vantage point in order to see those on the shore with
renewed care and commitment. Maybe, like
Jesus, you need fresh perspective. Maybe
you need to be quiet for a moment and mindful of what is going on within
you—and without. As you put yourself in
his place, imagine what Jesus is taking in through all his senses: What might he be seeing as he sits in Simon’s
fishing boat? Hearing? Smelling?
Feeling? Tasting?
The
congregation shares.
Let
those images draw you away from the demands in your life. Let yourself grow
more distant from the worries waiting on your shore—for just a moment
more. Breathe in the sea air. Hear only the call of the sea birds, the lap
of the waves against the wooden hull of a fishing boat. Tune out voices that are anxious, angry,
judging, unkind. Listen for the voice of peace. Wait in silence as God’s spirit
grows stronger within you.
SILENCE
GOSPEL
READING, part 2 Luke 5: 3b-4
Then
he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had
finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down
your nets for a catch.”
GUIDED MEDITATION,
part 2 “Being Simon”
Now
put yourself into this story by imaginatively taking the role of Simon the
fisherman, soon to be known as Simon Peter, soon to become a disciple of
Jesus—but not yet. You’ve brought your
boat in after a grueling but unsuccessful day of fishing. Your muscles are aching from the nets you’ve
cast in and pulled out, and from the task of washing those nets as you listened
to Jesus teaching the crowd. Then this teacher asks you to take him out in your
boat. Your energies are already
spent. But for some reason you
agree. He settles himself in your steady
ark to address the crowds--again. He
concludes at last, sends them home, and turns to you. “Go out deeper,” he says. “Go deeper?” you think.
Go
deeper. What would it mean to you if the Teacher were to ask you to go
deeper? Is there some area of your life
where you stay on the surface of things? Are there relationships in your life
that remain superficial but could deepen?
Are there commitments you’ve made that could be taken more seriously?
Are there ideas that you tend to skirt because you just don’t want to plunge
into those topics, because if you thought more about them you might disturb the
smooth surface of your worldview? What
might it mean for you to seek God in deeper places? How might you go deeper
emotionally, intellectually, spiritually?
Imagine moving out into deeper waters with Jesus.
SILENCE
GOSPEL
LESSON, part 3 Luke 5: 5-11
Simon
answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet
if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this,
they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So
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. 8But when
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me,
Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were
amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James
and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to
Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When
they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
GUIDED MEDITATION, part 3 “Being a Follower of Jesus”
After
Jesus had taught the crowds with words, he then enacted a lesson that the fishermen,
Simon and the sons of Zebedee, would understand. Jesus helped them catch more fish than their
nets could hold. And after that
impressive visual aid, they became, according Luke, his first disciples.
This
story, told in slightly different details in all four Gospels, is essential for
followers of Jesus. This is the hinge
moment when Jesus moves from teaching and healing as an individual to teaching
others to teach and heal. If Jesus had not apprenticed others, his ministry
would have died with him. This is the pivotal
moment that allows the Gospel to move beyond one man and become a
movement. That’s the pattern the church
is always trying to replicate. We at
Open Table are called to apprentice others for the work of social and spiritual
transformation. Our ministry is not about one person preaching but about a
movement that taps more and more people for teaching and healing.
This
story tells us what it means to follow Jesus—vitally important to a
congregation that defines our common purpose as following in the ways of
Jesus. And this story tells us something
about why the first disciples decided to follow Jesus—which may tell us
something about why we might want to follow Jesus.
If
you asked the average person on the street what it means to be a follower of
Jesus, they might answer that following Jesus means going to church or
believing certain things about Jesus or conforming to certain moral code or
being baptized. But look back at the
verses we’ve just read. The first
disciples clearly were not following Jesus by doing any of those things.
The
church did not yet exist, so the first followers clearly were not following Jesus by being
members of the church.
Nor did the first disciples follow Jesus by assenting to particular
doctrine. There were no doctrines
yet. Jesus did not try to convince them
of particular tenets of a new religion –and in fact they were all already
members of the same religion, first century Judaism. Think about it. For Simon Peter there was no doctrine of
incarnation, of atonement, of the Trinity, of the resurrection. The crucifixion and resurrection had not happened. First followers of Jesus did not have to
attest to any of that. I believe successive followers are also following a way
of spiritual and social transformation.
Further,
there’s no mention in scripture that Jesus was teaching a particular morality code they had
to live by. Just the law of love. Jesus said nothing
about homosexuality, for instance, which some today say prevents you from being a Christ
follower.
Finally,
none of the first disciples was baptized, as far as we know, so that beautiful initiation
rite into the Christian faith was not necessary if to follow Jesus and
help others follow him.
Following
Jesus is what Christians do. But it might be said that nonChristians might follow Jesus. I believe that one may follow Jesus
passionately and primarily but not exclusively.
I think many in this world follow in Jesus’s loving ways and are guided by that same Spirit of Love that directed his life without even
knowing about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Today’s
Gospel story says Simon, James, and John followed Jesus by leaving their nets
and boats and everything to pull people from the sea. Catching people is clearly not about
converting people to a particular belief system. Rather, fishing for people has a social/economic/political
meaning, so following Jesus has something to do with rescuing people from the systems
and situations in which they are drowning. I say that because the fishermen’s catch symbolizes
the people he and others who follow him will rescue from the waters.
Some
biblical scholars explain that the sea, in the “fishing for people” metaphor, represents
the Roman Empire. In the time in which
Jesus lived, the government controlled all use of the waters and “the
government regulated the fishing industry by selling fishing rights to tax collectors
or publicans (brokers)” who then sold permits to fishermen. [i]
The Lake of Genneseret was owned by Rome. Because of the price fishermen had to
pay to fish in the Sea of Galilee (Lake Genneseret) and the frequent storms with
which they had to contend, these fishermen were barely able to eke out a living,
barely able to keep their heads above water, so to speak. The Empire’s tax
system kept the poor drowning in debt. Luke’s first readers may have heard
Jesus calling followers to rescue the poor from the waters the empire
controlled, from an economic system, in other words, that threatened to drown
the poorest of the people. Certainly
this metaphor is consistent with the sermon Jesus preached in Nazareth in which,
as we read last week, he claimed he had been anointed to bring good news to the
poor.
Following
Jesus then and following Jesus now is not about—or not primarily
about—believing certain facts. Following
Jesus is much harder than agreeing to ideas.
A Jesus follower leaves everything to follow him in the ways of love.
As
we prepare for the beginning of Lent this Wednesday, let’s take a moment to
consider something you may need to leave behind to follow more closely in the
ways of Jesus.
SILENCE
Simon
and friends apparently believed that others deserve “saving,” and they wanted
to be part of that saving work. As
Luke’s gospel continues, we see Jesus saving people by healing their bodies and
spirits, by restoring them to their communities and thus healing relationships,
by exposing injustices, by preaching good news to the poor, as he promised. Immediately after this story, Luke launches
into a story of Jesus healing a leper--with Simon, James, and John in tow. The
first action of the first disciples is to participate in a healing that
restores an isolated man to his community.
You
are a Jesus follower if you, too, are trying to participate in God’s work of
healing bodies, minds, and spirits. The term Christian connotes, for many, an irrational belief system or an oppressive moral code. But that’s not the freedom into which
Jesus invited people. You must reach your own understandings about what it means to follow Jesus. I have come to believe that we become
Christians—which means “little Christs"—by dropping all that encumbers us and following the Christ. The hopeful work of Open Table is to to help others safely into a boat that becomes—in the words of
the previous hymn—our “common shelter.”
Take
a moment to consider in silence what it means to YOU to follow Jesus.
PRAYER STATIONS
1. PRAYING FOR HEALING
You
may come forward to receive from the pastor a blessing for healing in your
life—physical or spiritual healing. You may wish to share quietly your specific
need. The pastor will place oil in the sign
of the cross on your forehead and lay a hand on your head--an ancient sign of
blessing and healing. There are no special healing properties in the oil. But
touch often communicates more than words. You will know you are not alone in
your pain and are part of a long tradition in which faith community members
support one another with care and prayer.
2. PRAYING AS WE GIVE OUR OFFERINGS
We
follow in Jesus’s way by contributing to God’s caring work in the world. Scripture
says the first disciples left all they had to follow Jesus. We continue in that tradition when we become
less protective of our paychecks and more concerned about the common good.
3. PRAYING AS WE RECEIVE THE BREAD AND CUP
We
go deeper into the life of faith when we recall Jesus’s life, death, and
enduring life in God through this symbolic meal. Jesus asked his followers to
follow him and become the living body of Christ. The broken bread we share binds
us together in life’s celebrations and sorrows.
The healing cup of Jesus has a depth that holds all of life and blesses
all who come.
4. WRITING HEALING PRAYERS FOR ONE ANOTHER
Using
paper provided, you may write a brief prayer for a particular person who may
need to hear the hopes you express for him or her. You may name that person in the prayer or not.
Or write a general prayer for those who need healing. The pastor will read these aloud to close our
prayer time.
[i] Pilch,
John. The Cultural Dictionary of the Bible. Collegeville, MN: The
Liturgical Press, 1999, p.188
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