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FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

Going Fishing

I Corinthians 13; Luke 5:1-11

            This morning I’d like to begin by reading you the first part of a contemporary Native American story, called, “Jumping Mouse:”

            There was once a mouse. 

            He was a busy mouse - searching, examining, collecting.  He was busy as all mice are, busy with mouse things.  But once in a while, this mouse heard something.  He would lift his nose in the air.  He would wiggle his whiskers.  He would squint his eyes and he would listen.

            One day he decided to ask another mouse about the sound.  "My brother, do you hear a roaring in your ears?" he asked.  The other mouse barely lifted his nose from the ground. "No, no, I hear nothing," he said.  "I am busy now.  Talk to me later."  And the mouse scurried off.  He asked another mouse the same question.  The mouse looked at him strangely and said, "Are you crazy?  What sound?"  And the mouse disappeared into the hole of a fallen cottonwood tree.

            The little mouse then went about his business, determined to forget the whole matter.  But the sound was still there.  It was faint, very faint.  But it was still there.  So he decided to investigate the matter, just a little.  He wandered off a ways from the other mice and he listened.  There it was!  As he was listening to the noise, a voice spoke.

            "Hello, little brother."  The mouse was so scared he almost jumped out of his skin.  But then the voice spoke again.  "Hello.  It is I, Brother Raccoon."  And the mouse saw that it was indeed Raccoon.  "What are you doing out here," he asked, "away from your fellow mice?

            The mouse was almost embarrassed to admit it.  "I hear a roaring in my ears," he said timidly, "and I am investigating it."

            "A roaring?" said the raccoon.  "What you hear, little brother, is the river." 

            "The river?" said the mouse.  "What is a river?"

            "Walk with me and I will show you the river," replied Raccoon.

            Little Mouse thought.  "Perhaps if I go and see this thing it will help me in all my examining and collecting.  Perhaps raccoon will return with me and we can prove to the other mice that such a thing exists."  So he agreed.

            As he followed Raccoon, his heart was pounding in his breast.  Raccoon was taking him on unknown paths and he was smelling smells he had never smelled before.  There were many times when Mouse wanted to turn and race back.  But then they came to the river.  It was huge and breathtaking.  It was deep and clear in places, murky in others.  It roared, it cried, it sang, it thundered in its course.

            Little Mouse stammered to find words.  "It is powerful," he said at last.

            "Indeed, it is a great thing," replied the raccoon.  "But here, let me introduce you to a friend."  In a smoother, shallower place in the river, there was a bright green lily pad.  And on top of it sat a frog of the very same color.

            "Hello, little brother," said the frog.  "Welcome to the river."  Raccoon bid goodbye to Little Mouse and ambled off along the water's edge.

            Little mouse looked into the water and saw his reflection there.  "Who are you?" he asked the reflection.  "And aren't you frightened to be so far out in the water?"

            Frog answered, "I am not afraid.  I have been given the gift from birth to live both above and within the river.  When old man winter comes and freezes the river, then I disappear.  But when everything is green, and the thunderbird flies high in the ski, then you can see me."

            "Amazing!" said Little Mouse, fumbling for words.         

            "Would you like some spirit power?" asked the frog.

            "Spirit power?  Yes!  Is it possible?" answered the mouse excitedly.

            "Of course.  Crouch down as low as you can and then jump as high as you are able.  Then you will get spirit power."

            So Little Mouse did as he was told.  He crouched down and then jumped as high as he could.  When he did, he saw the Sacred Mountains .  Little Mouse could hardly believe his eyes, but there they were.  Then he fell back to earth.  He landed in the river. He was terrified.  Coughing and sputtering he pulled himself up onto the bank.

            "You tricked me!" he screamed at the frog.

            "Wait," said the frog.  "You are not harmed.  Do not let your fear and anger blind you.  Tell me - what did you see?"

            Little Mouse stammered.  "I...I...I saw the Sacred Mountains ."

            "Yes," said the frog.  "And you have a new name.  It is Jumping Mouse."

            "Thank you, thank you," said Jumping Mouse over and over again.  "I want to return to my people and tell them of this thing that has happened to me."

            "Yes, go," said the frog.  "Just keep the roar of the river to your back and head in the other direction.  You will find your fellow mice."

            So Jumping Mouse returned to his people.  But he was not well received.  No one would listen to him.  Since it had not rained in a long time, and the mice did not know about the river, many thought that an animal had tried to eat him, but spit him out because he was poison.  And if he was poison to the animal, he was surely poison to them.

            Jumping Mouse lived among his people.  But he had this vision of the Sacred Mountains .  One day he went to the edge of the river and looked out across the prairie.  He decided to go in search of the Sacred Mountains .

            What happens when a new world opens up to you that is far greater than the everyday world of your busyness?  What happens when you are exposed to a reality that is far deeper than the reality that you can touch and taste and smell and hear?  What happens when your life is invaded by a vision of a world that is almost unimaginable and unexplainable?

            Do you turn back to your old life?  Do you return to doing the same old things in the same old way?  Or do you go in search of a new life?  Do you go in pursuit of that vision?

            That is the decision, I believe, that confronts Peter.  Peter has experienced Jesus before.  After leaving the synagogue in Nazareth , Jesus heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law of a fever.  So Peter has witnessed his miracle working power.  He has also heard Jesus' teaching.

            Now Peter has spent a long night of fishing.  He and his partners have fished all night and have nothing to show for it.  Jesus is also at the lake.  His business seems to be going much better than Peter's.  For, while Peter’s boats are empty, there are so many people surrounding Jesus that they practically push him into the lake.  Jesus sees two boats.  He climbs into one of them and asks Peter to take him out onto the water.  Jesus sits in the boat on the water and teaches the crowd.

            When he has finished, he turns to Peter and says, "Go out into the deep water and lower your nets."  Now this contradicts everything Peter knows about fishing.  First, you don't fish during the day.  You fish at night, when fish are nearer the surface.  Second, you don't fish in deep water.  You fish in shallow water, where they feed.  Not only that, but Peter and his partners have fished all night and come up empty.  I imagine that Peter wants to explain all this to Jesus.  He may even be tempted to roll his eyes at this non-fisherman.  But instead he says, "OK, Lord.  If you say so, I'll do it."

            Peter lowers his nets and comes up with so many fish he has to call his partners to bring the other boat and help.  Then the two boats together are so loaded down with fish that they almost sink.  Peter realizes that this is not just about fish.  This is about Jesus.

He kneels at Jesus' feet and says, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."  It is not that he feels guilty, but rather that he is overcome with awe and fear and reverence.  He knows he is in the presence of a power and reality so great that he can only see his own life seems small and insignificant.

            Jesus says, "Do not be afraid.  From now on you will be catching people."  Jesus does not go away.  He does not banish Peter from his presence because he is unworthy.  Instead, Jesus does something remarkable.  He says, “Follow me.”  Then Jesus gets out of the boat.  Peter and James and John get out of the boat.  And they follow him.

            This is not about fish.  Peter does not say to Jesus, "Say Jesus – doing anything tomorrow?  How 'bout going fishing with us again?"  This is not a fishing story.  It is a call story.  It is about Jesus, of course, and the work that he will do through his death and resurrection.  But it is also about the work that Peter will do in the wake of his resurrection.  Before this, Peter has been toiling in the waters of Israel .  Jesus is calling him to fish in the vast oceans of the world.

            So what can Peter do but follow?  It will not be a journey that is completely joyful.  For even when Jumping Mouse heads out across the dangerous prairie, before he reaches his final destination, he gives up first one and then the other eye, the very eyes that have seen the vision of the Sacred Mountains .  He gives each one up so that another animal may live.  After that, all he can do is be led.  All he can do is follow.

Peter leaves everything he knows, everything he is good at, everything he has made of us life up to that point.  Yet Luke records in Acts that this fisherman, Peter, preaches to thousands and thousands are baptized and take up the same life, the same following, the same Savior and Lord as did Peter himself.  He catches boat loads of people.

            You may not feel like Peter.  You may not have experienced a call to preach to thousands.  But you have a call nonetheless.  It is a call to follow Jesus, certainly, but it is also a call to orient your life to serving people, as Jesus does.  It may not mean leaving your present job or life situation.  It may simply involve asking, “How can I serve people where I am?  In my home?  In my neighborhood?  In my school?  In my work?  In my community?  How can I serve others as Jesus served me?

            You may not catch boatloads of people.  You may not even catch two or three.  But you will be following Jesus into a new world.