“THE FISHER KING”
Saint Luke 5. 1-11
The Fifth Sunday after Trinity: 8 July Anno Domini 2007
Fr Watson
It is quite a heavy burden to try and make things happen. You can build for a while but eventually you get tired. Everything you construct will ultimately break, rust, rot and crumble. When one tries to create something out of human relationships and interpersonal contacts it is even harder than working in wood or stone. You can persuade, cajole, argue, demonstrate and threaten; but regardless of how hard you “try” you cannot make someone do something. Oh you can force the outward action but never the inward emotion, devotion, loyalty and belief.
And we haven’t even talked about “fishing” yet. At least with hunting you can see a “target” and then do what you’ve practiced; skill may win out. But with fishing there’s really nothing you can do. Yes, yes you can “read” the water, weather and vegetation. You can rely on tips of fellow anglers; re-frequent areas of past conquest; use space age lures and hi-tech sonar; but in the end, you don’t know where the fish are. And even when you do, you can’t make them bite!
You don’t catch fish, they get themselves hooked.
But now let us look at Scripture. A huge mistake is made when one tries to look to modern fishing and “read back” into ancient time concepts of “fishing.” When you fish you use a pole, line, hook and bait. All that has absolutely nothing to do with today’s Gospel. Patiently sitting out in your “Bass Master” or on the end of your favorite pier or dock is not what the Lord had Saint Andrew and Peter do. That is not how they fished.
The Galilean’s that Jesus turned into real fishers, into Pastors, fished with nets from boats. They were there on the water long hours and either caught fish or didn’t catch fish. It was up to God not their own hard work, knowledge of the lake, or Synodical Program. To be “one with” Peter meant you were faithful not creative. To be a fisher is to follow the Word not your own heart or “gut”To be a fish means you’ve been scooped up and placed in the boat not that you made the calculated decision to “jump” into the boat.
The incident recorded by the blessed Saint Luke, Evangelist-Physician, has very little to do with Jesus’ powers of controlling nature. Yes of course Jesus is God in the flesh. Yes of course Jesus can perform supernatural miracles upon the created world of nature. Had Jesus wanted to, He could simple have said: “fish, come here now” and as many mackerel as He would have wanted would have sprouted wings and flown out of the water and landed at his feet. The point of the event is not to demonstrate that Jesus is God, although it does, but to show those Capernaum fishermen just how they would go about being not only Disciples (followers of Jesus) but Apostles (His “sent” Pastor-Missionaries).
Jesus’ Words caught the fish, that is, the Lord Himself did it. He didn’t need Peter but He used Peter. He utilized Peter’s boat and Peter’s hands. The fishermen became an extension of the Christ by the will of the Christ.
You did not make yourself a Christian. You did not choose to become a believer. No disciple of Christ became a follower of the master by his or her own choice. “I have decided…” as sung by “contemporary Christian” singer Michael Card is a poppy upbeat tune; it is also false teaching heterodoxy. Andrew, James, John and Peter himself did not “follow” Jesus because they decided anything. The Lord drafted them into His Salvation Army (or rather His Navy) to become Fishers of Men. The Lord, Who is the Word, spoke the Word, and the Spirit used the Word to call, gather and enlighten those Galileans. God made those four Jewish men, men who were waiting for the Messiah, to believe in their hearts and souls that the wandering Rabbi from Nazareth WAS that Messiah. God created in them the faith to believe in Christ and then to follow Him.
The boat is the Church. Christ teaches out of the boat and is in the boat. Yes He is in other places as well, but the imagery is to be properly understood. The Lord worked out of the boat. Outside of the ship of the Church there are the roaring waves of the world. To jump ship by willful abandonment of one’s crew and Captain is to drown. In the ship are the Disciples, the Lord’s chosen Apostles and their successors. They throw out the nets of the Holy Gospel on behalf of the ship under orders from Christ the Salvation Skipper.
Things are not under your control. The wind blows when and where it pleases. The Holy Ghost works faith in the hearts of those Whom He chooses through the Gospel given them.
The “current” moves when it does; the waves crash as they do; night falls when… night falls.
What you the faithful “hand” find yourself doing is being about the business of a Galilean fisher; you do what the Lord has for you to do. The Lord calls for you to be faithful; to believe in Him and to let His Word have effect.
He stands in the middle of His fishing vessel; His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic vessel called the Church; He holds it up and supports it not only as the center I-beam, but He also propels it by being the Mast and Sail itself. His holy wooden Cross stands at the center of all; the mainsail that is drenched not in salt water, but in salty, bloody, sweat pouring out of His wounded and punctured Body. The Holy Ghost fills the sail which is His Body and Blood given and shed. The Holy Ghost is the wind which moves the boat and which finds the fish to be taken aboard. The Holy Ghost is the very breath from the mouth of Jesus; the same breath which He later deposited upon the heads of the 12 when He breathed on them giving them His authorization, His authority to remit and retain trespasses. The Lord is Captain, but His Apostles are His “fist mates” among all His other mates; for the benefit of the entire crew.
For all the times that you fall asleep on duty, shirk your responsibilities in loving your Captain and His crew, He remains constant and true. The boat sails on course not by following the North Star but by following the true Morningstar, the Dayspring from on High, the Crucifix lifted high.
What a loving Master Fisherman you the faithful attendant have. When by your offenses you merit just “corporal” punishment, your Master takes the sentence Himself. When you should be lashed, shackled, and given bread and water. He in your place, He the Captain, becomes the lowliest mate. He was bound, whipped and given gall to drink in your stead. Your mutiny He willingly suffered for and was punished for with walking the plank.
That’s how the fishing is done my friends. The fish are caught by Christ Who “chums” the rolling seas of unbelief with His own precious Blood. He is the one Who reaches down into the deep with the Gospel nets, ropes made from His very words and His very Flesh, to scoop up the great prize of fish which He desires.
In the Name of The Father and of The + Son and of The Holy Ghost