Nativity Weekly Sermon

The Rev. Dn. James Wesley Holcomb, III- The Freedom to Follow Jesus

• Episcopal Church of the Nativity- Dothan, Al • Season 5 • Episode 25

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0:00 | 10:08

Homily

SPEAKER_00

In today's gospel, Jesus stands beside the Lake of Jacineret as the people press upon him to hear the word of God. And nearby we have the two boats, but the fishermen have left them and are washing their nets. Their work is finished, and by every visible measure, their work has failed. Simon and his companions have labored throughout the night, and yet, in spite of all of their efforts, they have caught absolutely nothing. And it is precisely there, in an ordinary place of labor, fatigue, and perhaps for them disappointment, that Jesus enters Simon's boat and teaches the crowd that is gathered along the shore. And then our Lord tells Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets. Now, Simon, he knows this lake very well. He's been there all night long. He knows the failure of the night that he and his companions have just had, and he knows that this command from our Lord just doesn't make sense. Still he answers, Master, we have travailed sore all night and have taken nothing. Nevertheless, nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net. And that nevertheless is where discipleship, remember that word, it's been coming up a lot lately. This following of Jesus, this learning and unlearning, forming and reforming, that's where this discipleship begins. Not in control, not in overwhelming success, not in certainty, but in simple obedience to the word of God. And as we mark the two hundred and fifty years of independence as a nation, the gospel calls the church to remember that true freedom, true liberty is much more than self-rule. It is more than protecting our own states. It is more than being proud of who we are as a people. True freedom, true independence is a holy dependence, a holy reliance on the word and grace of God, who meets us in our failures, who sometimes exposes our sin and our disobedience, and yet loves us and sends us out into the deep waters of mission and service. And that is why the great catch of fish that we see in today's gospel is not merely a sign of blessing and abundance, but in a way it is a sign of revelation. It shows us something. The great catch reveals that the abundance and the blessings of God in our life is never meant to make us proud and boastful. It's not an invitation for us to become extremely possessive or self-satisfied. But the blessings of God in our life invite us to exist in the presence of Christ and in the presence of our brothers and sisters, allowing these blessings to become an ongoing invitation to humility, to surrender, and renewed obedience to God day by day. And hearing the words of Jesus and then obeying and seeing the great catch come in, Peter falls to his knees and says, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And here, Peter, in the presence of Christ, abundance now becomes his own personal confession. Because Simon Peter sees that this catch is not the reward, but the gift of the Lord who comes and whose word commands him to launch out into the deep. Simon's response gives us a necessary word for any people who would remember their history truthfully. Our blessings should indeed make us humble and grateful to Almighty God. We may give thanks for the real gifts in our lives, the gifts as a nation of liberty, courage, sacrifice, opportunity, and the freedom to worship God in our own way. And yet, Christian remembrance and Christian memory cannot stop with just the gratitude because before Christ we see not only the gifts that we have received, but also that which is ours to give. We see the sins that we have committed and the sins that have been committed on our behalf. And before Christ, with this full reckoning of who we are, both our blessings and our failures, calls us to humility and to hope. Hope in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember with gratitude for what is good, and we repent and make a fresh turn from that which has caused us to err and stray like lost sheep. And we renew our obedience day after day to the Lord's whose mercy is greater, greater than any fear, greater than any hate, and greater than any stain in our own personal stories. Then Jesus says to Simon, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men, human beings, in the life of the church, that calling is not about conquering, it's not about religious domination and coercion. I suggest to us that to be fishers of men is to share, to participate in Christ's own work of drawing people to himself, to drawing people into the real and tangible mercy and love of God. It is the work of preaching the gospel in word and in deed. It's the work of baptizing, feeding Christ's people at the altar, reconciling the wounded, seeking the lost, serving the poor, informing a people whose lives bear witness to the kingdom of God among us. And when Simon, James, and John bring their boats to land, we see that they forsake all and they follow Christ. They do not leave the world because the world is worthless, but they leave behind every lesser loyalty because they have come to understand this one thing: that Jesus is Lord. And that, my friends, is the freedom that the gospel gives us today. Not the freedom to belong only to ourselves, not the freedom to protect what we believe is ours, not even the freedom to celebrate just the history and legacy of our great nation, but the freedom to follow Jesus into the deep waters of ministry and service and of faith. So leave something on the shore today. Leave fear, leave pride, leave bitterness and resentment, leave complacency, shallow religion in any loyalties that keep Christ from being first and priority in our lives. Trust His grace. Hear His words, launch out into the deep and follow him. Amen.