Sermon for the Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany of Our Lord
Don’t Stand So Close to Me
Theme: Jesus’ gifts are not just for the other guy.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus
Christ! In today’s Gospel, Jesus miraculously fills Simon Peter’s nets through
the power of His Word. In so doing, Jesus gives Epiphany gifts to someone who
seriously thinks he should not be receiving such good things from his God.
Don’t stand so close to me, O Lord! I am a sinful man!
Dear Christian friends,
After doing careful research (Luke 1:1-4), St. Luke deliberately structured his
Gospel so that you would think Simon Peter had seen plenty of our Lord’s
miracles before today. Today’s Gospel is from Luke chapter 5, but last week’s
Gospel from Luke chapter 4 tells about how Jesus visited Simon Peter’s house
after church one afternoon. In that earlier Gospel from last week, Simon Peter
appears to have joined with others in appealing to Jesus on behalf of his
mother-in-law, who was sick with a high fever (Luke 4:38). Not only did Jesus
immediately heal this woman in everyone’s presence, but He also went on to heal
“any who were sick with various diseases,” laying “His hands on every one of
them” (Luke 4:40).
St. Luke gives us no reason to doubt that Simon Peter stood right there the
entire time, watching Jesus repeatedly heal the sick and cast out demons. St.
Luke also makes no mention of how Simon Peter reacted and felt about our Lord’s
miracles until today’s Gospel, when Jesus turns and performs the miracle now
for Simon.
And when He had finished speaking, [Jesus] said to Simon, “Put out into the
deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we
toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.”
And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their
nets were breaking.
This miracle does not seem like a big deal, especially for someone like Simon,
who has already witnessed many miracles from Jesus. But what does Simon think?
“But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ‘Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’”
Some people would dismiss Simon’s amazement and fear in today’s Gospel
by saying that today’s Gospel actually took place before last week’s Gospel,
when Simon saw all those others receiving miracles from Jesus, and that St.
Luke simply took the historical sequence of events out of order. But that would
make for a pretty short sermon, and where is the fun in that? Besides, do we
really want to think of St. Luke as a confused writer who cannot iron out his
facts and keep them straight? If indeed St. Luke took the history of these
events out of sequence, might we not think that he did so for a reason?
I think it will be far more beneficial for you and for me alike if we
take St. Luke at face value, accept his sequencing of these events, and
understand his message to us: Even after Simon watched his Lord Jesus treat
many other with great care and regard, the man was still completely floored to
think that Jesus would likewise do great things also for him. “Depart from me,
for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Through this Gospel, your God is telling you
that His miracles and forgiving grace are not only for other people. God is
telling you that His miracles and His forgiving grace are also individually and
personally for you. In today’s Gospel Jesus is not the God who concerns Himself
with acting on behalf of other people in Simon’s life. That is last week’s
Gospel. In today’s Gospel, Jesus is the God who concerns Himself with Simon,
focuses His attention upon Simon, and acts for Simon.
If this individual attention upon Simon in today’s Gospel is not a
connection to your Baptism, I am not sure what is. Jesus wants you to know in
today’s Gospel that it does not matter a whole lot what you think of yourself.
It also does not matter whether you think you are worthy of God’s presence and
work in your life. Simon said to Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,
O Lord,” but Jesus was not going anywhere. Jesus is the God who came personally
to Simon in this Gospel, just as He is the God who came personally to you in
Baptism. Jesus is the God who acts individually for Simon in this Gospel—do
startling things for Simon that Simon did not seriously think would happen—just
as Jesus is the God who acts individually for you.
Simon’s incredulity at His Lord’s individually expressed love
personally for him is not the only thing that is happening here. There are many
other ways for you to draw great blessings from today’s Gospel:
1. By filling Simon’s nets, Jesus shows Himself to be the God who cares
and provides for the everyday needs of our lives, and not merely during those
extreme times of illness or disease. If we only had last week’s Gospel before
us, we might get the impression that Jesus focuses primarily on our occasional
needs, such when we fall ill. But St. Luke has also given us this week’s
Gospel, where Jesus fills Peter’s nets to overflowing. By giving us this
Gospel, St. Luke is showing us that Jesus conscientiously provides us with
every mouthful of our daily bread; that Jesus remains present with us and
caring for us in every moment, and not merely in times of illness.
2. By filling the nets of this expert fisherman, Jesus shows Himself to be
the true giver of all things. Stated another way, none of us needs to rely upon
our expertise or our skill for daily bread. We can each go off to our daily
labors, whistling while we work, trusting exclusively in Jesus to provide us
with what we need no matter what might happen in the course of our day.
“Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your Word I will let down
the nets.”
3. Luther repeatedly used this Gospel as a way of showing people that
Jesus faithfully takes care of all your needs, both physical and spiritual. The
same Lord who gave Simon a catch of fish is also the Lord who likewise
proclaimed to Simon, “Do not be afraid!” And in the same way, the God who
provides so faithfully for your needs of body shall likewise never fail to
provide for your needs of soul. As He said to Simon, Jesus also proclaims His
“Do not be afraid” to you when He tells you that He has forgiven all your sins.
Do not be afraid. Your sins are forgiven!
4. This Gospel is also very good for showing you that Jesus is the God who
comes face-to-face with you, totally unbothered by your sin. When Simon saw the
catch, “He fell down at Jesus’ knees.” Simon could think of only one thing:
Here I am in the presence of God. Simon might even have had today’s Old
Testament flash across his mind, where Isaiah wails, “Woe is me! I am lost… for
my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5). In today’s
Gospel, Simon sees no less of God, and Simon likewise despairs: “Depart from
me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Yet Jesus does not go away, not from Simon
and not from you. Jesus is not bothered by your sin. To the contrary, Jesus
came to cover you sin and hide it away so that you will no longer be afraid of
your God and His faithful presence in your life.
Clearly, there are all kinds of good things for you in this magnificent Gospel.
Chief among these things, however, is the one point that St. Luke has
especially maneuvered himself and his writing to impress upon you. Simon has
already seen plenty of miracles before today’s Gospel, but always as a witness
and bystander and not as a direct recipient. Today Jesus shows Himself to be
the God who came to earth also for Simon and not merely for others. St.
Luke—and the living God who guided his writing—wants you to the same message
take home with you. Yes, Jesus came for many. More to the point, Jesus came for
you.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and
minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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