Going Deep

By Cal Cook

I follow the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) to preach from. Six years ago when I started someone had suggested it to me as a way of ‘having something to preach from’ and to prevent me from saying the same thing over and over again in different ways. Although it really hasn’t prevented me from doing the latter it following the RCL has provided me with more scripture passages to preach from than I may have otherwise used and it has taken me somewhat systematically through the Bible over the last six years. I’m starting my seventh year in ministry and now finding myself on my third go around with this three year cycle that the RCL provides.
I guess had I tried to be more systematic about it I could have preached on each of the major readings provided: O.T., Epistle and Gospel readings each week. But I want to allow the Holy Spirit to work within my own heart and speak to me as He sees fit. Consequently over the years I’ve jumped around and preached on whatever the Lord was saying most loudly to me at the time. So now here I set…wondering what I should preach on? I have three readings and a Psalm as a reference…where is the Lord moving in my heart?
One of the things I like to do is to read the context before and after the passage listed. One of the disadvantages of the RCL is that it skips over some things…not every verse in the Bible is covered. Although I’ve read some of the history of the RCL I’m still not certain why some passages are covered multiple times and others not at all! Some of the reason is that it is a revised lectionary from the one the Catholics were using in the 1960s and its history is filled with revisions and people and places and so on…it may be a good research project but I’m not taking it on!
This year of the RCL Year C mainly works its way through the Gospel of Luke with many ‘Special Sundays’ including readings from John and a couple from Matthew. Luke 4:31-44 is skipped over for some reason and includes a very interesting detail to me. Luke 4 starts with the temptation of Jesus immediately following His Baptism from chapter 3. We read of His trip to Nazareth and of His rejection last week. Now in Luke 5 we hear of Simon (Peter), James and John and your Bible may even have the heading ‘The First Disciples’ as mine does. Yet in the passages we skipped over Luke tells of how Jesus went to Capernaum and cast out a demon and healed many people…one of which was Simon’s mother-in-law! Simon is not introduced in Luke 4:38 as if it is assumed the reader knows who he is, as if Jesus already knows who he is?
Even here in our reading today there is this exchange between Simon and Jesus as if they already know one another.
Luke 5:3-6 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”
Jesus steps right into Simons boat and tells him to do something and Simon does it? Now this is Jesus and miraculous things happen around Him and it is apparent the two know one another. It fact Luke 4:38 provides us with some confirming details. Yet here at the end of this passage we have Jesus telling them all (Simon, James and John) to follow Him and they drop everything and follow Him. When we compare this to the Gospel of Matthew 4:18-22 or Mark 1:16-20 we have a similar yet different account of the calling.
Almost word for word they match “Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men, immediately they left everything and followed Him.” (Cal’s paraphrase) yet the surrounding details are different? A friend of mine who is a Catholic Priest told me as we discussed this that he likes to stay within the context of the same Gospel as to not get caught up in these apparent differences. But for me some of the mystery is even contained within the Gospel of Luke…does Jesus already know them or not?
John provides us with further insight on the issue (if not further confusion) in John 1:35-42 where John and Andrew (who are disciples of John the Baptist) are told about Jesus by John the Baptist. Now both Matthew and Mark say that John the Baptist had been taken into custody before this call by the Sea of Galilee takes place. In fact Matthew includes the detail of saying:
Matthew 4:12-13a Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum
Now Matthew may have been saying Jesus moved His place of residence from Nazareth to Capernaum or he may have been simply skipping over the details of Jesus in His hometown synagogue in Luke 4:14-30 and says, “after that He moved to Capernaum”. Now I’m not trying to do a line for line harmony of the Gospels here…I don’t know if I can! What I’m simply trying to say is that a careful reading of the text, even just Luke tells you that Simon-Peter, James and John don’t immediately leave everything after meeting and hearing Jesus the first time! In fact Dr. J. Vernon McGee argues that this isn’t even the first call of Jesus to Peter, James and John and Dr. McGee is certainly much more learned on the issue than I am!
So what insight does all of this provide us with? Well we all want to have faith like that of Peter, James and John. We all desire to know God on a deep and personal level, we all want to be used by God in amazing miracle working ways like Peter, James and John were yet we don’t immediately dive into the deep end of faith…we work our way there from the shallows! Jesus tells Simon-Peter to:
“Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” Luke 5:4b
Metaphorically speaking Jesus was saying to Simon-Peter, “Let’s go out where it’s deep and I’ll show you something amazing…I’ll make you a fisher of men.” Peter goes…reluctantly but obediently listening to the instruction of Jesus. Are you listening for the call of Jesus? Are you willing to go where the water is deep…or are you stuck in the shallows?