God qualifies those who are called

Luke 5:1-11

Epiphany 5, February 9, 2025

Holy Trinity Cathedral

“God qualifies those who are called”

Let me tell you a parable about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

Of course, this never happens in the Church, does it?  Aren’t we supposed to be the perfect community of disciples?  Surprisingly, when a job comes along, there is often confusion and assumptions about who is supposed to do what.  Even in the Church.  We appoint or elect people to carry responsibility and make decisions.  That will be part of our annual vestry meeting next week.  But these are the situations that have people hesitating about whether they have the time or the skill or the willingness to step up.  If it is too big an “ask”, it is easier to say “not me!”  And then we feel guilty that we didn’t help.  Or we are down on ourselves for not being good enough.   How can we avoid ending up resentful or disappointed? Our sacred story shows us another way.  God doesn’t call those who are qualified.  God qualifies those who are called.  Anybody can be a Somebody as a disciple.

When Jesus called his first followers, he didn’t go to the Temple and pick the priests.  He didn’t go to the Council and select religious leaders from the Pharisees or the scribes.  He started talking about the kingdom of God amongst ordinary people.  Jesus spoke in the synagogues and in homes, and by the lakeshore.  He was popular!  Crowds of folk came out to hear his message of repentance and new life. 

One of the people who was listening while he was mending his nets was a fisher named Simon.  His boat was pulled up on the shore a little ways from where Jesus was teaching. He must have been pretty tired; he’d been out all night on the water.  Even though he had caught nothing, the gear still needed cleaning and putting away.  Just as he thought he could go home for breakfast, Jesus comes and asks to borrow him and his boat for a mobile pulpit.  Since Jesus had already healed Simon’s mother-in-law, it was only fair to return the favour.  So the exhausted fisher waits while Jesus finishes his teaching from the boat.  Then comes the second “ask”: “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch”.

You can hear the frustration in Simon’s response, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing…”. Why does Jesus, the carpenter from Nazareth, think he is an expert on fish-finding compared to those who make it their livelihood?  Everybody has already tried, and the nets have been cleaned and packed away.  Simon doesn’t trust his knowledge base, but there is something about Jesus that convinces him to agree to one more cast. The result is more than Simon can handle.  The net starts breaking with the weight of the fish.  He has to call on his fisher friends from another boat to come help.  In spite of his doubt, Simon finds that God ‘s abundance provides more than enough for everybody. 

That is when Simon gets anxious about his part in this work.  Instead of rejoicing, he is struck onto his knees by fear.  “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”  He had first thought that what Jesus was asking was unnecessary, then doomed to fail, then too demanding.  He had failed to understand what God was doing, and now he is really afraid.  We can be fearful of so many things that we are asked to do.  We can fear failure, rejection, ridicule, backlash.  We can fear responsibility placed on our shoulders, and then disappointing others.  We can fear our ignorance, the limits of our health and time commitments.  We can fear the unknown things that will hurt us if we say “yes” instead of “no”. 

And yet, Jesus promises something beyond the fears.  “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people”.  We often read this line as a job description for disciples.  Simon being promoted from fisher to saver of souls.  But this individual, and all the others that Jesus invites into the work, are not being called because of their prior experience or even their faith.  It’s not about worthiness or qualifications.  And Simon does not from this point forward become the perfect follower.  He still messes up, asks dumb questions, stumbles in his understanding, even denies his Lord.  But God has called him, and God can use him, through his willingness to try.  He becomes part of God’s plan to hook others into the kingdom.

And despite his veneration in the Roman Catholic denomination, it doesn’t all depend on Simon Peter.  He is part of a group effort, from his drawing in of the nets with help to his spreading of the good news of the resurrection with the other apostles.  Although he is often portrayed with holding the keys to the kingdom of heaven, that’s too heavy a job on his own as well. Catching people with words of truth and acts of mercy is for anybody to practice.  Even if you don’t think you are that somebody that is needed, God can qualify you through the gifts of the Spirit to get things done. 

In the Hebrew Scripture reading, there is that wonderful moment when Isaiah is qualified to be God’s prophet.  In his vision in the Temple, he is appalled by the awe-ful and awful majesty of God.  He feels unworthy- a person of unclean lips, as he describes himself.  Yet a messenger from heaven, a seraph, brings a burning coal from the altar and touches his lips, declaring him clean.  His repentance is cleansed by God’s acceptance.  He is readied for the job not through his own talent or faith, but through divine invitation.  Although he doesn’t know what he will be asked to do or say, Isaiah is able to respond, “Here I am, Lord.  Send me!” May we too have the courage to say “yes” to the job God has in mind.  If anybody can be somebody, then everybody benefits, and nobody will be left out.  Amen.