Bible Text: St Luke 5:1–11 | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christian Preus
Peter had every reason to believe from his own experience that he knew better than Jesus how to fish. Peter was a fisherman. Jesus was the son of a carpenter. Jesus was a preacher, and preachers are not famous for being good fishermen (though I think there may be a couple exceptions to that in this congregation – not me). Jesus tells Peter to do what every fisherman on that lake would have thought ridiculous. I remember once fishing up at Gunflint, trolling for lake trout, and another boat came by and asked me what I was doing. I told him, and he literally laughed, a belly laugh, and told me I had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t offended, because I knew I had no idea what I was doing. But Peter did know what he was doing, and he knew Jesus’ word would make him ridiculous, the other fishermen would laugh at him. What on earth are you doing? You can’t catch fish in the middle of the day, in the middle of the lake, with those nets. But Peter did it anyway.
Why? Because Jesus is always the expert. I’m not a fan of that word, expert, because people use it to claim that since they have this or that degree or experience, everyone else must know nothing about the subject. You notice that? We got that during Covid a lot, where the experts told us to jog outside with masks on and expected us to do it based on their expertise, when any runner knows that’s a horrible idea, no matter if a thousand experts in lab coats in their laboratories say otherwise. The same thing goes for theological experts. He got his PhD in Greek or in theology, so he’s the expert, even if his expertise leads him to deny the obvious and plain meaning of the Bible. No, you should always take advice and be willing to learn from those who know more than you, but you should never give up your own God-given right to read and know and learn your Bible and catechism.
But Jesus is always the expert. On whatever topic He speaks on, He knows more, He knows best. And even if we think we know better, because of our experience, we’re wrong, we don’t. “But he’s sinned against me a thousand times, he’ll never change.” What does Jesus say? When Peter asks him how many times should I forgive my brother, up to seven times? “I do not say to you up to seven times, but seventy times seven.” “But it goes against my experience to expect him to change!” Well leave the changing up to Jesus, and you do what He said, Forgive, bless, love, seek peace and pursue it. And then wait on the Lord and see His wonders.
This is nowhere more true than in the ministry of the word. Jesus is the expert. That’s what this whole miracle and Gospel lesson is about. It’s not about catching fish. At the end, Jesus tells Peter, “From now on you will be catching men.” He’ll be netting men into the Kingdom of God, by preaching to them. This is what God calls all pastors in the church to do. And pastors are to say, “At your word, I’ll do it.”
There have always been church growth tactics – ten ways you can grow your church, the latest fad being to make church into entertainment and soft rock bands and inspirational speeches and coffee bars, so that people will feel comfortable and give lots of money. But there is only one thing that grows Christ’s Church, and that is Christ’s Word. There are a lot of things that can get in the way of that word – poorly prepared sermons, a pastor who always looks angry and never smiles, members of the church who are just unfriendly and never greet visitors, unsingable music. But in the end, the only thing that actually grows the Church is the pure preaching of Jesus’ Word. This is so much the case that in the Book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit describes the enormous growth of the church, from a 100 to thousands and then tens of thousands in a matter of weeks, He doesn’t say the church grew, He says repeatedly, “And the Word of God grew.” Because that’s what’s happening when people become Christians and when they grow as Christians. They live by this Word. The Word of God grows in us and we grow into it.
And this word Jesus beautifully sums up in our Gospel. He shows Peter what Peter is to preach. First, He shows He is God, the holy, the righteous, the One who has control of all creation, because it’s His creation, so that He can gather fish together in the most unlikely of places, because they’re His fish, everything’s His, and Peter knows it, so he’s afraid, gets down on his knees, says, “Lord, that is, God, depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” Why is he afraid? Because he’s a sinner, and God threatens to punish all who sin against Him. And that is what Peter is to preach. The law of God. Which tells us all that we have sinned and fallen short. We stand before the holy God, and our stinginess, our bitterness, our selfishness, our false judgments of others, our gossip, our lusting after what isn’t ours, our discontent with what God has so graciously given us, it all deserves God’s righteous anger and punishment. And we are, like Peter, to fear Him and know that we have sinned against Him. But then Jesus tells Peter, “Do not be afraid.” That is the Gospel. That is the essence of the Good News. Do not be afraid. Your sin is put away. God is not angry with you. And it is not because you don’t deserve His anger, it’s because what you deserved, Jesus took on Himself. He became your substitute. He answered for your sin by His own agony. And it is the all-sufficient price, because His blood and His death are the blood and death of God Himself, who loved you and gave Himself for you. That’s what Jesus taught Peter that day, and then said, “From now on you will be catching men” with this word of Law and Gospel.
There is something with the nets here. No lure is used with nets. The Word of God doesn’t need flashy anything to accompany it. We can have albs, and vestments, and we can cross ourselves, or not, but none of it adds anything to the power of the Word. The Word of God is like a net. It catches people up, unexpectedly, and though our sinful flesh fights against it, it locks us in, and brings us into the boat which is the Church. And there we die, die to sin and to ourselves, in order to live for God. And no lure, no fancy prodding, can accomplish something like that. It is the Spirit of God who is at work in the Word. And when He convicts you of sin and shows you death and hell, so that you know you can’t stand before Him, and then He forgives all, and sets Christ before you, crucified for you, the love of your Father shines on you and you know by His Word to you that you are His own child, the redeemed, the baptized, who bear His name and eat and drink the feast of salvation, who live forever in His presence, a citizen of heaven.
Pastors preach this Word. And the people hear it. But this, “At your word,” of Peter’s has to be not only the duty of the pastor, but of the people. You can’t simply expect good pastors. Pastors are sinful men. The same sin you struggle with, they struggle with. They have pride, they have doubts, they have pressure to compromise. And they often do. It isn’t enough to have good seminaries, or a synod, and presidents overseeing what is taught in the churches – though thank God for them. The people need to know God’s Word. They need to demand it. My sheep hear my voice, Jesus says, and they won’t listen to the voice of a hireling. They listen to Jesus. St. Peter in our epistle tells every one of us, always be ready to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
This is why to be a Christian means lifelong learning of God’s Word. It’s why we have church every Sunday and you should attend it every Sunday you possibly can and go to Bible Class. Of course you come to receive forgiveness here from the pastor as from God Himself, and to receive the very body and blood of your Savior, and to take possession of this in repentance and true faith is the greatest instruction a Christian can ever get, because in receiving mercy you learn not only to love the God of mercy but to love your neighbor. But you also come to church to learn God’s Word, the same Word you need to read and study at home. The catechism, the ten commandments, the creed, the Lord’s Prayer, Bible passages on Baptism, and Confession and Absolution, and the Lord’s Supper, you read and meditate on this, and you expect to hear it from your pastors.
Let me tell you a story about this, a true story. Some sixty years ago so-called biblical experts had taken over our seminary in Saint Louis – the seminary is where we train pastors. They were teaching things like that it didn’t matter if Adam and Eve really existed, or whether Jonah was really swallowed by a whale, they thought the Bible had errors, some even thought maybe Jesus wasn’t really born of a virgin, they thought maybe St. Paul was being a sexist when he said men and not women should lead in the church and the home. And they were the experts, PhDs and all, high positions, well read. And they were teaching future pastors this garbage. And fifty two years ago, the Board of Regents of that seminary fired them all, 45 of them, out of 50 total professors. And our synod and our seminaries stood firm on the Bible as God’s inerrant Word. And do you know why? Because of you. Because of laymen, the people in the pews, who weren’t going to let a bunch of so-called experts tell them that God’s Word wasn’t true. And they stood up on the Bible because they read it and knew it and believed it and demanded that it be taught in their churches by their pastors. That’s what we need to do and hand down to our children.
Jesus is the expert. Everything He says in the Bible is good for you. He loves you. He is your God. He is your Brother. He laid down His life for you. He will never let you down. At His word, you believe. He says to let the net down, you let it down. He says God created them male and female, you don’t turn to scientists or sociologists or psychologists, you listen to your Lord. He is the expert on life, not a scientist who studies brainwaves in an embryo or does experiments on fetal pain, Jesus is the expert, who created us in our mothers’ wombs and tells us what He knows personally, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and says let the little children come to me. He is the expert on marriage, not the secular counselor who urges divorce for any reason, but Jesus, who instituted marriage for our good, who says, husbands, love your wives, and wives, submit to your husbands, and what God has joined together, let not man put asunder.
But most importantly, Jesus is the expert on you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your cares, your worries, your pains, your sins, your sorrows, and He knows what you need. You need Him. And He has given Himself for you. He has borne your sins and carried your sorrows. And He gives you the fruit of His passion, the Word that you hear, that is in your heart, that fulfills the promise that He will be with you always even to the end of the age. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Amen.