Rev. Doug Floyd

*The Miraculous Draught of Fishes by Jacob Jordaens (1618-1620)*

Epiphany 5 2025
Rev. Doug Floyd
Judges 6:11-24, Psalm 85, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. – 1 Corinthians 7:17
I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:6

Each of us have been called into the family of God. In one sense, we are called from birth. In another sense, we awaken to God’s calling. Some people are called into powerful positions. Others are called to serve and live in the shadows. Yet, God is working in and through all His family. Today as we meditate upon our three lessons, we encounter stories of people called by God. At the same time, we meditate upon our own calling.

Gideon first appears as a weak and cowardly young man, but the Angel of the Lord calls him a mighty man of valor.
Peter is a bold and fearless fisherman, but God will rase him up to speak before the very powers of Israel.
Paul is Torah scholar who will be sent to proclaim the grace of God to Gentiles.

You might be surprised at the ways God will work in and through you to touch the lives of others. Today, I want to reflect briefly on God’s call as we meditate upon Peter and Paul. The Gideon story is a bit complicated and requires a longer discussion on the book of Judges. If anyone ever wants to discuss Judges, we could do that for a series of Sunday school classes.

Simon Peter is a fisherman: a hard worker, an impulsive, passionate man who bursts into the scene with bravado and a ready heart to act. In some ways, he makes me think of my late father. If you told my father he couldn’t do something, he would prove to you why he could. He had a quick temper, but he also had a quick laugh and was quick to cry over the people he loved. Full of passion and fire.

Once, my dad, Kelly’s dad, and another man were finishing our basement in our old house. This was to be a home dialysis center when I lost my first kidney. They put a wall up between the rooms downstairs and the garage. They tried to fit some French doors into a frame they had put in the wall, but they didn’t fit. Now, Kelly’s dad is a scientist. So, he wanted to study the situation and determine the best way to make adjustments. He always wants to do it right.

Then one of the men grabbed a sledgehammer. This sounds just like my dad, but it could have been another man. He started pounding on the door frame. He was going to force it to fit. I think Peter would be like this. We need to get this done and move on to the next project. Just make it fit.

Peter is the first disciple to proclaim to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”^[1] He is ready to walk on the water to Jesus. To fight off the enemies of Jesus with a sword. To build tabernacles in honor of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. We tend to love Peter even when he blusters into a situation.

In today’s story, Jesus asks Peter to put out from the shore while Jesus teaches the crowds. When he finishes his talk, he tells Peter, “Drop your nets out here in the deep so you can catch some fish.” I can almost hear a tone in Peter’s voice, “Actually, we have been fishing. As a matter of fact, all night long. No fish.”

At the same time, Peter already demonstrates a willing devotion to Jesus, and says, “If you say so, we’ll put out the nets.” Suddenly the nets are overwhelmed, and the boat is about to sink with so many fish. Peter falls to his knees in tears, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

He has encountered the Lord of glory who communicates to Peter in Peter’s language: fishing. Jesus penetrates the heart of Peter and draws him to Himself. In the Old Testament, people often fall in fear when they behold the Angel of the Lord. Here Peter falls down in fear and brokenness and Jesus replies, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”^[2]

If we follow the story of Peter, we see a bold, brash man rebuked or corrected again and again in the Gospels and Acts. Jesus even tells him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”^[3] This strong-willed, fiery man will become weak and submissive and will reveal the very glory of God before thousands of people and even the priests and Sanhedrin.

In many ways, Paul is very different than Peter. He is also Jew, but he is a Roman citizen. He is clearly familiar with the Greco-Roman culture, but he also studies under the top Torah scholars in the land. He is zealous for God. He is so zealous that he will hunt down those who walk in the way of Jesus and have them arrested and killed. Suddenly, Jesus will call Paul on the road to Damascus. This call knocks him to the ground, blinding his eyes while opening his heart to Jesus.

Eventually, the Lord will call Paul to the Gentiles. This Torah scholar will spend his life reaching people who know little or nothing of Torah. In today’s lesson, Paul acknowledges his utter weakness in Christ. “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.”^[4]

By their very lives, these two men help open our eyes to the call of God. Their skills and unique personalities do a play role in their service, but they are also brought to the place of utter weakness.

Paul will come to realize that God’s call came before he was born. In a sense, he was called into life by the very grace of God. He writes, “[H]e who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.”^[5]

This call was slowly taking shape throughout his life. He would make many mistakes and even cause the unjust death of others before his eyes are fully opened to the truth in Jesus Christ.

We come to see that long before we were aware of God’s grace, He was forming us, preparing us, drawing us into His love. The Psalmist writes, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” ^[6]

When we were born, our parents named us. Eugen Rosenstock Huessy used to say that we grow into our name. The name is a call from the parents to become that person. When we die, that name will be defined by the life we led. We are filling up our names with our lives.

Before we took our first breath, our good and gracious Father called us to Himself, to His love, to reveal His glory. Much of life, we may feel as though we are stumbling through a series of experiences. Never fully sure of our purpose or our reason for being here. God has called us into being. He will bring us to perfection, to completion. He calls us to faith in Christ, he calls us from death to life, from darkness to light, from slavery to freedom. Over the course of our life, this call will take shape in different ways and in different vocations.

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