Sermon for the 5 th Sunday after Trinity, July 12, 2009

In the boat

“They enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

I have to think that one of our greatest technological advances ever was seamanship. And according to the biblical account, it was God's invention entirely, along with the Flood. Noah's Ark may not have been the first boat ever, but it has to be the most magnificent and most important. One and a half football fields long, seventy five feet wide, and taller than this church—the Ark was filled with every wondrous beast God had made, and it thundered outside with the raging of waters, lightning, and drowning humanity, and it thundered inside with elephants, lions and bears trying to understand why they were locked up in this wooden shell.

      I guess all of you have been, at one time or another, in a boat. Remember your first time, especially the small craft that rocked and shook when your foot tentatively found somewhere on its pitching deck to stand. You quickly found a seat, splayed your hands out to steady yourself, and experienced what all have wondered at: the water was not just under you, but around you . The miracle of boats is that somehow a concave hull takes your weight down into water, displaces some of it, and brings the air under sea level. Air being lighter, water heavier, the balance of buoyancy is struck and you are suspended between two fluids on a mere leaf, like a bug, on an adventure downstream. Our senses reel whenever we take off in a boat. Add propulsion, the dynamic of oars or of sails, and the miracle is complete. We fly, we glide, we move through two worlds that humans were not made to travel in: water and air—through the wonder of a boat.

      Now, you are either in a boat or you are out of a boat. Aristotle would agree. You might paddle alongside, hold the rail in your hand, but if your feet aren't in the boat, you're all wet and the boat isn't having its purpose with you.

      An old philosopher once took a boat trip across a great lake. His servant, a simple villager, was fearful to distraction. He kept shouting and shaking so that no one could do anything with him. When asked why , he just said that water scared him. “I can't swim!” His master ordered the boatmen to throw the servant into the water. “But he says he can't swim,” they said. Over their objections, he prevailed and the frightened man was sent screaming over the side. After thrashing and spouting about for a few moments, the master ordered him brought back aboard. It was wonderful in everyone's eyes to see how the man was now suddenly quiet, even happy , to be in the boat, and the old man's wisdom proved out.

      A quick word study in the New Testament shows that boats are frequently mentioned in the travels of Jesus Christ. In Galilee, not only fishermen were masters of sea craft, but everyone seems to have traveled more by boat than by land. The son of a carpenter, our Lord nevertheless knew that body of water well and chose boatmen as his companions. More than once he preached from boats, their hulls slapping in the shallows, to crowds who lined the shores. This natural amphitheater was also a stage, and an image of trust, and an example that you have to be in the boat to be with Jesus. You are either in the boat or you aren't . These sailors, Peter, James, John and Andrew, were familiar enough with the Sea of Galilee that they knew the fishes' habits and hideouts. They also knew the dangers of storms on that great lake, and stories of many who had died out on that treacherous stretch of blue. Jesus invited them into His boat, these brave sailors, and in His boat He scared the daylights out of them.

      On one of His frequent boat trips they were overtaken by a storm and all these professional seamen feared they were going down. Water poured over the rails and they bailed like crazy to no avail. Jesus just slept in the stern, exhausted from His ministry, but also trusting His Father completely. When they woke Him, He simply commanded the winds and raging waters, and the lake was flat and calm. On another day, Jesus showed them He didn't need a boat at all. “Peace be to you! It's me, don't fear!” He shouted to them over that storm, as Peter put his foot on the water…

      This day, Jesus chose Peter's boat to preach from. People lived all around the lake: why choose any other structure to speak from? Peter, tired from the night's fruitless fishing, nevertheless felt honored that the Master chose his boat to stand on, telling parables of farms and lost sheep and buried treasure. Peter nearly slid into a happy slumber, sitting at the tiller, when Jesus nudged him with a foot and suggested they go fishing. “ Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets. Let's fish.” Peter, knowing Jesus' trade was carpentry, quietly but confidently said that, though he had fished all night and nothing was out there, yet he would obey. “You'll see what I mean,” might have been Peter's admonition, under his breath. He hoisted sail and caught a breeze to take them out onto the dark blue of deep water. Jesus helped him to drop the great nets over the side, and just as they sank, a tug on the ropes told Peter they had gotten lucky. More than lucky , it was a gigantic school of very lively fish. They both pulled hard to bring them in and fish began pouring into the boat, dozens and dozens of flapping silver bodies began to fill the boat. Their weight started to drop the rails to the lake's surface and it began to ship water. Peter shouted to the shore, urging James and John to bring another boat. They quickly did, and almost swamped it as well with this huge catch.

      Then it was that Peter realized something. This was not his boat anymore. He had been proud of his mastery of the fishing trade. He had kept his boat one of the best in the business. He knew wind and wave, ropes and knots, sandbars and rocky bottoms—everything a man needed to know to ply his trade as a fisherman. Suddenly he knew nothing . He didn't know where to fish, or when , or why . The man standing at the other end of this boat knew everything . Peter felt something hit his chest like a giant's fist. He lost his breath. The power of realization, just beneath his consciousness, had him almost black out. He fell to his knees and tried to get low as he could before the Man in the boat. Peter knew this wasn't his own boat—there was nothing familiar about it at all. Nothing ever happened like this on his boat. The preacher owned this boat, and what's more, He intended to own Peter too. But Peter knew, he felt all the vileness of his soul : the lust, the anger, the crude jokes, the bad blood, even the youthful violence he had walked in. And he knew this Man's holiness was unnatural, supernatural . God was in the boat with him, and Peter wanted to hide. Face down in fishy water, Peter objected: “Go away from me, Master. I am a sinful man. I am not worthy of your attention. I don't merit your love.” Rising from their toil, John and James too realized the power in this Man was not of this world, and began crying for lack of adequate words in His presence. Jesus saw them all, knew them completely well, and His eyes surveyed the glorious scene—a grand lake reflecting His own creation of azure sky and gentle hills and billowing clouds and valiant trees and pitiful people sobbing in two boats overloaded with fish flashing in the Galilean sun. And Jesus looked down on Peter, in his humiliation, and spoke, “Don't be afraid. From this day on, you will catch people. Along with me, you will be fishers of men.”

      Fishing now over, the three plus Peter's brother Andrew, who was already convinced Jesus was Messiah, left the boats, the nets, the sails, the oars, the ropes, and hundreds of fish tied up at the shore and followed Jesus. They were in His boat now. And what a ride!

      Three years later, the stories they would tell! Miracles of healing, breaking bread for thousands, lightning on a mountaintop, raising the dead, and then Christ's own Resurrection, they found themselves again at this lake. The thought struck Peter: I'll go fishing . That was where his life had changed. The reminiscence made his heart both happy and, well sad —for much had happened and his life wouldn't ever be the same. Nothing doing —the fish weren't going to come to Peter anymore. The man on the shore, though, advised them to try the other side of the boat. Just to humor Him, they did. The same tug, the same impossible catch, fish foundering their little craft and John cried out, “It's the Lord!” Peter, struck by his own stupidity, his slowness to recognize the most important Person in his life, again , threw himself into the water and swam for dear life to the shore in order to be the first to greet Jesus, calmly frying fish of His own.

      You are either in the boat or out of it. We all have boats, boats of our own. It's been said that a private boat is a hole in the water, surrounded by wood, into which you throw money. Think of the life you lead as your boat—a hole in the water surrounded by wood into which you throw money. That's your boat. You launched it when you entered this life, suspended between the sky and the deep blue, a firmament of tentative life between the waters above and the waters below. But this life is a flash, a moment of terror afloat on your own sea of outraged fantasies. Your dreams betrayed you. Your mind led you over Niagara Falls. Your passions were storms that filled your little shell with foul water. Some boatmen we are!

      Jesus offers you His boat, to come on deck and set sail with Him. The risks are enormous, of course. You will lose your life to this Man. Having no boat of your own anymore, you will become his crew. But you can't go with Him and remain onshore, nor in your own rotting boat. Both feet need to find their way into His ship, and feel the water around you, held out by its buoyancy. This is trust . The sea looks like an ocean, with storms threatening, clouds gathering. The decision must be made. You are either in or out. What will it be? Peter, the ex-fisherman, has his own experience to help you make your choice. Many years after these things, he wrote:

     “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.” 1 St. Peter 3:8ff

PFH+