Luke 5.1-11 and Isaiah 6.1-8
We continue with our Epiphany Sermons, and this Sunday, the lectionary places before us the familiar account of the calling of the first disciples. In this account Peter and his friends have been fishing all night and Jesus is now sitting in Simon Peter’s boat teaching the crowd. After his teaching, Jesus turn to Peter and invites him to put out into the deep water, and let down his nets for a catch. Peter, with apparent skepticism, agrees to do so but the catch is so large that the nets begin to break. In that epiphany, Simon realizes and is overcome by being in the presence of God! He falls to his knees in front of Jesus and says, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” Peter’s words echo those of the prophet Isaiah who, finding himself in the presence of God exclaims, “Woe to Me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord almighty.” This is precisely the posture needed to receive the grace of God. And that is what Peter experiences. He hears the grace-filled words of Jesus, “Don’t be afraid.” These are the words we all need to hear in the face of our sin. Like Isaiah, who hears the wonderful words, “… your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for,” so we find relief in the gospel. And it is our encounter with the grace of God, in the face of our sin, that prepares us to enter into the mission of God.