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S. Epiphany 5.25 Luke 5:1-11

When Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees saying: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!

But, why? Why would you beg Jesus to go away, ever? It’s not what you’d do, right? Did it not strike you as a strange response? Isn’t hanging out with Jesus the whole point and goal of the Christian life? And aren’t we Xns? Wasn’t St. Peter?

Hmm… Well; if you’d been following the story closely up to this point, you could come up with quite a few reasons, actually. Jesus’s been hanging out in Capernaum, your hometown, for a few days. He’s been casting out demons right and left—which is cool, I guess, but those demons make a lot of… fuss, when they go out! They throw people around, make them writhe and foam at the mouth. Not an entirely benign or pleasant procedure. Not pretty to watch, either. 😉

And when the demons come out, they also talk, a lot, saying stuff like: “This is the Son of God who’s come to destroy us all, so better watch out, buster!” Leaves everyone a bit shaken not stirred. 🙂

And right after casting out the demon in the synagogue (who says church’s dull?!) Jesus comes to your own house, uninvited. Well, he knows Andrew, your brother, so maybe he felt like “mi casa su casa”, I don’t know?

But your mother-in-law was sick with a real bad fever, pneumonia coming on, Flu A or the COVID or maybe both—I mean who gets tested anymore, right? It is what it is. And your wife begs Jesus to help her mom, because, at mom’s age, Flu A, COVID can be real serious, you know? But you’re like, “Oh, I think with rest, Tami-Flu, chicken soup, she’s gonna be fine…”

Jesus catches your eye with a hint of a smile turning up at the corner of his mouth. Goes to her bedside and says, “Go away, fever!” not entirely unlike ‘The Thunder Song’ in “Ted”: ‘When you hear the sound of thunder/ dontcha get too scared, just…’ Nevermind. You know what happened. Mom pops to her feet, says she’s never felt better, and makes dinner. 😉

And you were like, “Oh, thank God, wow! I hardly know what to say; Jesus!” But, inside you’re like, “Really? She’d lived a good life, you know…” And Jesus catches your eye again with a… dare I say, “mischievous” grin, like he knows exactly what you’re thinking. Can God be mischievous? If you knew my mother-in-law, you’d know why I’m asking the question!

Anyway, at sunset, the whole town has heard and brings all the sick to your door and he touched every single one of them—unafraid of coodies or COVID, himself! And they were all healed. More demons, shouting: “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” but, mercifully, he shut them up, pretty quick.

Next morning, I’m up before dawn, out of town, on Lake Gennesaret, like a good professional fisherman, though we didn’t catch a single thing. So we gave up, beached the boats, doing a clean and check on the nets when Jesus comes along with a crowd mobbing him and not in a friendly way. I didn’t like the look of it.

Jesus sees me, and just goes and sits down in my boat (like he knows it’s mine) and goes: “push out from the shore, so I can get a little space from the mob.” And I do it. And he teaches them from my boat. Then he says, “Hey; you did me a solid there, let me do you one. I see you’ve caught… nothing, so let’s launch out into the deep and catch us some fish!”

I’m like, “No offense, but you’re what? A carpenter? I’m a professional fisherman. I know this lake like the back of my hand and I assure you, there’s no fish out there. Nevertheless, Master” (I said it with that slightly sardonic tone when I call my wife “honey” which she absolutely hates) “at your word, I will let down the net…” And you know what happened next—because you’ve been to Sunday School and you just heard it again.

So many fish! Our boats were… sinking. There’s such a thing as too much of a good thing, you know? Sometimes the 3rd week of vacation is just too much, and you’re dying to get back to work. Or the 2nd piece of pie just made you feel a little sick. Anyway; I was thinking about how he healed my mother-in-law—who was way past the “three score and ten”, you know? She looked plenty ready for heaven (or wherever), I thought. Every other girl I dated, her mom just adored me. So I’m fated to marry the only one whose mom was always, shall we say, a bit… censorious? And when Jesus heals somebody, they stay healed! She’s well over a hundred now, and healthy as a horse. But her personality hasn’t changed at all. [Sigh].

So, honestly, that was why I blurted out: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” My mother-in-law will apparently live with us forever. 🙂 I catch so many fish, my boat is sinking. Part of me was ready to just go down with the ship, you know? How much GOODNESS can a man take?

But, you know; if you go further back—to the beginning of our story, to Genesis, garden of Eden, first thing after they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and God comes to take a little stroll, what do Adam and Eve do?

Right. They run and hide. “Depart from me, for we are sinful beings, O Lord!”

Jesus is… A LOT! No one knows this better than I do! There’s only so much goodness and holiness and divine power a sinful man can take…

Which of the prophets he called didn’t try to weasel out of it?

Moses: “me not talk pretty”. Jeremiah, “I’m just a kid!” Isaiah, as you heard, was… tricked! Jam a burning coal in a guy’s mouth when he’s being undone by the sight of God’s unveiled glory, get him to his feet, and go “Who wants to run an errand for me?”

Isaiah’s like, “Oooh! Oooh! Me! Send me! Get me out of here! Too much of a good thing here, for my taste!” See what I did there? Burning coal in the mouth? Too much for my taste? OK…

Here it is in a nutshell: Dog… catches… car. Yes, we’re drawn to him. Yes, he’s awesome. But… when the dog catches the car, now what?

I’ll tell you what. He… smiles—warm smile, real peaceful-like. And says; “Don’t be afraid. From now on, you’ll catch cars, er… people.”—be flat as a pancake. First step toward holiness is knowing how far away you are.

Second step’s forsake all, follow him… leave everything: your old life, mother-in-law. (Which he makes surprisingly easy 🙂 I’ve never looked back. ‘Cause we all have a powerful lot of sin to burn off. And his cross is the only way, my friend. What you lose, following Jesus is, well… everything! But what you gain is so much… more.

If you follow too, you’ll know… the Peace, that surpasses all understanding, and guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.