“Who? Me, Lord?”

Luke 5:1-11

Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, February 9, 2025

Like many of you, I’ve been feeling sad, anxious, overwhelmed and even angry as I observe what is going on in our nation and around the world. Last week I heard from a missionary friend in Tanzania. He told how an HIV-AIDS clinic for young people near where we used to live was abruptly closed, leaving people without life-saving ARV treatments, eliminating HIV-AIDS testing and job training for youth with HIV-AIDS. Then one of our members told me how worried she is about her daughter, who just got her dream job with the U.S. Forest Service. After struggling for years with health issues and part-time jobs, she completed her Master’s Degree to qualify for what she thought was a secure, permanent position with the federal government, but now her dream appears to be over. On top of that, some of you right here in our congregation are worried that even though you are in the U.S. legally, the program that you are under may be eliminated and you may be deported. I know pastors aren’t supposed to talk about politics, but when it touches my people, the people God has entrusted me to encourage, comfort, challenge, and lead spiritually, I feel concerned and worried. I think many of you are feeling the same way.

So, how do we anchor ourselves in times like this, when the wind and waves beat upon us, threatening to destroy so much that we hold dear? I think of Jesus’ story about the house built on a rock. Because its foundation was solid, it was able to withstand the storm. The house built on sand did not survive. But what is our foundation? Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, but what does that mean? Here in today’s passage we may find some answers, and they start with saying “yes” to Jesus’ call. If we’ve never said “yes” to Jesus, we are lost indeed. Following him will keep our souls anchored in any storm.

That day so long ago on the shores of Lake Galilee, Simon Peter and his fellow fishermen were washing their nets after a long night of fishing. Jesus, the itinerant rabbi, approached Peter and asked to use his boat as a kind of podium. There were many people gathered on the shore to hear him preach. N. T. Wright explains, “Along the lakeshore close to Capernaum there is a sequence of steep inlets…

each inlet forms a natural amphitheater. To this day, if you get in a boat and push out a little from the shore, you can talk in quite a natural voice, and anyone [on shore]…can hear you clearly.” So Jesus took advantage of this natural geographical feature to teach the people about God.

When he was finished, Jesus told Peter to put out into deep water and let down his fishing nets. Now it was daytime, and the fishing was better at night, and they had caught nothing the night before. Peter protested, but did as the Lord commanded, and his life was never the same. “Put out into deep water,” might be what Jesus is asking us to do, too. To go deeper with him, to let down our nets, even when we’re not sure we will catch anything. But that day Peter and his companions caught enough fish to fill two boats, full and to overflowing. Jesus may lead us to places we have never been before, literally and spiritually, but the rewards will be abundant. God always provides above and beyond our need – enough to share, which may be the point. For Peter, this miracle was proof that he was dealing with no ordinary person: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” was his response.

Peter’s declaration reminds me of Isaiah’s encounter in the Temple. When God appears to him in a vision, Isaiah cries out, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” But God does not condemn Isaiah; rather he commissions him as a prophet to go and proclaim God’s word to the people. Neither does Jesus condemn Peter, but tells him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” So Peter, along with James and John, leave their nets and boats that day and follow Jesus. They become the first disciples, and follow him faithfully until their deaths.

When we encounter Christ, we may have some of the same feelings – overwhelming awe and a consciousness that we are sinful, that we don’t deserve to be in the presence of such a Holy God. If we look at the different encounters people have with Jesus in the gospels, we see many different reactions: some rejoice and glorify God; some weep, like the woman who bathed Jesus’ feet with her tears; some repent and offer restitution to those they have wronged, like Zaccheus.

One man said, “I believe – but help my unbelief!” Some leave everything and follow him, like the fishermen and Matthew, the tax collector. Others who want to follow him are sent back to their families and towns – remember the demon-possessed man Jesus healed by sending the demons into a herd of pigs? He begged Jesus to allow him to go with him, but Jesus refused, saying, “Go home to your own people, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.” And he did. Not everyone responds to Jesus in the same way, even when they say “yes.”

People have tried to codify what it means to decide to follow Jesus: the four spiritual laws, accepting Christ as your personal savior,  believer’s baptism, infant baptism, confirmation, a sudden conversion at a Billy Graham crusade, a gradual realization that God has always been there in your life, or maybe that you have left off following Jesus and you want to come back. I have lived nearly seven decades and I have seen many faithful Christians, and heard their stories. While every story of following Jesus has some similarities, are all are as unique as the people who experienced them.

Because following Jesus is a relationship with God, and relationships start and develop differently for each person.

It’s a bit like marriage. Saying “yes” to Jesus is like the wedding vow, “I do.” But what kind of marriage would it be if the couple vowed to love and be faithful till death do us part, and then only spent an hour together on Sunday mornings? Just like marriage, following Jesus is a 24/7 kind of thing. Like marriage, following Jesus is both a commitment and a journey. Any relationship has its ups and downs. Sometimes there are separations. Sometimes there is a renewal of vows.

Our church administrator Kristie told me I could share a bit of her story. When she was in the 8th grade, she went forward at an altar call in her church and was baptized. But during high school and early adulthood she strayed far away from God. In 2000, during a trip to the Holy Land, she realized that she wanted to come back to a relationship with Jesus, and was re-baptized in the Jordan River. That time it “stuck,” and she has tried her best to be faithful ever since.

Probably many of us as Presbyterians made a similar commitment to follow Christ at our confirmation or at some other point in our lives. And some have faithfully kept that promise. But some of us have wandered a bit, and only later found that we really needed Jesus in our lives. So we came back – to church, to fellowship, to prayer, to Bible study, to service – to whatever ways we have felt the Holy Spirit guiding us to be closer to God.

Two weeks ago we sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” Verse three concludes: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,/prone to leave the God I love;/here’s my heart; O take and seal it;/seal it for thy courts above.” Written almost 300 years ago, these words express an eternal truth – we humans tend to stray from God, yet God always welcomes us back. Answering Jesus’ call may be the beginning of our relationship with him, but it is not necessarily a one-time event. We need to say “yes” to Jesus every day. Simon Peter had no idea where saying “yes” to Jesus would lead him, but when Jesus called him, he followed.

Sometimes he failed – like the night of Jesus’ trial, when he denied that he even knew him. But he got back up and continued following.

What is Jesus calling you to do? Is Jesus calling you for the first time this morning? Have you already said, “yes” to Jesus, but maybe he is calling you out to deeper waters with him? You don’t need any special qualifications to follow Christ. You just need to be willing. Pastor and author Amy Zietlow, comments that we, like Peter, may question “our ability to follow Christ and serve. Our previous work and life experience may not fully prepare us for the challenges that discipleship can hold. Let us take heart that Christ is with us...He will equip us with what we need… to Jesus, ability is not as important as availability.”

One thing is certain, when Jesus steps aboard our boat, our lives will change completely. With Jesus in the boat, we can do things we did not think were possible. With Jesus in the boat, we will have the strength and courage to do whatever it is we are called to do. Remember, we are not alone – we have Jesus and we have each other. Pastor Teri McDowell Ott, editor of Presbyterian Outlook, writes, “Jesus never calls us to shoulder all the work alone. Simon has fishing partners and a second boat. There are twelve disciples, not one. Pastors have colleagues, congregants and ministries to serve alongside them and help carry out their mission, partners we must call before our nets begin to break.” She continues, “The Body of Christ is broad and diverse …All of us are called to do our part, to put a hand on that heavy net, full of fish, and help haul it into the boat.”

So when Jesus comes and says, “Follow me,” don’t just stand there and ask, “Who - me, Lord?” Say “Yes.” It will change your life forever. Say “yes” to Jesus, and he will give you a safe place to stand in all the storms of life, no matter what.

Let us pray: Lord, whether for the first time or the thousandth, we  say “yes” to you – “yes” to you as our Savior, “yes” to you as our Lord. Forgive us our sins; like Peter and Isaiah, we are not worthy to stand in your presence. Yet you love and forgive us. Thank you. Help us to follow you faithfully all of our lives. We are yours, Lord. Amen.

©Deborah Troester, 2025