Luke 5 Then Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."

Lord, sometimes we do not see the purpose in our work. We do the same things day after day, and the monotony robs us of our ability to see your abundance. Open our eyes to the abundant blessings you give us. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you our rock and our redeemer Amen.

   The men had already been out all night long fishing. It must have felt like the sea was empty as they dragged their nets in time after time only to find them empty. That was the life of a fisherman. Some days the fish were plentiful but other days the nets were empty.

  I don’t know much about fishing. It wasn’t my thing but my brother, Craig, was a fisherman. He and pa would sit out beside the stock pond on my grandparents’ land drowning worms. They would be out there for hours. Grandma would pack them a sandwich and we wouldn’t see them until the heat of the day when they would come in for a cold iced tea and a homegrown tomato sprinkled with salt. He didn’t always catch anything. Mostly he liked just being outside and the thrill of waiting.

  Waiting for the fish to bite is only fun if it doesn’t matter whether they bite or not. For Simon Peter, James, and John, it mattered. Catching fish was their job. No fish meant no money. I like to imagine them coming to shore and starting to wash out their nets when this man comes up to them. There is a crowd of people following him. Maybe Peter had heard stories about this Jesus. About how he healed so many people and about how he was almost killed in his hometown. Now, Jesus is asking him, Peter, to use his boat. I don’t know what it was about Jesus that made Peter say yes. Maybe it was just the rumors about the healings. Or, maybe Peter just got a vibe from Jesus. A feeling like something about this man was different. Anyway, Peter quit washing his nets and took Jesus out on the boat.

   Jesus started teaching and I imagine Peter was transfixed. We don’t know exactly what Jesus was saying but we know that he was sent to proclaim good news and freedom and the year of the Lord. This must have been some good news. These were words of hope and of healing. Words that lit a fire in Peter’s spirit. Words that made him want to know more about Jesus. Words, that if we think about it for a minute, must have troubled Peter. If this teacher was really sent by God to proclaim release of captives, that was dangerous stuff. The Romans were not going to release captives. The religious elites taught that if you were sick it was because you had sinned. What would it mean if you were healed? Did that mean your sins were forgiven?

  Peter went from fishing that night to theological wrestling in the morning. Peter wasn’t the first of his people to wrestle with God. Remember Jacob? Jacob met the angel of the Lord in a tent and wrestled with him all night. His name was changed to Israel in the morning. Israel means one who struggles with God. Peter was right there with Jacob wrestling with God and what it means if God is with us. What it would mean if Jesus were really God with us, God walking around beside us. God sitting in our boat teaching the crowds what it means to be free.

  Can you imagine for a minute? You are tired. You have only heard whispers about this man Jesus who healed the sick and angered people. He comes to you and asks to sit in your boat. And you, you say yes because there is something compelling about him.

  And you are as content as my brother sitting with my grandpa as you sit in the boat next to Jesus and listen to him teaching.

  I’m sure my pa taught Craig some interesting things sitting on the side of the stock pond.

  I’m sure Jesus taught Peter some interesting things in the boat. And don’t forget James and John were there listening too. That’s important because in a minute Jesus is going to tell Peter to do something ridiculous. The fish aren’t biting and Jesus says go back out and let down your nets. Only let them down on the other side.

  Sometimes we have to move to the other side to see something different. If we are always looking at life through the same lenses we always see the same thing. Or if we use the same bait you always catch the same fish.

  Jesus told Peter to try another direction. Try something new. And where Peter had seen only empty nets before, Jesus brought the fish to fill the nets. There were so many fish that James and John had to help bring them in. From nothing to more than he could carry.

  Looking at things the way Jesus tells us to, leads to bounty we cannot imagine.

  When Peter saw this he did something unexpected.

  He fell down at Jesus’ knees and said get away from me. I am a sinful man.

  When confronted with the abundance of Jesus, Peter realized how sinful he was. Peter was not someone special. He was just a fisherman. Just an ordinary man like any of us. He was doing a job when Jesus called him and he wasn’t even doing a very good job of it. He was failing and then Jesus had him look at things from another direction. When he looked where Jesus told him to, his life changed. And Peter was terrified.

  Again, imagine Jesus in the car seat next to you. As wonderful as that would be, you would surely have a moment of fear because we are all sinful people. We try not to be and until we are confronted by Jesus we think we are ok.

  Jesus tells us don’t be afraid for I will make you fish for people. Jesus will change our lives. No longer will we work for the things of this world. Now we will work for the kindom of God. Now we will see the world as it is through the eyes of Jesus. And the world of Jesus is a world of wonder.

  The world of Jesus is like a 10 year old boy sitting beside a stock pond with his grandpa. He is learning how to put a worm on a hook and sit quietly and wait for the fish. But in the world of Jesus the most important thing is the little boy talking to his grandpa. He may never catch a fish because all he does is talk and his grandpa listens.

  The world of Jesus is like a funeral dinner where you know there isn’t enough chicken but somehow everyone is fed.

  The world of Jesus is like knowing there are no more fish to be caught and then catching so many you need help to get them in the boat.

  The world of Jesus is so full of love that we all feel compelled to fall down at his feet and sob because we are sinful creatures and when we look at the love of God in Christ Jesus it breaks down all of our defenses. We become who we are meant to be in the eyes of Christ.

   Peter became a great leader of the church as did James and John. Craig, my brother, became a great dad one who listens to his children. We become who we are meant to be when we see the world through Jesus’ eyes instead of the eyes of the world and it is for this that we can say, thanks be to God. Amen.

Filled with Healing

Luke 5: 19  “When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.”

Join me in prayer. God of healing, we come to you asking to be healed in all the broken and hurt places in our lives. We know that you will hear us and you will answer us in your wisdom and your will. Help us to remember that you are the God of life and life abundant and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

We don’t get to tell God who to heal. The people of Nazareth thought for sure they would have the advantage over everyone else. After all, Jesus was from Nazareth. He played on the football team and his grade school teachers were there in the sanctuary. They had all nurtured him when he was growing up. Maybe the local butcher had sold him meat every Friday to take home to his mother. Maybe one of the widows Jesus had helped move furniture and mow her lawn was there. These were the hometown people. The ones who believed they should be first on the list for the good things Jesus brought.

But Jesus had other plans and he wasn’t coy about his plans either. He just straight up tells them, he will not be healing them. And the mood changes from here’s our home town hero to let’s throw the arrogant kid off a cliff. That is a pretty big mood swing. It is a swing that warns us not to try to put the gospel in a box because there is no box that can hold the Holy Spirit.

   We aren’t that different from Jesus’ contemporaries. We believe we are exceptional people. We really do. We like to disguise our belief in our own goodness, but we can’t. If we search our hearts, we have to realize that we want all of the gospel’s good news for us before it goes to anyone else. We would bind the gospel making it freedom for us and not so much for others. This is exactly what Jesus was preaching against. He told the people of Nazareth, you think you will be first in the kindom of God but the first will be last and the last will be first. You have no claim over me that requires me to heal everyone here before I go into all the world and bring salvation to everyone else.

  Our reading today begins where last week’s left off. Jesus has returned from his wilderness journey. He has been out facing temptations. Would he focus on God’s will or his own needs? Would he test God and try to make God prove God’s self? Would he chose immediate gratification? And the answer to all of those temptations were no. No, Jesus would do God’s will in everything. That is where Jesus’ ministry began. He began with radical acceptance of God’s will. He began by listening to the Holy Spirit above every other noise and then he goes back home.

  He goes where every body knows his name. They have heard of the deeds of power he has done in other places, and they are so excited that he is coming home. Surely, they will see many more miracles. They become greedy for the power of Jesus. So, Jesus goes into the synagogue and tells them he has come to bring good news to the poor and liberation to the oppressed and they are excited because they are poor and oppressed. This good news is for them first and then what is left over can go to the cities around them. But Jesus’ love isn’t pie. There is enough for everyone, always enough for everyone and no one is more or less special than anyone else. As a friend told me the other day, we are all a handful of dirt.

  The scandal of grace is that it is for everyone. It is for the sinner and the saint. It is for the upright and criminal. It is for the babies and the old folks. It is for Republicans and Democrats and it is even for people who don’t like Dolly Parton. I can’t imagine anyone not liking her but even if they didn’t mourn a little this week, the good news of Jesus is for them just as much as it is for me.

  Jesus was still being tempted. He could have chosen popularity. All he would have had to do was to heal all their sick people. They would have thrown a party and had a parade. They might have even hung a banner over main street saying “Nazareth home of Jesus!” And Jesus knew that if he gave in to that popularity, the gospel would not be spread. Jesus looked at the temptation to be popular and decided to follow the call of the Holy Spirit, to follow God’s will whatever it cost. And it cost him a lot.

  He reminds the gathered crowd about Elijah. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets. He had fought the priests of Baal and won. He had prayed that no rain would fall and no rain fell for three years and six months. He too had listened to the call of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit called him to leave Israel and head to Zera path. When Elijah got there, he found a widow gathering sticks. She had only enough flour and water to make one loaf of bread for her and her son. Elijah went to live with her and she miraculously had flour and water for the whole time of the drought but she was not an Israelite. She was an outsider.

And if that were not a bad enough story to tell his hometown people, he tells them about how Elisha, Elijah’s protégée, healed Naaman the Syrian of a terrible skin disease. The healing power of God is not reserved for certain people.

Jesus was telling his hometown friends and family that they were not special. They were handfuls of dirt just like everyone else. This enrages the people in the synagogue. They go from loving Jesus to wanting to kill him. Jesus chose to follow the call of the Holy Spirit over being popular.

And this next part is worth slowing down and examining. The people in the synagogue grabbed Jesus and were taking him out to throw him off a cliff. That is how angry they were. Really, really angry. Angry enough to kill him. And Jesus just walks away from them. Scripture doesn’t say he was angry. It just says he passed through them and went on his way.

   Jesus wasn’t worried about being popular. He had a mission in the world. He had the choice of choosing the way of the world or the way of God. Jesus always chooses God’s way. Jesus always follows the call of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is free. No one gets to put Jesus’ miraculous healing in a box.

  The good news for us is that Jesus chose us when he told the people of Nazareth that the gospel was for all people. We are the ones Jesus chose as he walked through the crowd ready to kill him. He didn’t choose to be popular or live an easy life. He chose to tell everyone that there is another way to live. There is a hope that cannot be stopped. There is an economy of grace so scandalous that it doesn’t matter what you do, Jesus’ righteousness will save you. There is a well of life so deep that you do not ever have to doubt how important you are, never doubt that you have a purpose in this life, a purpose to serve and to love. There is a well of healing so deep that it does not stop where the diagnosis says it must. The healing Jesus brings is so complete, so amazing that we cannot measure it in our lab results or our blood pressures. The healing of Jesus restores our souls and our minds and our bodies in ways that are beyond understanding and yes, sometimes that healing takes place in heaven but each day we breath here on earth is a day our healing is nearer. Each day is a scandal of grace and a miracle of life. Each day is a gift bestowed on each of us. If we too choose to follow God in all that we do, we will experience the healing Jesus offers. If we too follow Jesus away from what is popular, we will know such sweet intimacy with Jesus that the accolades of the world will dim into shadows. If we follow Jesus, we will witness the economy of the kin dom of God where there is enough for everyone, where everyone is truly equal, where we are healed of our burdens. This is our hometown, the kin dom of God. This is where we belong. We belong right here walking beside Jesus away from the crowds and to a greater healing than has ever been known before and it is for this we can say, thanks be to God AMen

Luke 4: 12 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Filled with Purpose

God of awesome love, hold us in your arms as we explore the depths of the night. Remind us of the purpose you have for us, the purpose modeled after what you declared as your own purpose for coming to walk among us. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you our rock and our redeemer. Amen

               It was in college that I first encountered that dark night of the soul. That existential dread that caused me to cry out into the night. To ask if there was any purpose. Was there any purpose to this life with all of its pain and its troubles. I stood at the end of my studies and had no idea what would come next. That wasn’t the last time I wondered why we are all here and what the point of all of this is. Each major change in life brought a time of reflection. Sometimes the reflection was easy but sometimes it led to an existential crisis. A dark night where I could not see God, could not feel the love of God. A night of pain so deep that I wasn’t sure I would surface again to see the sunrise because there was no purpose left in this world. What was I to do with this one magnificent wonderful life when caught wondering if there was any purpose to it at all.

  Jesus did not suffer an existential crisis. Jesus knew from the beginning why he was walking the dusty streets of the Holy Land.

   Just before the passage we read, Jesus was sent out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested. He was presented with all the chief desires of humanity. Would he turn the stones into bread and satisfy his hunger, or would he wait on God to provide what he needed? He could have easily made bread enough to satisfy the need his body had of sustenance. We have all been hungry. We know how tempting it is to feed the belly even when we should not. Fasting is a spiritual practice precisely because it is difficult to rely on God for all you need.

   When Jesus passed that test, he was given another. Would he try God by trying to kill himself? He knew what lay ahead for him. He knew that truly living would lead to his death. The powers that be cannot abide the power of life that refuses to be made smaller. Power is all about forcing others to be smaller. Jesus would not give up any of his power and that would enrage Rome and the Jewish religious leaders. Jesus knew that. He knew that his life would change everything so what if he tried to end it early. God would intervene and Jesus would get on with his work. But, to throw away the gift of life is truly a sin. To live half a life is a tragedy. Life is such a wondrous thing we should cling to it with our whole selves and Jesus refused to test God because Jesus knew God.

   Then Jesus was shown the whole world and told it could all be his if he would just worship the satan. And Jesus just said no. No, my time is not yet come. The world and all that is in it will be placed under my authority but only after I have completed my purpose, only after I have so angered the authorities of this world by living my life in the way God would have me live it that they crucify me.

  Now Jesus has come to his home town. These are the people who have watched him since he was a child. They knew him. I have to think he was a little special even as a child. I imagine he was different from the other children. Perhaps it was the way he studied with the rabbis after everyone else had gone out to play. Perhaps it was the way people around him never got sick. Perhaps it was how his family always seemed to have enough to eat and enough to share. Or maybe not. Maybe Jesus was just an ordinary kid until the Spirit descended on him. I don’t know for sure but I think there was always something of the divine visible in Jesus.

  He goes to the synagogue and they hand him the scroll. It was a scroll he knew well. Remember he was young. To know the scriptures this well, he would have had to study them carefully. Spent more time with them than an ordinary carpenter’s son would. He took the scroll and he opened to a passage and he read it.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

               If someone had asked what Jesus was supposed to do, this was his answer. When it came to time to interpret the scripture all he said was , "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

He didn’t say this scripture will be fulfilled. He said this scripture has been fulfilled.

Jesus’ purpose was to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind. He was sent to earth to set free the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This is his purpose. He did not come to die for our sins. He came to bring good news to the poor, and the world could not allow the poor to have good news. He was not sent to be sacrificed. He was sent to tell the captives that they are free, and free people upset a society based on slavery. He was not sent just to bear the weight of the cross on his back. He was sent so that those heavy laden by disease and disability would be set free to live as those who are whole and healthy.

We hear so often that Jesus came to die for our sins. What if Jesus’ purpose was not to die but to live so fully that he had to die. To live life as it should be lived. To teach us how to live as those set free. To breath the good air of hope beyond circumstances and to finally be crucified because the powers that be cannot allow anyone to truly be free.

  There were long dark nights of the soul when there seemed to be no purpose in living. Times when the pain of living was greater than any joy that could be found but then Jesus. Jesus came to me in the depths of the night when all seemed lost, when I had poured my soul out on the floor sure there was nothing left and Jesus came to me.

He told me to follow him. That’s all. Just follow him.

And I got up and found my purpose once again.

We all have a purpose. We are all called to follow Jesus. We are called to bring good news to the poor. We are called to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the bling. Jesus modeled for us what it means to have life and life abundant. Life abundant comes from a life poured out as a drink offering to God. Life abundant come with knowing that Jesus has walked this earth and shown us what we are meant to do and who we are meant to be. Our purpose is to live like Jesus did even knowing that the world as it is cannot abide a life of such deep love. Our purpose is to be Jesus hands and feet and voice in a world of sin and fear and doubt. We dread no dark night of the soul because God’s mercies are new every morning. And even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Jesus, our good shepherd, is walking beside us. And it is for this we can say, thanks be to God. Amen.

John 2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Even More

God of abundance, help us to follow your command to not worry about tomorrow. Help us to trust you with our lives in all circumstances. Increase our faith so that we may live as your beloved community. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to your our rock and our redeemer. Amen

It was a problem. The hosts had to know it was a problem. The wine was running out. Now, this wasn’t a life or death problem and that may be what makes it most interesting. It makes perfect sense that the very Son of God would heal people. What better way to establish what God wants for people than to take the very sick and restore them to health. And raising people from death. That is a sure sign of something divine walking among us. There is no arguing that God is involved when the dead stand up, remove their burial clothes and walk with us. And, it makes perfect sense that Jesus would heal a person with severe and persistent mental illness. Like that poor man caught outside of town by the dragons in his mind that kept him from being part of the community. Of course Jesus would heal him. Bring him some relief. Bring him back into community. But none of those were the first thing Jesus did. The very first thing Jesus did was solve a problem of embarrassment not dire need.

It was a problem. The wine was running out. This would have been super embarrassing. The wedding feast should have plenty of wine. What would the neighbors say if they ran out? I imagine in their efforts to avoid shame, they began to limit how much wine was given out. When they first noticed the lack of wine, they began to pour cups less than full. Maybe no one would notice a few less ounces. As the amount of wine continued to decrease, the hosts would stop drinking all together and they might even go to their closest friends and whisper that there might not be enough wine. So their friends quit drinking too. They began to think there wasn’t enough and they began to act like there wasn’t enough.

We do that too. We look around and see fewer people than we would like to see and we lament that there is not enough. There is not enough energy. There are not enough bodies to do amazing things. There is not enough money. There is not enough hope and faith and love so we must conserve it. We must drink from half filled cups of hope. We must save the money for a future time and not spend it now. We must hold on to our energy and we dare not spend it because we all know it is almost gone. We have seen the wine jars and we know they are nearly empty.

The hosts knew the wine was almost gone but they didn’t know who Jesus was, not yet. He and his disciples were invited to the wedding. They were known to the hosts. And, you realize that Jesus already has disciples this early in his ministry. There is something about Jesus that drew the disciples to him even before they had seen his deeds of power. There was something compelling in this man and they would be the first to follow him. The first to learn from him. The first to witness the abundance that comes with Jesus. Jesus says, I have come that they may have life and life abundant. There is no lack in the love of God. There are no half filled cups of God’s love. There are only cups overflowing with hope and goodness and mercy and joy. Overflowing abundance.

Jesus’ mother sees the problem. She knows it is a real problem. Not a life or death problem but embarrassment is a real problem. She noticed that the hosts were pouring less and less into the cups and she knew something no one else did. She knew who Jesus was. She knew that with Jesus there is always enough. With Jesus there is even more than we dare imagine.

Knowing Jesus, she went to him and told him about the problem.

Jesus seems a little annoyed. What does this problem have to do with me or you he says. She seems to know that it is a problem Jesus can and will solve so she tells the servants to do what Jesus tells them to do.

Do we dare to follow Jesus? Do we dare to do whatever it is that Jesus tells us to do, even if it seems ridiculous?

The servants did. Jesus told them to fill the jars. These were not tiny little jars. These were great big jars meant to hold a great deal of water. It would have taken work to fill those jars. They would have had to walk back and forth from the well several times carrying heavy buckets of water. I’m sure it had to seem ridiculous. To do all this work to get more water. They had plenty of water. Water wouldn’t save the hosts from embarrassment. Water was just water and they needed wine.

But, they did it anyway. They carried bucket after bucket to the jars. They lifted the buckets and they filled the jars.

John doesn’t tell us what Jesus did to change the water into wine. He doesn’t say Jesus waved his arm and whispered abracadabra. He just tells the servants to draw some of the water back out and take it to the person in charge of the party.

That person would have been the most desperate for some wine. They were the one who would be blamed for the lack. They were the one who gave the order to slow down drinking and to conserve what wine was left. They were aware of the scarcity, intimately aware.

The servants take it to him and he takes a drink. What was water had turned to wine and not just any wine. It was the best wine!

It would have been enough if Jesus had turned water into wine but Jesus did even more. Jesus turned that water into the very best wine. Jesus answered a prayer abundantly. Jesus gave more than imagined. Jesus is the very embodiment of God who will do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ever imagine because God is a God of love, and peace and hope and joy and protection and all the things.

The hosts did not know who they had invited when they invited Jesus. The disciples had been getting a glimpse of Jesus but they didn’t know yet what Jesus could and would do. Only Mary, Jesus’ mother, knew who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. She had faith that Jesus would solve this problem. And Jesus did solve the problem and Jesus solved it in a way that was even more than anyone could imagine.

Not just enough wine to make it through but gallons and gallons of wine. Not just wine but the very best wine. Not just joy but a hope of abundance that surpasses our meek hold on an economy of scarcity.

Our society is built on an economy of scarcity. Supply and demand requires that there not be enough for everyone. Jesus’ economy is based on abundance. To follow Christ is to live in the knowledge that with Jesus we will always have enough. We will have what we need. We are called, like the servants to do what Jesus says. And when we do as Jesus tells us we gain the abundant life we have been promised and it is for this that we can say,, thanks be to God. Amen.

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