“It’s For You”

Isaiah 6:1-8

Luke 6:1-8

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. Amen

Today the subject is expectations. We all have them whether we articulate them or not. For example, Susan expected that her husband, Fred, would remember their wedding anniversary. He did not. She was angry, “Tomorrow morning I expect to find a gift that goes from 0 to 200 in less than 6 seconds in the driveway!” Fred went shopping.

The next morning Fred left early for work. When his wife awoke she peered out the window and there in the driveway was a huge box with a big red bow. She raced down the stairs and out the door. Tearing at the bow she flung it and all the wrapping aside and lifted the cover. She dug through tissue paper and there it was: a brand new bathroom scale. Fred has been missing since Friday – prayers requested.

Even when we think that are expectations are reasonable there is usually still room for surprise. Isaiah expected to pray in the temple but he was surprised by an extraordinary vision: he saw the God in all his glory and a portion of the hem of God’s royal robe filled the whole temple. Isaiah heard the celestial chorus, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” the earth and the heavens shook, smoke was everywhere, winged cobras surrounded the Lord God and one ministered unto him; prepared him to hear the question, “Whom shall I send?” “Here am I. Send me!” said Isaiah.

What Isaiah did not expect was what God said next in verses 9-12 which says in part, “Make the minds of the people dull and stop their ears and shut their eyes…until the cities lie in waste.”

We are confounded by these words. The best explanation that I have found is this. It is not easy to be a prophet because you must say what God tells you to say. The work of a prophet in the time of King Uzziah in 738 BC is to declare God’s judgment on a faithless people and to deliver that judgment right to their door.

Generally speaking people do not want to hear God’s judgment unless it is aimed at someone else. Prophets tend to be unpopular - and yet effective. Prophetic voices have arisen throughout the world to call us to judgment for a cast system in India, apartheid in South Africa, the holocaust in Germany and racism in America: the cry for justice.

Perhaps we cannot imagine being a true prophet but The Good News in the Gospel of Luke today is that we can be disciples. Jesus sees the fisherman coming in from a night’s work on the sea. He knows the nets are empty and as they clean them he sits in the boat, pushes back from shore and teaches. Luke does not tell us what Jesus said. All we know is that this seasoned fisherman named Simon listened.

He listened so closely that even though he was sure that he knew more about fishing than Jesus did, and even though he had been out working those waters all night and knew that there were no fish, and even though he was dead tired and wanted to go home to eat and sleep: he did what Jesus called him to do - he went back out to try again.

And then the miracle: fish in abundance more than a boat and crew or even two boats and crew could manage. The real miracle is that Simon did not incorporate. He did not say, “Keep those fish coming Jesus we need more we can really make a go of this get more boats, nets, crew, sell here and in town we will have it all. Thank you, Jesus, for showing me that I am a great fisherman.”

The miracle is that surrounded by all those fish and the success they represent Simon Peter said, “Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Whatever Jesus had taught them earlier, Simon realized who Jesus was and who he was: a sinner just like us.

And Jesus comforts Simon: “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.” The Greek for “catching” means rescuing people alive – not dead or alive: ALIVE. The story ends with these words, “They left everything and followed him.”

What was extraordinary about Peter was not how much he gave up or even how much he did but that he followed Jesus. What did Jesus say that persuaded Peter? I don’t know. I do know that what matters most is what Jesus is teaching us right here and right now in our circumstances: both when we are frustrated, tired, have little to show for our work and also when we make the catch of a lifetime and have everything we ever wanted: Jesus speaks to us in all of life and invites us to follow him instead of relying on what we know for sure.

Today, in the name of Jesus, we invite 8 new members into TTPC and it is natural to think about expectations. Just a few weeks ago at a nearby Presbyterian church a new member was so moved by the service he shouted, “Amen!” Being a polite congregation, they ignored him, but a few minutes later, another, “Amen!” reverberated in the sanctuary. With the stealth of a Navy Seal, an elder came up beside him and whispered, “Sir, we don’t do that here.” To which the new member replied, “But Sir, I’ve got the Spirit!” Shocked and now aggravated, the elder declared, “Well you didn’t get it here.”

May we let go of what we except of one another and focus instead on what Jesus expects of us so that we may respond to this miracle of abundance in these new members and the children that welcomed them into our congregation today.

Let us pray:

O Lord, by your grace may we say with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me,” and then listen for your direction that we may follow in the footsteps of your son Jesus and his faithful disciples named peter and be prepared to go where you send us.

The Rev. Elizabeth Kuehl

Temple Terrace Presbyterian Church

February 7, 2010