5th Sunday after Epiphany: Saying “Yes!”
By: The Rev. Kim Sorrells
This story, and its parallel versions in Mathew and Mark, is a familiar one for many of us who have grown up in or around the church. The readily available imagery of fishing and catching lends itself nicely to children’s stories and Vacation Bible School themes. For me, growing up in an evangelical setting this story was often used a charge to go out and “save souls,” or convert people to Christianity. While there is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to share something meaningful with others around you, to reduce the mission of Christ to focusing on individuals misses out on the transformation of the world and ultimately falls short of the fullness of Christ’s mission.
This story is about the calling of the first disciples not only to become followers of Jesus, but to be able to continue to carry out his mission of bringing about the Kin-dom of God on earth as it is in Heaven. As Arland J. Hultgren says, “Jesus has come into the world to reveal God and to redeem the cosmos. But he is known to us only through the witness of his apostles.” It is fitting then, he says, that the church read this story during the season after Epiphany—a time when we celebrate the manifestation of God in Christ and in turn contemplate our involvement in his mission in the world.”[1] Christ, the manifestation of God’s love and justice among us, has come to bring about the kin-dom of God’s peace and justice on earth as it is in heaven and show us the way of this work. In this way, the calling of the disciples is less about saving individual souls and more about building a movement to continue to build the kin-dom of God.
When I worked in faith-based political organizing, we spent a great deal of time talking about and working on “building the movement.” To create change, to bring about a more just society, we needed people to understand and believe in the cause we were working on, and then we needed them to also go tell their friends. In a way, it sounds almost like those “pyramid schemes” we hear about—I go recruit 5 people, who in turn do the same. Yet the reality is, this is how change happens on a larger scale. This is how we share the ways of peace and justice: by casting out our nets and catching people. Building a movement; a movement that builds God’s kin-dom of God on earth, takes ordinary everyday people deciding to get up and follow Jesus in his way of justice and peace, and to bring in others with them.
While Jesus is the main character, this passage is just as much about Simon and the others as they recognize Christ as a manifestation of God and make the choice to follow him in God’s mission. Like other call stories in the Bible, we first see hesitation from Simon. He is hesitant to let down the nets, but does as he is asked, calling Jesus “master.” However, as they haul in an abundance of fish, a miraculous portion, Simon recognizes that this man is more than a teacher. Here, his language shifts—calling Christ “Lord” as he falls to his knees in awe. Still resistant, this time from a sense of unworthiness, but as Christ calls to him to follow, he does. I imagine as he recognizes Christ’s nature he is compelled to follow, even as daunting as it might seem.
The call to be a disciple of Jesus is no less “all in” for believers today than it was for Simon and the first disciples. Certainly, the circumstances have changed, but the call is the same: to go forth and further the mission of God’s kin-dom on earth, catching people and building the movement. I imagine that for many of us, the call feels daunting. Maybe we too are hesitant and feel unworthy. Maybe sometimes the task feels too big. And yet, when we catch a glimpse of Christ among us, recognizing God in the midst of our lives, we are reminded that we are not alone in this journey. Rather, we are compelled to follow and empowered by Christ with us. Like those first disciples, Christ is at work in and among our everyday ordinary lives and among ordinary people. We need not have all the answers or have It all together. Rather, all that is required is simply to say “yes” and follow.
As you sit with this text and what it says to our communities of faith, perhaps it’s worth asking where it is we see the movements of Christ among us, cultivating God’s Kin-dom on earth? Where is it that Christ is calling us to join into that movement and how is it that we might continue to call others into this movement with us? Maybe these questions don’t yet have clear answers. We need not know it all, we simply must be willing to say “Yes” and join in the movement.
[1] Hultgren, Arland J. (2010, February 7). Commentary on Luke 5:1-11. Retrieved from http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=506
The Rev. Kim Sorrells is an Ordained Minister in the United Church of Christ, with an interest in Spiritual Practices and Justice work. Kim is also bi-vocational and spends their “day job” working for Atlanta Pride as the Programs and Partnerships Manager.
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