Gone Fishing

By Rev. Heidi L. Barham |  February 6, 2022

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Read Luke 5:1 – 11
 
Our text for the morning comes from the Gospel of Luke.  And as I was working on the sermon for today, I noticed that in some versions of the Bible, the heading for this fifth chapter of Luke’s Gospel simply says, “Jesus Calls His First Disciples.”  However, in my Life Application Study Bible, the heading reads, “Jesus Provides a Miraculous Catch of Fish.”
 
It would seem that while one heading is focused on the selection of the initial disciples who were called to follow Jesus the other calls our attention to an unexpected haul of fish.  At first glance, these headings would seem to be highlighting two very different aspects of the same story… but perhaps they are not so different after all.
 
And so, for our time together this morning, I want to focus our attention on the subject: GONE FISHING.
 
I do believe that I need to put in a disclaimer here… I am not, nor have I ever been an avid fisher.  That is a distinction that belongs to my father and his father before him; although, I can say that on more than one occasion, I have actually GONE FISHING.
 
Now, when I thought about the subject for today’s sermon, for some reason, I got this picture in my head of Andy and Opie Taylor on the Andy Griffith Show… walking down to the fishin’ hole…. It was actually the opening sequence of the show… with Andy, still in his sheriff’s uniform, walking alongside Opie… fishing rods dangling over their respective shoulders.
 
Then I had this random thought and wondered if Andy put up a sign on the door to the sheriff’s office when they left that said, “Gone Fishin’” like other folks used to do back then.
 
I did try to Google it to see if I could find out but what I found instead was something else that was kind of amazing to me, although it may come as no surprise to any of you… 
 
There were actually lyrics to the theme song to the Andy Griffith show! Who knew?  I certainly didn’t.  All these years, I thought it was just someone whistling a tune.  But thanks to Mr. Google, I was able to find a recording of Andy Griffith actually singing the lyrics to the theme song to the show.

 
Now at the risk of you all sitting there wondering what is wrong with the Pastor reciting lyrics to the Andy Griffith show, I want to tell you about another discovery that I made in the midst of my Google search.
 
In Sojourner’s magazine on July 3, 2012, there was an article that ran entitled, “Gone Fishin’: Andy Griffith Has Died” (retrieved from https://sojo.net/articles/gone-fishin-andy-griffith-has-died). 
 
In this article, I learned something rather interesting about the actor who not only played Sheriff Andy Taylor on the Andy Griffith show, but one of my other favorite TV characters, Benjamin Matlock.
 
Andy Griffith originally entered college as a pre-ministerial student.  It was only after the bishop in his church told him he could not major in music and still be a minister that he decided not to become a preacher.  Instead, he majored in music and taught in a North Carolina high school for a few years before embarking on his acting career.  In addition to teaching, he also directed the choir at his church and conducted a community chorus.
 
The opening line of the article described Griffith as “a Christian believer who was not shy to speak publicly about his spiritual journey.”  The article also highlighted the fact that Griffith suffered from a debilitating neurological disorder and quoted him as saying, “I firmly believe that in every situation, no matter how difficult, God extends grace greater than the hardship, and strength and peace of mind that can lead us to a place higher than where we were before.”
 
Later in the article, he explained how things had not gone well once at an audition where he was told that his voice was awful… after that Griffith said that although he did not know what he was going to do, he knew that “something or Someone was guiding [him].”  And then he shared something that he firmly believed, “Mr. Jesus will lead me to it.”
 
And while Andy Griffith did not become a preacher in the traditional sense, Mr. Jesus led him to opportunities to spread the Gospel.  In fact, he even played the role of a priest in the movie, Go Ask Alice, and a minister in the movie, Angel in My Pocket.  And in various episodes of both Matlock and the Andy Griffith Show, he could be seen directing church choirs just as he did in real life… providing an opportunity for the great hymns of the church and the Good News of the Gospel to be heard across the airwaves.
 
Perhaps we could say that Andy Griffith had GONE FISHING in more ways than one.
 
And that takes us to the heart of our New Testament lesson today. 
 
Jesus called His first disciples from among a group of fishermen who were cleaning their nets following a long and unproductive night.  And while the fishermen were cleaning their nets, Jesus saw an opportunity to use one of their empty boats as an impromptu lectern of sorts. 
 
And after Jesus finished speaking to the crowds, He told Simon to head out for the deep water and let down his nets to catch some fish. 
 
Keep in mind, Simon and his crew had already GONE FISHING overnight and not caught so much as a minnow… but Simon realized that if Jesus said to do something, it was probably a good idea to do it, and so he did.
 
And to his utter shock and amazement, they caught so many fish that Simon had to call for reinforcements… and even then, the haul was so great that both boats began to sink under the weight of the fish.
 
In response to what had just happened, Simon Peter fell to his knees and did something that would become rather characteristic of Peter… he opened his mouth and said the first thing that came to mind.  He told Jesus to go away from him because Peter realized that he did not belong in the company of Jesus. 
 
Note, Peter did not say, “Jesus, I need to move away from you because I am not worthy to be in your presence…” No, as he would do again and again, Peter had the audacity to try and tell Jesus what to do… Peter, Peter, Peter…
 
But in true Jesus fashion, Jesus set Peter’s mind at ease along with the minds of his partners, James and John, as well as their other companions… explaining to them that they did not need to be afraid because there was going to be a new calling on their lives, they were going to begin fishing for people.
 
And according to the text, “they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”  Perhaps it could be said that they, like Andy Griffith, had GONE FISHING in more ways than one.
 
Let me suggest that there are a few takeaways to be found in this text.
 
The first is that the Lord can and does call us to follow Him in the midst of our everyday, ordinary activities. 
 
Peter, James, John and their companions were going about their normal daily routines.  They were not in a synagogue, a church or even a seminary… places where we might expect the Lord to call people into service… they were actually at work. 
 
Jesus chose regular, ordinary, working-class people…  including fishermen and a tax collector… people who were busy going about their day… and if the Lord used people like them, He can certainly use people like us.
 
Now the next takeaway is that the disciples Jesus called had done nothing to warrant or deserve being called. 
 
The fact of the matter is that the Lord does not look at our resumes to find those with the most distinguished qualifications and exceptional capabilities… He looks for those with willing hearts and obedient spirits who will say, like the Prophet Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me.”
 
As people will sometimes say, “God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”  Just ask Moses who did not think he was qualified to say and do what God called him to do because he was a stutterer… or ask Isaiah who felt unqualified because he was a man of “unclean lips” … or ask Jeremiah and Timothy who both thought they were too young to do what God called them to do.
 
God does not call us because we possess some special or amazing talent or ability… He calls us because of our avail-ability.
 
And that brings us to the last takeaway from the text I want to point out which is that the call on the disciples’ lives meant they had to reorder their priorities… simply put, they left everything to follow Jesus.
 
Now this is the point that can cause quite a bit of discomfort for us if we stop and ask ourselves the question, “Is Jesus really telling me to walk away from my job, my family, my home, to follow Him like the disciples did?”
 
The answer to that question is a firm and definite, maybe.
 
For some people, the call on their lives does mean literally walking away from all that is comfortable and familiar and going to new places, meeting new people, and telling them the Good News about Jesus.  There are countless missionaries around the world who have done just that.
 
But for others, it means reordering our priorities and our commitments to ensure that we are ready, willing, and available whenever opportunities are presented to us to spread the Gospel… whether it is in our homes, on our jobs, or even in the grocery store or post office.  The Lord is simply looking for us to have a “yes” in our spirit when it is time to cast our nets and fish for people.
 
Simon Peter and his companions were fishermen by trade, they knew that they had not caught any fish all night, but when Jesus said to let down their nets, they had a “yes” in their spirits and did what Jesus said to do… even when it did not make sense to them.
 
And their trust in Jesus and that “yes” in their spirit was rewarded with abundant blessings to the point that their nets could not contain it all.  And that really ought to give us hope and encouragement as well as we cast our nets and fish for people to give their lives to Christ.
 
No matter how dire circumstances may look in the world around us, the Lord is still doing the mighty and the miraculous in response to our willingness and obedience to follow Him… we just have to take that leap of faith as Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians, “For we walk by faith, and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
 
There are still plenty of fish in the sea as they say… people who need to hear the Good News about Jesus and the gift of salvation that His birth, death, burial and resurrection make available to them. 
 
And the call has been extended to us to push out into the deep, like Peter, and let down our nets in anticipation of abundant blessings beyond our wildest imagination.
 
So, who’s ready to go fishing?
 
Amen.

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