The Gospel Light Shines for All; the Gospel Net Catches All

February 4, 2007

When we lived in Columbia S.C. my two sons Derek and Evan developed a passion for soccer and fishing. They did not inherit this from me or Donna.

One summer we went to Kitty Hawk, N.C. for a vacation. Our sons had gotten new fishing rods and they were ready to go fishing the moment we got there.

I knew nothing about fishing. The first thing we did was go to the bait shop. We bought a fishing license. After I paid the small fee, it was time to buy the bait. The man asked me a simple question. He could have easily have asked me what the chemical solution is when you mix carbon dioxide with potassium hydroxide and gotten the same blank look on my face.“ What kind of fish do you want to catch?” I had absolutely no idea. He suggested we go to one of the bridges over looking an inlet. Our bait? Your basic worm. We had fun. At first, my job was putting the worms on the hooks and doing the casting. Then as the boys got better at casting, they did it themselves. I still kept my job of putting the worms on the hook. We threw most of the fish back because they were too small according to state law.

You all may know Arnold Garza. He is a part of our sexton staff. He is the one with the long pony tail. Though Arnold is of Mexican descent, as I picture what the historical Jesus would look like, I think of Arnold. Arnold has the long black hair, olive colored skin tone and Semitic features.

Arnold is quite the fisherman. He has even traveled to Florida for a day to fish. Arnold told me the different types of bait there are to catch certain fish. For bass, you use jerk bait; live crickets are needed to catch Crappie, blue Guild and Brim; shrimp is used to catch sea trout; Squid is the choice if you fish for sword fish.

Catfish will eat anything so you can use any kind of bait you want. For red snapper, the bait is mullet or squid. But the technique to catch red snapper is different. This fishing is called bottom fishing. The bait is just lowered into the water until it hits bottom. There is no casting involved.

Jesus had just finished preaching from a boat. The people sat listening on the shore of Lake Galilee. The boat was owned by Peter. His crew included two brothers- James and John. When Jesus had finished he turned to Peter and instructed him to go into the deep water and let down his nets. It is said the Sea of Galilee has as many as 40 species of fish. They are of the bream, perch and carp groups. Any fisherman knew that the best fishing was done at night. The water was cooler and the fish are less active. During the day, the fish are much quicker and harder to catch.

The fishermen had torches on the boats and they would beat old metal pans together to drive the fish into nets. Once the fish were into the net, the net was dragged to the shore. There the fishermen began to sort the fish.

In Matthew 13(47-48) they “put the good into baskets and threw out the bad.” The bad fish included catfish and eels. They were considered ceremonially unclean.

Peter told Jesus that even that night they did not catch a thing. Peter did it anyway because Jesus “had said so” (Luke 5:5).

When Peter, James and John caught so many fish in their net that the boat began to sink. Emotional Peter was beside himself. He brought it to the attention of Jesus that he was a sinner and begged Jesus to go away from him. Jesus did not see a sinner at all. He saw a man he could use. “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” He also recruited James and John.

In their new jobs as apostles, they would still be using a net. It would be a gospel net to gather people in for the good news of Jesus Christ. Instead of banging together old metal pans, they would preach about Jesus and the new salvation he offers to every person.

They would heal in the name of Jesus of Nazareth. They would catch people by witnessing; telling stories about what they had seen and heard; sharing the message of hope in the simple parables Jesus used to catch others, luring them with pure mercy and truth. They needed to get ready for the nets made heavy by the large people drawn to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There would be one big change in their new jobs. Everyone caught would be kept. As fishers of people every one caught in the gospel net were put in the “good basket”. They did not have to sort through the catch; no man woman or child would be ceremonially unclean.

The Epiphany light shines for all. The Gospel net catches all.

In our ministry to draw people to the love of God in Christ, we are blessed to have more than one way to attract others into the life and ministry of the church. We have different lures if you will. Starts with our own fellowship, how we treat one another; Common courtesy, respect and tolerance. How do we treat one another when there isn’t a crisis?

Do people see themselves here: people of color, gay people, young and old; rich and poor, single, married and partnered folks? Is there a test to join? Do we have ways to discard people or discourage them from being here with us? Is this a safe place to test faith and vocation; to question and doubt without fear of being criticized or judged. Do we affirm that God loves us the most when we are frazzled or even when we think we know it all? Do they hear enough about Jesus? Do we speak from the scriptures and rejoice in the word?

Is this a social club or a servant based community called to serve? Do we praise God and show our joy in God’s grace and blessings? Does our worship offer beauty while at the same time inviting the stranger, the searcher and the skeptic into grace that abounds?

People in the gospel net are different. We hear and experience the gospel in different ways. Regardless if a person is here primarily because of worship, outreach, music, our Christian Education ministry, young adult’s fellowship, their affection for a priest, has been long time member or sits in the back and comes to the altar without the mark of baptism- all are put into the good basket. We are all worth keeping. There is no one not suited to become a part of our church; there is no one here for the wrong reason, a better reason or a holier reason.

We do not have the luxury of picking and choosing those that get caught in the church’s net. We do not use just one type of bait to lure only certain type of people. We cast our gospel net far and wide, day and night. The gospel net catches all kinds of people. That is scary news but it is part of the good news of Jesus.

The Light of Epiphany shines for all; The Gospel Net catches all. Let us rejoice that Jesus has made us fishers of people.