Mon 8 Feb 2010
Who Is Worthy?
Posted by Bonnie under Sermons
David Orendorff Luke 5:1-11 February 7, 2010
When Peter sees the miraculous catch of fish that rips at the nets and threatens to sink the boats, he knows he is in the presence of someone much, much greater than he. So he prostrates himself before Jesus’ knees saying, “Go away from me because I am a sinful man, Lord.” Peter’s reaction reminds me of Wayne and Garth meeting Alice Cooper.
Play video clip - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FucbvoFFy0
Peter prostrates himself before Jesus and calls Jesus Lord/Master as a sign of subservience. Peter’s version of “We’re not worthy” is “Go away from me because I am a sinful man, Lord.” What is translated for us as sinful is the Greek word hamartia (amartia). We have seen this word before and it literally means “missing the mark; to fail in an effort.” Peter’s way of saying, “I am not worthy” is to say, “I am a failure.”
What is Simon Peter’s failure? First off, he and the others have just failed at their trade, fishing. They labored all night and still their boats were empty. And with no fish they have failed their families. And since they were most likely not self-employed and probably working for a sort of corporation[1] they have failed the masters for whom they work. Jesus the carpenter teaches Simon and the others how to fish, how to succeed.
Luke’s gospel and his Acts of the Apostles offer strong evidence of Peter’s unworthiness in leadership as well. Peter repeatedly doesn’t understand Jesus and is in need of remedial instruction, he denies knowing Jesus and he is wishy/washy on the Gentile mission. Peter is not the picture of a strong, competent leader and Luke is much nicer to Simon Peter than is Mark.
Jesus, ignoring Peter’s prostration and confession, says to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” At the root of feeling unworthy is the fear of failure. And Jesus says repeatedly and in a variety of circumstances, don’t be afraid. I know a significant part of the Christian story is those who fear monger with God’s eternal judgment, with our fear of failure and our low sense of worth but not Jesus. For Jesus it is never about who is worthy and its always about receiving and following God’s loving grace. The success Simon Peter and the others have finally have that day is not because they are great fishermen, but because God in Jesus is a great and gracious God. Jesus, God’s eyes with us, never sees a person in terms of worth, but always with a love that sees wonderful gifts and promise.
This is a revelation to Simon Peter for he, like we, was immersed in a culture of meritocracy where only the worthy were to get the good stuff. This meritocracy had even found its way into the Jewish faith as it has found its way into the Christian faith, where the unblemished please God and are worthy of God’s gifts, and the blemished are unclean and unworthy. The revelation of God as gracious and generous benefactor denies that God works in us or the world by merit or worth. Encountering the God of love is what caused Simon Peter and the others to bring their boats to shore, leave everything and follow Jesus.
You may have guessed that this story of the miraculous catch is not really about fishing. It is more an allegorical midrash or interpretation. The fish represent the followers of Jesus. The Greek word for fish is icqus and is an acronym for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. Drawing a fish in the dirt was a way for Christians to secretly identify each other. Drawing a fish on a door was a way to mark a Christian gathering place, a boat for the fish. Simon Peter and those with whom he is fishing represent the early apostles who took the good news of Jesus the Christ and Savior to the world, casting their nets out into the deep sea. And as Luke and others tell it, the early church leaders knew that they, without Christ leading them, were failures. But if they fished, lived, the way of Jesus the catch would be great.
And as human as they were they lived Christ like lives and there was a great catch of fish. Luke indicates that several months after the resurrection there were 120 Christians. Later he mentions a mass conversion and the number jumps to 5,000. By 60 CE Luke indicates there are many thousands.[2][3] Stark’s estimates of early church growth are widely accepted. By 350 CE he estimates that Christians numbered around 33 million, better than 50% of the population of the Roman Empire. Rodney Stark (a UW Professor of Sociology) in his remarkable book “The Rise of Christianity” thinks Luke may exaggerate but not by much.
Throughout history the success of Christianity has never been about how worthy are her preachers and people who have often failed at critical moments. The success of Christianity has always been about the great unconditional and universal love of God. I sometimes half jokingly say that the best argument for the existence of God is that the church has not only survived but continues to grow and thrive in spite of itself. Immediately after the resurrection all the followers of Jesus could hide together in a small room. The current estimate of Christians is 2.1 billion, the largest of all religious groups, 1 billion larger than Islam which is second, a third of the planet’s population and too numerous to house even in a great city.
The real issue Stark tackles in his seminal work is an attempt to understand Christianity’s remarkable growth. Here is his list of why:
- Classless: It was a movement that transcended any one socio-economic class and included those from all the classes: from poor, uneducated and powerless to rich, educated and powerful.
- Outreach: It had a ready base in its early Jewish roots but was also something very new in its Gentile outreach.
- Compassion: When disasters and epidemics struck (as they often did) Christians cared for each other and their neighbors. They took in widows and orphans. Consequently, they not only had a better survival rate but were also seen as people you wanted to be with when the tough times came. We now call this Need Oriented Evangelism.
- Gender Equity: Women’s status and opportunity was much better in the early church than in the dominant culture.
- Went with the People: Christianity followed and expanded along trade routes and into the growing urban areas.
- Strong Commitment: Christians were so committed to their faith that they would often suffer and even die as a witness for the way of Jesus.
- Clarity of Purpose: Christianity offered a clear and loving way of life at a time when there was confusion and decline in paganism and the Roman imperial religion. Christians took advantage of this opportunity by being cohesive and well organized, particularly at a local level.
- Servant Love: What is most important and what underlies all of the above is the Christian emphasis upon the universal love of God and the love of neighbor as self in a world of judgment and selfishness.
To know more you will need to read the book. But I think the list gives not only a good analysis but some good guidelines for the way to follow Jesus in our day.
We at Bear Creek are no more worthy than the first Christians, but here we are anyway. Our worth is totally irrelevant. Worth doesn’t matter to God for God uses us just as we are for the saving of the world. From an idea without members in 1990 we have become a thriving congregation. And we need not fear for our future for Jesus calls us to follow and it is Jesus who teaches us with much servant love to fish for people. Any fear we might have is groundless for God as Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit is with us always. And because God is with us we are a loving presence for the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed; our nets tear and our boats overflow. Happy fishing!
Shalom and Amen.
[1] For a very interesting article by K.C. Hanson on the role fishing played and the nature of the middle eastern economy see http://www.kchanson.com/ARTICLES/fishing.html#Wu
[2] Acts 1:14-15, Acts 4:4, Acts 21:20
[3] The Rise of Christianity, Rodney Stark, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1996) pp. 4-12
