Luke 5:1-11
October 22, 2022
Reflections of Eastern Europe Trip in March 2022 at Sojourners Fellowship
My thoughts today come from Luke 5 when Jesus calls the first disciples. You remember when Jesus was teaching and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God that he saw two boats on the shore. He got into one belonging to Simon and continued to teach the crowds.
After Jesus finished teaching, he told Simon to “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered that they have fished all night and caught nothing. Simon didn’t want to go. Simon then said if you say so, we’ll do it and they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. They signaled the other boat to haul in the big catch. With all that fish, the boats began to sink.
Many days on my morning walk down to Sausalito on Bridgeway, I see fishermen casting their poles from the shore. I often ask if they have caught anything. I think that if they went out to the deep part of the bay, they may be catching more fish than they can eat.
Traveling overseas is like going out to fish in the deep waters, not from the shore. Out at sea, there’s air turbulence. We may need to take Dramamine. And the food may not sit as well in us. On our trip to Eastern Europe, we were afraid of deep waters. The deep fears of getting a positive PCR test. The deep warnings of being so close to a war zone. The deep concerns for our overall health and safety.
Like Simon who came face to face with Jesus on the boat, we did as well in Eastern Europe. When we prayed, went to morning devotions, took pictures of the horrors of the Holocaust and whispered a prayer of mercy, said grace, met Ukrainian refugees in our hotel, broke bread with Carmella Jones, and studied ABC policies and resolutions about peace, we encountered Christ.
Like Simon who realized that he was sinful when he didn’t believe right away, we sought mercy and forgiveness for the sins of our fathers and mothers in past wars. We yearned for forgiveness and reconciliation by doing our part in donating tablets to children in Budapest. We know we can still do more.
For the most part, when visiting 5 countries, we were anonymous. We didn’t stay long enough in one place to be noticed. We were indeed privileged to have disposable income to travel to Eastern Europe. But Jesus noticed Simon on the shore and got into his boat. After catching many fish, Jesus didn’t permit Simon to stay out in the lake and fish until his heart’s content. Jesus told him, “Do not be afraid; for now on, you will be catching people.”
It’s been 7 months since our trip. We have all returned to our regular lives, perhaps staying close to the shore. But when we have met Jesus as Simon did, we can’t be afraid to go into the deep waters. James and John were mending their nets near the shore with their father close by. How more safe and secure can that be! But they left their father to follow Jesus. They left everything and followed Jesus.
We are now home where we are known by name by you. We can all say what Simon said to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” But inasmuch as Jesus called Simon, James, John and the other disciples, men and women to catch people, he is calling each one of us, those who traveled to Eastern Europe and now to you who have heard and seen what we have, to go forward, leaving behind nets, the safety of the shoreline, familiar places and maybe even family like James and John did leaving Zebedee to catch more people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Hopefully, by serving together, our catch will be so much that our nets might begin to break and our boats begin to sink. Jesus is telling us today to leave the safety of the shoreline, get into the boat and go out to the deep places of life where people are in need of food and water, children who want to learn, refugees and survivors terrorized by war who want peace, and as citizens of the world, global servants as we say, Jesus can use sinful people like us to change the world.
Do not be afraid to come into the deep waters. Amen.