Luke 5:1-11
February 7, 2010
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Now that I have been with you for a while, there’s something that I want you to know. I don’t want to keep any secrets from you. I can’t swim. It’s not that I haven’t tried. When I was in high school, I worked summers at the Baptist camp near Boston. During my free time, the lifeguard would give me lessons. But for some reason, I have never mastered the ability to swim across the length of the pool. Maybe I’m too stiff or my body mass is too dense or I was never born with webbed toes.
Growing up in the inner city of Boston where there were few swimming pools, I never learned how to really swim. But I did learn how to look both ways before crossing the street!
Deeper Water
In the fifth chapter of Luke, Jesus is standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd is pressing in on him to hear the word of God. At the shore of the lake, he sees two boats—empty because the fishermen had left them to wash their nets. Jesus gets into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon Peter, and asks him to push the boat away from the shore. There, Jesus keeps a safe distance from the smothering press of the crowd and is able to teach them.
When Jesus finishes his sermon, he decides to extend his lesson with a dramatic illustration. He challenges Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Put out into the deep water, says Jesus. Jesus doesn’t say, “Hey, it’s shallow over here, try this.” He’s saying that the real possibilities exist where life gets deep and risky. He invites them to venture out, take a chance, be active and adventurous. Jesus wants Simon to try out the deep end of the pool.
“Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing,” laments Simon. He sounds like he wants to stay close to shore, safe and comfortable because his time on the water hasn’t yielded any fish. He has already cleaned up his nets from all the seaweed and debris. But Simon isn’t going to be stubborn about this. “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets,” he offers. And he does.
Simon and his fellow fishermen catch so many fish that their nets are beginning to break. They call for their partners in the other boat to come and help, and they end up filling both boats to the point that they’re beginning to sink.
It’s an unexpected, amazing and overwhelming abundant catch. All because they’re willing to follow Jesus’ words and go out into deeper water.
That’s the challenge for us today: to venture out beyond our comfort zones and put out into the deep water in lives of Christian discipleship. Too often we stay close to shore, safe and comfortable, when Jesus is calling us to be active, adventurous and willing to explore new territory. That’s where the fish are. That’s where the growth happens. That’s where we can make surprising discoveries about ourselves and the world around us.
Across the Street
For the past 122 years, our church has been located on this same corner of San Francisco Chinatown. We may have worshiped at other sites during periods of renovation and reconstruction such as after 1906 when we went over to Oakland, but our church has occupied this same corner far longer than anyone of us can remember.
Every year, I fill out a form from Philip Ting, the city assessor’s office that we are still the “First Chinese Baptist Church” and we should be exempt from paying taxes. I would think by now, they would stop sending us these forms!
We have been on this same spot for so long that we can be found in a number of tourist books about San Francisco. We are on the Barbary Coast Walk. When people visit Chinatown, they come by to see how our church building was rebuilt from clinker bricks. There’s even a city architecture book that highlights the unique features of our building.
We’ve been consistently here for so long that you and I have no problems coming to church. We drive down the same freeways and streets. We know where we would park. We walk up or down the street and expectedly, never failing; we see our church on the corner of Waverly Place and Sacramento Street. It’s familiar, comfortable, close to shore, shallow water.
This afternoon, we have an opportunity to do what Jesus is asking us to do—to go out into the deep water. We have never needed or worked in a long-termed partnership with another organization before. It is uncharted and unfamiliar territory. We know what the corner of Waverly Place and Sacramento Street looks like. But to think that we might cross the street and try doing adventurous ministries is going out into deep water.
If we were Simon, a professional fisherman who has already fished all night and ended up with empty nests is asked by Jesus who was not a fishermen but a carpenter, why on earth would Simon listen to Jesus? Why on earth would you listen to me? I am by far not one of the old-timers. I have less clout than most of you here to say that we should partner with the Chinatown YMCA.
Simon listened to Jesus because he had already seen Jesus’ highly successful ministry. Jesus recruited and sent out 70 evangelists besides calling the twelve. They were able to cast out demons. Simon had been there as Jesus preached sermons, attracted huge crowds, and healed his own mother-in-law.
Have we also not seen growth and maturity in our ministry as a church? Do you see the continuing faithfulness and attendance from our young families? With Pastor Peter Lee on our staff, do you see the growing attendance at the 11:30 Cantonese Service? Have you noticed the generosity and vision exhibited by our ability to clean and restore the sanctuary stained glass windows and the installation of solar collector panels to harness solar energy? Have you seen the growing numbers of Friday Night School students staying for dinner and hearing the Word of God? Have you seen the baby boom in our Nursery that will lead us to revamp our children’s program this year?
When Simon saw the unbelievable catch, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Simon realized that his faith wasn’t as strong as Jesus believed in him, wasn’t as big as Jesus’ perception, wasn’t as inclusive as Jesus ministry is. Simon felt that he wasn’t good enough or adequate enough to be called one of Jesus’ closest companions. He was ashamed of his lack of faith. The other disciples felt that way too: James and John, sons of Zebedee.
But Jesus forgives and accepts all sinners. Jesus tells them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” Jesus calls them to a mission that will be successful beyond any of their wildest imagination.
We know that just as Jesus’ own journey ends in suffering, so those who follow him open themselves to danger as well. To follow Jesus is to take up one’s cross on a daily basis and risk imprisonment or even death. Just as the disciples’ mission was a path of self-sacrifice and danger, our path to do mission and ministry in Chinatown may be the same. We don’t know. But we won’t know unless we are willing to go into the deep water. We won’t know unless we are willing to cross the street.
Seeing God Here
Some of you asked me if I was going to be around long enough to make this proposed partnership with the YMCA worthwhile. Frankly, I have no place to go. Truthfully, there’s no place that I rather be than to be here with you. The reason why I want to be here is that I see God here. God is constantly making himself known here that we are truly blessed. In everything that happens in our ordinary lives, I see God’s extraordinary presence among us.
There’s a Jewish story about a woman who left her village, weary of her life, longing for a place where she could escape all the struggles of this earth. She set out in search of a magical city—the heavenly city of her dreams.
She walked all day and by dusk found herself in a forest, where she decided to spend the night. Eating the crust of bread she had brought, she said her prayers, and just before going to sleep, placed her shoes in the direction she would continue the next morning.
Little did she imagine that while she slept, a practical joker came along and turned her shoes around, pointing them back in the direction from which she had come. The next morning, she got up, gave thanks to the God of the universe, and started on her way again in the direction that the shoes were pointed.
For a second time, she walked all day, and toward the evening finally saw the magical city in the distance. It wasn’t as large as she had expected. As she got closer, it looked curiously familiar. But she pressed on and found a street much like her own. She knocked on the familiar door, was greeted by some rather familiar looking people she found there. In the magical city of her dreams she lived happily ever after.
How often have we stopped seeing or expect to see God’s presence in our daily lives? Have we become so familiar with just doing ministry within the confines of these four walls that we can’t see how God may be calling us to cross the street? We might not be living happily ever after, but just maybe, our search for that “magical city” is not far away but is just across the street.
Crossing the Street
Learning to survive living in the city includes crossing the street. You first look to your left and then to your right and then back to your left before stepping off the curb. We have “walk and don’t walk signs” that feature illuminated figures. For the visually impaired, we have bird chirps before crossing.
If we approve the partnership this afternoon, we’ve talked about the possibility of painting a cross walk between our church and the YMCA. The cross walk will help us to venture beyond our comfort zones and put out into the deep water in lives of Christian discipleship. We won’t need to stay so close to our side of the street where it’s safe and comfortable. Jesus is calling us to be active, adventurous and willing to explore new territory.
When we are crossing the street, we will venture out to share the Christian faith with our neighbors. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” Out there on the streets, we can reach out to neighbors and friends with the message that in Christ, he has made a difference in my life. And I want you to know about it because you are my neighbor and friend.
When we are crossing the street, we will begin to enlarge our view of and responsibility for God’s world. When we encounter potholes, litter, or graffiti, we become more dedicated to fostering a healthier community. When we see newly arrived immigrants, we recommit ourselves to the ministry of Friday Night School. When we may see how crowded the MUNI buses are, we may become more aware of the needs of people everywhere.
When we are crossing the street, we will be like Simon who was willing to drop his nets down in the deeper water and with great amazement, discover that miracles do happen. Our church is challenged to follow Jesus today. We’ll have our setbacks and disappointments, and we’ll certainly lose our way at certain points in the journey. But we’ll make amazing discoveries as well, if we go into the deeper water or cross the street.
When we are in shallow water, you can most likely see the bottom. But when we get to deep water, it’s harder to see what’s down there.
Crossing the street is deep water for us. It’s still hard to see what may happen next year or ten years from now or even 30 years from now. But what we do know is that Simon and the other disciples caught so many fish that both their boats were sinking. Luke, of course, does not report what becomes of the fish, but the image of two almost-sinking boats does suggest that the catch was big enough to feed a crowd, something that Jesus did a time or two in his ministry.
Jesus is calling us to the deeper water. If it’s God will, maybe I can learn how to really swim in the YMCA’s new pool and go into the deep end. We are called to cross the street to catch more people for Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, forgive us when our faith is shallow and unable to embrace your plans in our lives in discipleship. Challenge us to go into the deeper waters where we may catch many people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Bless us with the courage and confidence to continue doing life-changing ministries in your church here in Chinatown and around the world. We pray in his name, Amen.