February 6, 2022 + Fifth Sunday after Epiphany + Luke 5:1-11 + Pastor Michelle Sevig
WORDLE–it’s the hottest new game on the internet. It seems as though it recently sprang out of nowhere and so many of my friends are playing it now. Maybe even some of you?
Players have six tries total to guess the day’s five letter word, the daily Wordle. After every guess, the tiles change colors: green means that the letter is in the word and in the correct spot. Yellow means that the letter is in the day’s word, but in the wrong place.
Players often post their results on social media, showing how many of the six guesses they used to land on the day’s word. I don’t usually post my results, but I just couldn’t resist on a recent day when I had zero correct on the first attempt, and all five correct on the second. Go figure, this pastor guessed LIGHT during the season of Epiphany.
Maybe it’s because of Wordle that I'm now conditioned to see five letter words nearly everywhere. For instance, the fishermen in today’s gospel reading fished all night long and they came up empty handed. They were on the shore mending their nets, perhaps grumbling about the fishing conditions, probably worried that they’d made no income for the night, hungry because they had not secured enough to eat after a full night's work.
Now I’m not a fisherman, but I remember times like this, and maybe you do too, when you’ve done everything you could–done everything right, lived faithfully, worked hard. Did all this, and still your nets came up empty, and you end up entangled in disappointment, doubt, sadness and grief, anger, fear and confusion.
Nurses I know are fed up, working tirelessly, giving their all, night after night caring for the sick, the vulnerable, wondering what it’s all for if people won’t even get vaccinated. Their nets are empty. A member shared with me recently their disappointment, pain and anger because of a marriage broken by addiction. Another empty net. And the death of a loved one–spouse, parent or friend, seems to leave the nets of our life empty. Empty nets are not, however, the final reality for us.
And empty nets were not the final reality for Simon Peter [both five letters!]. Simon is doubtful at first, but he does what Jesus asks. Once the net brings in a miraculous, abundant catch, Simon falls to his knees and declares his unworthiness. Overwhelmed by a lack of faith in himself, his own capabilities, his own worth, Simon, like many of us, declares, “I’m not good enough!” But no sooner had Simon confessed his shortcomings and sin, Jesus asked Simon to join his team. “Do not be afraid!” Jesus assures him. “You are good enough, and I choose you to be part of this justice and mercy work with me.” And Jesus does the same for us.
Simon’s story is one of transformation. Jesus calls Simon to a new life, a new way of being. It happens in the context of fishing because that’s what Simon knew best. But Jesus comes to us in the ordinary, everyday circumstances of our lives and calls us to transformation too.
Jesus comes to us in the middle of our lives, where we work, where we live, in the classroom, the hospital, the office, the nursery and asks us to trust him enough to do the unexpected. Jesus' call comes to us when we least expect it. Where we’ve failed. When we feel uncomfortable. In our places of vulnerability and confusion, failure and sin Jesus calls us to cast the net to the other side and put out into the deep water and see what happens. Be open to the mystery that God has in store for us in the deep waters of abundant grace.
We’re not too different from Simon though, are we? We too have doubts. Deep water is risky. Deep water can be frightening because you’re in over your head, unable to touch the bottom. Too often we are content to stay in the familiar and safe shallow water. Stay with what’s comfortable, doing what we’ve always done before, believing what we’ve always known to be true. But shallow water is the place of empty nets. And the deep water is where we must go.
As a church we believe, teach, and confess that in the deep waters of baptism we have been buried with Christ, buried with him, and are raised to new life–transformed.
You, like Simon, have been called to say no to empty promises and you have been transformed by the mystery of the holy one in the deep and abundant water of God’s grace and mercy.
At the heart of this familiar fishing story is God’s abundant mercy. It’s a call story, yes. A call to discipleship, yes; but not in a “recruit more people to be members of our church” way. No, we are invited to join a movement for justice and join one another with transformed lives. We are called to leave everything behind and gain everything we need. It’s not about material goods, but we’re called to leave behind our views of the world. Leave behind our disgust of people who are different from us. Leave behind our assumption about who God is and what God desires from us. Leave behind our prejudice toward those who differ from us. As we leave behind all that holds us back and keeps us empty, we’re invited to bend toward God’s mercy for all. God’s call is a call to mercy, beginning with being merciful to ourselves.
I don’t know if this five-letter word will ever win in WORDLE, but Jesus, the WORD… Jesus calls us to look beyond what we see and what we think to be true; Jesus calls us to go deeper, to toss the nets of our faith wider and farther. And Jesus will fill our nets to breaking with people we otherwise might not have ever seen, liked or loved. As our nets fill to breaking, so do our hearts break wide open to those who also need an abundance of net breaking mercy and love.
Come be fed at the table by the WORD made flesh, Jesus the Christ. Come to this table of mercy and be strengthened by the company of others as we tend to the empty nets of a burdened and broken world.