Anecdote to the Overwhelm
Sermon by Pr. Sharai Jacob on the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany + Sunday, February 9, 2025.
Our gospel reading this week is a familiar one: Jesus tells fishermen to cast their nets again, and they miraculously catch more fish than their boats could hold! Jesus tells them to follow him and become "fishers of people." This story is often interpreted to mean that Jesus' disciples have the role of bringing people to Jesus or to "the faith." While sharing our faith with the people around us is important - I don't think that the idea of trapping people and dragging them into our faith sounds like something Jesus would endorse. In fact, it sounds a lot like the forced conversions that were common during the colonization of many lands across the world - an evil twisting of our religion to empower bloodthirsty empires.
There have been attempts to reform this interpretation by explaining that it was never meant to include the violent aspects of fishing, just the act of gathering people. But I wonder if there is some other meaning within this story that is being covered up by the older interpretation. In the Hebrew Bible, mentions of "fishing for people" tend to have a different purpose. In Jeremiah 16, God declares that God is sending their fishermen to catch the self-serving elite from all over so that they can be repaid for their iniquity. Amos 4 talks about how those who "oppress the poor" and "crush the needy" will be taken away with "fishhooks." So maybe Jesus was calling these fishermen to become the fishers that God talks about in Jeremiah or to fish the way Amos 4 depicts it. To become God's fishers - fishing out corruption and oppression, and turning the system of oppression on its head. Let's try interpreting this story in a new way.
Our reading starts with Jesus being bombarded by crowds of people. If you've ever been to a concert, protest, or football game, you might understand the power of a large crowd. Imagine being surrounded by all those people, except that all of them are in need and all of them coming to you for answers. The voices and needs of hundreds of people all at once and all urgent. I wonder if any of us have been feeling that sense of bombardment as each day we've seen a new upsetting story in the news.
These past two weeks these stories have been more frequent. Maybe you've felt like those voices were closing in on you too. Like you were surrounded by problems that you felt called to help with, but there were so many at once that you felt stuck. As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus, I'm sure he felt that call to help as they named their needs. But there wasn't much that Jesus could do to help them as long as the crowd was closing in on him. It got to the point where he needed to escape!
Just then, Jesus saw fishermen cleaning their nets after what seemed to be a bad day of fishing. Empty nets and probably defeated-looking fishers. Fishermen at that time had one of the least respected roles in Roman society. They were taxed for the ability to fish, and then again for the ability to sell the fish. They did backbreaking work and were often left with little money to show for it. Jesus hops into their boat and asks them to sail a bit away from the shore. This way he could get a better vantage point - away from the chaos of the crowds. He was able to offer some help to the crowds in the form of his teachings, but for the fishermen he was able to offer a more tangible form of assistance.
While we've been drowning in a sea of new problems (defunded social services, plans to revoke rights and protections, a now-named plan for the colonization and ethnic cleansing of Palestine), we might be faced with the feeling of overwhelming helplessness. Alongside this helplessness might come guilt - the feeling that you aren't doing enough. That you're allowing these terrible things to happen around you. Just like Simon Peter in our reading today, you may feel like you aren't good enough like you aren't capable enough to join in the work of Jesus. To answer the call to help.
Imagine yourself in a crowded stadium of people with needs and problems, but this time imagine that you're at a table with folks from Holy Trinity, and to your right, a friend is at another table with a different organization, and to your left a table for an organization that you've heard about on social media, and across from you is a church we've partnered with before, and suddenly the crowd is split into smaller groups of people whose needs you can meet together as a group. The overwhelm we feel is a result of feeling that all of these problems fall on us as individuals, but there are people we can partner with. There are people out there doing the world Don't let guilt keep you from doing what you feel called to do - reach out to your community and see what opportunities you find work together.
Let's take a cue from Jesus in this story, and take a moment to step back and assess. Let's ask ourselves: What organizations already exist that are helping to combat the problems I am drowning in? What are one or two of these causes that I think I could help with? How much of my energy can I spend on each of them? And once we've found where we can help and how much we can give - let's try and trust that the causes, people, and problems we can't reach are being cared for by others like us. Others who have felt the call to help and are doing what they can. Sharing information about the programs and organizations you're part of can help us all to feel less overwhelmed with the work to be done.
While the work that we are called to do can seem daunting, we've been equipped with the tools we need to be good fishers! We have the gift of community, we have the gift of God's Holy presence, and we have the ultimate Hope and Grace that God provides through Jesus. Whatever your hands find to do, go out and do it. No matter how big or small - this work is for us all to do together.
