Luke 5: 1-11
The 1992 comedy Wayne’s World is about two friends Wayne and Garth who are rock music enthusiasts and host a TV show. They go through various adventures throughout the movie, but there’s a certain scene where they meet their idol rockstar Alice Cooper. It’s after the show and Cooper invites them to stay and hang out with the band. Wayne and Garth are in shock and fall to their knees and bow and say “We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” It’s a funny scene. Of course, there’s no reason anyone should be so starstruck to think they’re unworthy of another human being’s company. Nevertheless, the comedy scene leads right into what we heard in the scripture readings today. A sense of unworthiness at the greatness of someone very special.
In the Gospel reading we just heard, we encountered Luke’s version of the calling of the first disciples. Jesus is speaking to a large crowd and asks a fisherman named Simon, soon to be renamed Simon Peter, to let him to use his boat. After he’s finished teaching, Jesus invites Simon to go back out onto the lake and cast his nets. Simon tells him they tried all night and didn’t catch anything, but he gives it another try at Jesus’ request. Then Simon sees a miracle before his eyes: the nets are completely full. So much so that two boats are filled and almost sink. In response to this Simon tells Jesus that he is unworthy and sinful. He tells Jesus “Go away from me Lord, for, I am a sinful man!” Simon Peter could’ve been wondering if there was some kind of mistake. Maybe Jesus thought he was someone more deserving. Maybe Jesus didn’t know what a sinner he was. Maybe, he thought, once Jesus gets to know me he’ll realize how imperfect I am and I’ll be in trouble for not living up to his goodness. Surely, he thought, I don’t deserve this abundant blessing. Simon had a lot of doubts about himself, and let Jesus know how unworthy he felt.
In the first reading we heard this morning we see a similar feeling of unworthiness from a man experiencing a gift from God. Isaiah was a prophet in the 8th century BC, and he seems to have been a priest at the Temple in Jerusalem. One day he had a vision of heaven. He saw God’s throne surrounded by seraphs, presumably a type of angel. Confronted with this vision of the holiness of God, Isaiah is frightened and says “Woe is me! I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips!” He's obviously worried that he is unworthy to be in God’s presence. He recognizes his own unworthiness, his own impurity, and because he recognizes that it terrifies him that he’s in God’s holy presence.
But instead of casting him out of the divine presence, one of the angels approaches Isaiah with fiery tongs and touches his lips with them. The fiery tongs both purify him and equip his lips to speak God’s truth. And so when Isaiah hears that God is looking for someone to speak to God’s people, Isaiah gives the faithful response: “Here am I! Send me!” Isaiah goes from fearful sinner to eager servant in a matter of seconds. He recognized his own unworthiness, but was purified—and then empowered and equipped to fulfill God’s mission for him.
After the events described in our Gospel reading this morning, Simon Peter will also be purified and empowered and equipped. Today we hear his call story, and over the next several years Simon Peter will be purified & prepared and empowered & equipped for his mission just like Isaiah was. And just like every servant of God has always been. Every one of the disciples and the prophets experienced some kind of call from God that required them to confront their own feelings of unworthiness or inadequacy, (even Jesus wrestled with his calling in the wilderness) and every one of us today will confront these feeling about ourselves too—especially when we hear God’s call.
God calls us all in some way. And we should dedicate ourselves to discerning that call, and to living into it with our whole being. We may not experience a vision of God’s heavenly throne like Isaiah did or witness a miracle like the miraculous catch of fish like Peter did. But we all do have a calling from God. Answering God’s call is not something we have to do in order to earn God’s love or forgiveness. It’s something we naturally want to do as we are touched by God’s grace and grow up into the mature children of God we were created to be. We answer God’s call not because we have to in order to receive forgiveness or earn God’s love and acceptance. But because we are already loved and accepted by God, and responding to God’s calling is simply living into our true self.
When we respond to God’s call, we get to spend our lives doing the profoundly meaningful work of God, rather than just living for ourselves. And even though we may not have had a mystical vision like Isaiah or a miraculous experience like Peter, we can experience our own moment of call when we enter into silent pray and ask God to reveal how He is calling us in our lives or in any given situation. We also may experience a call through other people, like when somebody tells us we should think about going to seminary or joining church council or participating in an outreach or fellowship ministry. Sometimes God calls us through a powerful experience and sometimes God calls us through the gentle whispering of the Spirit and sometimes God calls us through the words of others. Whatever the case may be, we all have a calling to be disciples.
Like Peter and Isaiah, we may recognize our own unworthiness. We may feel small in the face of the world’s big problems. We may feel like we’re not good enough or smart enough or holy enough to faithfully follow God’s calling. But I assure you, that just like God purified, equipped, and empowered Isaiah and Peter, so to will God purify your motives, empower your mission, and equip you for your calling.
Today we will install our 2025 council members. They and everyone who accepted a nomination to council responded to a call from God. At St. Matthew we have many gifted individuals who have followed God’s call to help with leading worship, or with property or evangelism or outreach or fellowship ministries. We have a lot of gifted people dedicating their time and energy and resources to the church and to other organizations that do God’s work in the world. Not everyone is called to be an assisting minister or lector or be on church council or teach Sunday School—but everyone is called to something. I like to say: Nobody is called to everything, but everybody is called to something.
One calling that is on my heart this week involves Lutheran organizations that support the poor and vulnerable, sometimes called “the least of these” in the Gospels. Historically the Lutheran church has done a great job of following Christ’s call to love and serve our neighbors in need. There are great programs like the ELCA’s Lutheran Disaster Response which we just donated to help victims of the California wildfires. And there’s many Lutheran nonprofit organizations like Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Family Services, Lutheran Social Servies, and Global Refuge (previously known as Lutheran Immigration & Refugee Services). Faith-based nonprofits like Lutheran Social Services of New England, now known as Ascentria, have helped millions of Americans.
God calls us to support their work. And God calls us to defend them against slander and false accusations. This week Lutheran organizations in particular were accused of being “money laundering operations” by those associated with the Trump administration. Elon Musk, the richest person in the world vowed to stop the so-called “fraud” that these organizations are doing. Yet there is no evidence of fraud. Nonprofits that receive federal funding are audited every year and they are clearly above board. Mr. Musk seems simply to want to cut federal funding used to assist the poor, while protecting federal funding that goes to his own for-profit businesses. Mr. Musk isn’t criticizing federal funding that goes to him or other billionaires, but he is eager to cut funding that helps the poor. And there seems to be a special focus on attacking faith-based nonprofits that legally resettle immigrants and refugees.
As Christians it is important for us to understand what is going on. To pay attention and to, like the prophets of old, speak truth to power and call out the rich and powerful when they mistreat the poor. And we Lutherans in particular should speak out when they slander our church’s good work. Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Elizabeth Eaton, addressed these false accusations in a short video which we included in our weekly e-news. And I plan on leading an Adult Forum which highlights the work of these Lutheran organizations. I was gonna do that today but because of the snowstorm we’ll postpone it for another time.
It's one thing to disagree on how to spend federal funds. It’s another thing to lie about the organizations you want to cut and accuse them of fraud. And it’s still another to lie about this when your own federal contracts are in the mix. If the decision is made to cut funding for faith-based nonprofits that’s a decision for Congress to make, not Mr. Musk. And if the decision is made to cut social programs and not Mr. Musk’s own contracts, the church is called to speak out against such obvious corruption. Slandering the work faith-based nonprofits are doing is corrupt and sinful. Whatever one’s position on federal spending may be, it is clearly wrong and evil to lie so that you can cut money given to the poor and give more to the rich.
Whatever future holds, the church will continue to follow Christ’s call to help the most vulnerable. Even if faith-based nonprofits lose all federal funding, the church will still answer God’s call to do this work. For example, you can read in your bulletin or in Friday’s e-news about how you can support the work of Global Refuge after the federal stop-work order they received last month. Whatever the future holds, the church will stand firm in our commitment to serve our neighbors in need, to provide for “the least of these.”
And whatever the future holds, we at St. Matthew are committed to being disciples of Christ together. We are committed to staying united in a world where secular government appears to want division. We are committed to praying for God to purify us, empower us, and equip us for ministry in the world. We are committed to serving those in need, to sharing the good news of God’s love, and to manifesting the kingdom of God in our lives and in our world. Let us commit ourselves to the path of following Jesus. Of caring for the “least of these.” Of being Christian disciples.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Pastor Brian | February 9, 2025 | Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
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