God Quite Likes You, You Know (Luke 5:1-11, 1 Cor 15:1-11)
Aha! I thought to myself, pulling
into Asda carpark, there’s a space here, but what’s that, the person in the
other bay hasn’t parked properly. You know the type of thing, when they’re not
in the lines. We all come across it, and it’s one of my pet peeves.
Right then! I thought, I’m going to
teach them a thing or two, I’m going to park in the bay next to them to teach
them a lesson.
Or so I thought. Arrogantly, I know
best.
And lo, as I did pull into that
space something went terribly wrong, I scratched that car, and mine in the
process. Afterwards it was like an opera singer singing MISTAKE! Behind me, and
a few choice words shall we say were uttered from my mouth. They weren’t darn
it, or blast I can assure you.
There are times in life when we
respond in the wrong way, and we can feel bad about ourselves, but the question
I want to ask you today is who does Jesus call? And How do we respond to that?
I believe that Jesus calls the
flawed and we need to respond to God with understanding, as our Gospel reading
shows today.
So let’s begin…
How do you feel about being told
what to do? Perhaps by your Mum and Dad? I’m sure all our young people respond
with obedience every time don’t you?
Perhaps it’s the way that you’re
asked to do something, that indicates the way you respond, to a friend or a
partner? A wife or a husband?
I shan’t get into all that this
morning, as some of my family are actually here today, but suffice to say it’s
not always a bed of roses, responding with grace when being told what to do can
be a bed of thorns.
There are some examples though,
when people who really shouldn’t be giving advice do.
I’m now a qualified first aider,
thanks to the abundant generosity of the PCC and Churchwardens of this church,
but imagine me giving medical advice to Dr Clare, or interrupting her
and giving my own opinion, over the top of hers. Imagine how Clare would feel?
Imagine how stupid I would look.
Can you imagine then how Peter
must’ve felt when Jesus told him what to do with his own boat. Who the heck
does he think he is? He must’ve thought. What the absolute heck does a
Carpenter know about fishing? Stick to building boats mate, not fishing from
them.
And yet despite his reservations,
Peter sees something in Jesus, something about who He is, but he can’t quite
put his finger on it. He instantly recognises that he’s a person of authority, and
politely calls him Master, which is probably a bit closer to the way we say sir.
‘If you say so.’ He replies to Jesus’ request, sceptically.
I’ve always found Peter to be an
encouraging character in the Gospels. I think I’m quite a lot like Peter in
many ways.
“Of all the personalities of the
New Testament perhaps we know most about Peter.” He’s constantly getting it
wrong, denies Jesus, he’s boisterous, hot-headed and rash and overly
enthusiastic. He’s got good intentions, and self-confidence that quickly
disappears in times of trouble.[1]
Considering all of these flaws,
it’s very surprising that Peter is the rock on which the church is built isn’t
it. Sounds like a title to a film doesn’t it Peter; the Surprising Rock. Surely
if Peter is credited as one of the founders of the church, with all his flaws,
then we have a place at the table too?
Even Paul in our reading from
Corinthians notes that Jesus appeared to Cephas first, by this he means Peter.
Paul is another unexpected person
who responds to the call of Jesus. He talks a little
about it in the reading.
“For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace towards me has not been in vain.”
If God calls people like Paul and
Peter to the table, to be his friends, to be his missionaries, then is there
hope for each one of us?
Yes.
We live in a society that
constantly tells us we’re not good enough, it starts in our school system, it
continues through advertising, and ends with the way our society is structured.
When we’re at school, when we have
a test for example which bits are highlighted?
Our mistakes are highlighted, not
the questions that we’ve got right. We are measured, weighed, and boxed each
and every one of us, but the gospel of redemption is not about that. It’s not
simply ethics, right or wrong, but knowing and feeling. Understanding and
growing.
Paul says “I am what I am.” That it
is through God’s grace that he has been saved from himself and his former life.
That happens to Peter too, through this extraordinary encounter with Jesus on
the lake. His life is transformed, he is saved.
We’re obsessed, with earning our
forgiveness, with earning our place in heaven, and making sure that the worthy
get in. But God’s grace gives it to us. Each of us, everyone.
We breathe in Ungrace, as Philip
Yancey calls it, in his amazing book “What’s so amazing about Grace?” He says;
“We live in an atmosphere choked
with the fumes of ungrace. Grace comes from outside, as a gift not an
achievement… Every institution, it seems runs on ungrace and its insistence
that we earn our way. Justice departments, airline frequent flyer programs and
mortgage companies cannot operate by grace.”
It’s not just the secular world
that is ungraceful, the church can be to. A letter went around a couple of
weeks ago, signed by many Church of England clergy, condemning the new pastoral
responses for welcoming transgendered people that was passed through the
General Synod, and the house of Bishops.
Why? Why would we want to make
anyone feel unwelcome? Why is it such a monstrous idea to respond to people,
who are rejected and unloved by much of the world to welcome them into our
church families?
Paul murdered Christians, Peter
abandoned Jesus, yet they were welcomed into God’s church.
The notion that we’re not good enough,
that we’re somehow aliens from God, comes from society, it comes from deeply
flawed human beings, it comes from our own need to demonise others, it does not
come from God.
All of us yearn for the love of our
creator, even if we don’t know it, but if you take one thing away from this
sermon, or thinly veiled rant, I want it to be this.
You are good enough for God. God
accepts you, God owns you, God holds you forever and ever. God loves you.
But this is cheap grace? People
might shout.
You’re darn right it is. Grace is
free, if we had to pay for it, it wouldn’t be grace, it would be like
everything else. We cannot earn it. We’re called to be something else.
When Peter realised the miracle in
front of him that day on the lake, he responded with awe and with enthusiasm.
I became a priest because I want
the world to know the all surpassing love of God, the grace in which we live. I
want the world to know it, and I want you to know it deeply, personally.
Jesus quite likes you, you know.
God chose ordinary fisherman,
ordinary people to be the agents of his love and Grace to the world, and He
still does today.
You are His agent. You are
empowered, redeemed and loved.
Peter responded with understanding,
knowing that Jesus was from God. Go away from me, he said, shrinking away from
the grace shown him.
You silly sausage, replies Jesus.
I’m giving you a new task now.
Friends, this is our task too. To
understand and remember that love, to show God’s powerful grace in the world.
Peter left his old life behind, he
abandoned the best catch of his life, he could’ve been rich. What should we
leave behind in our lives? Maybe our sense of shame, that sense we’re not good
enough for God.
Jesus calls each and everyone of
us, the flawed, the transgendered, the straight, the homosexual, the bitter and
angry. The ones who scratch other people’s cars in carparks when trying to
prove a point. All of it, all of the mess he takes us with joy.
As Peter was amazed, so we should
be Amazed too. We should respond to God’s grace with amazement, and enthusiasm,
modelling a different sense of being. Thankfulness, laughter, joy, there is
space for all this, because you never know where God is, what God’s grace is
doing.
Let’s take his hand, and go along
for the ride shall we? Though hopefully there’ll be fewer fish along the way.
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