Homily on Luke 5:1-11

Once there was a kid who wanted a new bike.
He really wanted a new bike!
He wanted this bike so much that it was the first thing he thought about in the morning,
and all through the day, as he was at school, he kept thinking about the new bicycle he wanted so much.
And of course, when he got home and rode around on his old clunker bike that was falling apart,
he really thought about how much he wanted a new bicycle.
Have you ever really, really wanted something?
St. Peter wanted something.
He wanted a savior.
He wanted the Messiah that God had promised to send when he spoke to the prophets.
He wanted to be rescued from the pain and suffering and misery in his life.
Because God’s people were suffering under the iron fisted rule of the Roman Empire.
So, just imagine the tremendous joy that St. Peter experienced when Jesus comes to him on the shore of that lake!
Realizing that he is standing face to face with the Messiah, the one he had been hoping for, Peter and his companions leave everything behind,
their nets, boats, and everything, it is all left behind so that they can follow Jesus.
But what happened to Peter after that amazing moment on the shore of the lake?
He follows Jesus, he witnesses Jesus’ great miracles,
he listens to Jesus’ teaching and preaching.
And there must have been great joy in those experiences.
But during this time, something else is going on.
The Jewish authorities begin to conspire against Jesus.
The powers that be are not happy with the revolutionary message that Jesus preaches.
And as we know, even one of Jesus’ closest friends,
Judas, decides to hand Jesus over to those who seek to kill him.
And in the end even Peter denies Christ,
the same Peter who was so filled with joy and faith in the Messiah that he left everything to follow him.
When Jesus has been arrested and is about to be handed over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified,
Peter is there, because he wants to know what is going to happen.
But then people come up to Peter and ask him, “Are you one of Jesus’ friends?”
And Peter says, “I don’t know him.”
Someone else asks, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?”
Peter says, “No, I’m not his disciple.”
Then someone else says, “Wait minute, I’m sure of it, you are definitely one of Jesus’ disciples, you are a Galilean.”
And Peter says, “I’m sorry I don’t know what you are talking about.”
And at that moment the rooster crows,
And Jesus looks at Peter, and Peter realizes what he has done.
And Peter goes away from Jesus and weeps bitterly.
What happened to this man whose faith and joy were once so intense that he left everything to follow Christ?
What happened to the chief of the apostles?
How did such faith, such joy, such rock solid confidence crumble so quickly?
How can such a thing happen to Peter?
More importantly, how can such a thing happen to us?
We may not have left our jobs and sacrificed everything to follow Christ,
but the mere fact that we are here in this church right now is evidence that we have made some kind of sacrifice.
At the very least we all gave up the opportunity to sleep in this morning,
or have coffee and donuts while we read the paper,
or sit on the couch and watch Sponge Bob.
All of us have given up something in our own way to follow Christ,
not just this morning, but over the course of our Christian life.
But does it ever seem like your faith not what it once was?
In this world, it is rare that our faith is tested in a bold and dramatic fashion.
In the United States, we are never told that we must
deny Christ or face execution.
Unlike Peter who feared for his life when he denied Jesus,
our faith can just slowly drain away, and leave us flat.
Have you ever had a tire with a slow leak?
There’s no dramatic blowout, but over time the air slowly leaks out.
And then, one morning you get in your car to go somewhere really important,
some meeting or event that you really have to be on time for,
when all of a sudden you realize that your tire is completely flat.
And then you are stuck.
This is exactly how it is with our faith.
We may not even notice that our faith is draining away,
but then one day we face a serious crisis,
or we are put in a situation that requires strong moral character
only to discover that our faith has drained away and we have been left stranded.
And maybe in our own way, Just like Peter, we also weep bitterly in our faithlessness, and in our failure.
But just because it looks like our story has come to an end, does not mean that it is the end of the story.
Yes, Peter denied Jesus and our Lord was crucified and buried,
but this was not the end of the story.
Peter may have abandoned Christ but Christ did not abandon Peter.
At the end of St. John’s Gospel, we hear another story about Peter in his fishing boat.
Again, Jesus comes to Peter, but this time Christ has risen from the dead.
Jesus tells Peter and his friends to let down their nets, and once again they make a great catch,
and Peter suddenly realizes that it truly is Jesus speaking to him,
and he jumps out of the boat and swims to shore.
And Jesus says to Peter, “Do you love me?”
Peter says, “Yes, lord, you know that I love you.”
and then Jesus asks him again, “Peter do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”
But Jesus asks him yet again, “Do you love me?”
And now Peter starts to feel bad, because Jesus keeps asking him this question,
and he replies, “Lord you know all things, you know that I love you.”
So what is Jesus trying to do here with Peter?
Why does he keep asking Peter if he loves him?
Jesus is giving Peter an opportunity to repent,
to turn back from the way of denial and faithlessness,
and travel on the road of faith and love.
Peter abandoned Christ, but Christ did not abandon Peter.
You and I may have abandoned Christ, but Christ does not abandon us.
No matter what we do, no matter how we might fail, no matter how deep a hole we dig for ourselves,
Christ is always there, asking us, “Do you love me?”
Giving us a way out of our faithlessness and sin.
So this week, when you are at work, or sitting at your desk in school, or driving your kids to a soccer practice, or washing dishes or paying bills,
wherever you are, remember how Christ came to Peter on the lake.
Jesus did not sit in the temple and wait for people to come to him,
he went out and met people where they lived.
Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ reveals himself to Peter on the shore of a lake in a fishing boat.
Christ does not make people come to Him, He comes to us!
And when He comes to us, it is always a joyful surprise.
Remember that kid who wanted the bicycle?
Well, it was Christmas and he was really hoping that he would get the new bike for Christmas.
But, he really hadn’t been very good, and he knew that his parents didn’t have a lot of money.
So, Christmas morning came, and the whole family opened up all the presents under the tree, and it was a happy time, but there was no bicycle.
And the boy was a little sad.
But then, after all of the wrapping paper had been cleaned up, his parents said,
“What is this envelope in the branches of the tree?”
The boy pulled it out, opened it up, and there was a note that said, “Go look out on the deck.”
Do you know what was out there?
Yep, it was the bike that he had dreamed about.
Christ is waiting to surprise us,
not with a bicycle,
but with the same gift that He gave St. Peter’s on the shore of that lake.
Christ is waiting to surprise us with His love, and the gift of new life.
And today Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ gives us an opportunity to express our love for him once again.
Because when we confess our love for Christ, he fills our hearts with joy.
Today he asks us, “Do you love me?”
And we are free to cry out, “Yes Lord, I love you.”