June 30, 2013
Do you have strong faith, or weak faith? Or just enough faith? Are you
growing in your faith? Are you backsliding in faith? Perhaps the real question
is, what is the essence of faith? The word faith never appears in today’s
Gospel reading. But today’s Gospel reading teaches us what faith is. It gets to
the heart of faith. It directs us to what we need to be directed to when it
comes to faith.
Faith is never about faith itself. If it were, it wouldn’t be faith. Faith
is something that is directed toward something else, confidence in something outside
of itself. Faith in itself is faith that is baseless and without any power.
Faith looks outside of itself. It relishes what it latches onto, not onto how
great it itself is. In fact, faith is so outward looking that it has no thought
to itself, no desire to have anything directed to itself.
Faith the Holy Spirit gives is faith that latches on to Jesus. Faith
the Holy Spirit gives is not faith for faith’s sake, but faith on account of
Jesus and in Jesus. It is faith that looks to Christ alone and is sustained by
Christ alone. Faith comes by hearing. That is the first way our Gospel reading
teaches us faith. This is what the people were doing. They were hearing.
Specifically, they were hearing Jesus. Luke says, “On one occasion, while the
crowd was pressing in on [Jesus] to hear the word of God, he was standing by the
lake of Gennesaret.”
There is no faith apart from hearing. The Word of God proclaimed is
what our ears take in. The Word of God proclaimed is what the Holy Spirit uses
to impart faith to people. The setting of today’s Gospel reading is the hearing
of the Word of God. Jesus was teaching it and the people were hearing it. This
must be the staple of the Christian life: hearing, receiving, partaking of the
Word of God through its proclamation and in the Sacraments. Here is where the
Holy Spirit first brings faith into your life and here is where He continues to
sustain it in you.
On this occasion we meet our friends Peter and James and John. They were
fisherman. Jesus was teaching and they were doing their work. He would use this
to His advantage. The God of creation is the God who uses His creation to bring
about blessings to the people of His creation. Our Vacation Bible School this
past week had the theme “Go Tell It on the Mountain.” When we look at the
grandeur of God’s creation we can marvel at the blessings He gives to us.
People can produce amazing artwork, but can anything match the beauty of God’s
creation?
But the point of the theme of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” was not
simply to marvel at the breathtaking glory of mountains and the natural beauty
of God’s creation, but to see that God uses the things of His creation to come
to us. At Mount Sinai He gave the Ten Commandments. At the Mount of
Transfiguration He was declared the Lord who is glorious in His humility of
walking the path to the cross. And of course on Calvary He died on that
cross. These mountains were specific
mountains. They were located in particular places. God came to His people on
those mountains.
There were many other instances where God came to the people of His
creation. The Gospel reading for today is one such instance. Jesus used the
boats of the fishermen to teach the Word of God. He used the water He created
to get a little breathing room while the crowds pressed in on Him so that His
voice would carry farther and more people would hear.
When He finished, He said to Peter, “Put out into the deep and let down
your nets for a catch.” What does faith know about Jesus? He is God. He is
almighty. He is Lord. It also knows that He is God in the flesh. He was born.
He grew up. He ate regular meals, went to school, learned the trade of His
father, which was likely a carpenter. Had He gone fishing when He was a kid? Possibly.
Maybe, maybe not. But He was not a fisherman. He didn’t make a living on the
water catching fish. But here He was telling Peter to put out into the deep and
let down the nets for a catch.
Now what does faith know about this; about Jesus, the one who is God
but not a fisherman? Well, for us it might be a different answer than what they
would have had back then because we have the benefit of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John all telling us of all the many miracles Jesus accomplished. We know He
wasn’t a fisherman, but He wasn’t telling Peter to make a catch because of any
knowledge of fishing, but because He was God! Because He could do anything! All
of that is true, but that’s not only what faith looks to.
It looks not only at Christ as God. But also at Christ as Lord. The
difference is in seeing Him as the Almighty being who can do anything and the
one who is personally your Lord. Peter’s response is the response of faith. Not
simply in Jesus as God but in Jesus as Lord. What we learn here about faith is
that it is not dependent upon the heart of the person who has the faith. Or how
much understanding he has. Or whether his faith is really strong or just
hanging on by a thread. Rather, with faith, it is always dependent on one
thing, and that is Christ.
Peter answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” His
response, weak though it may be, is one of faith. The worst thing a person who
is weak in faith can hear is that they are weak in faith. If you are struggling
in your faith and you are told that you are weak in faith, that you need to
have more faith, what is it you are being directed to? Your faith. What you are
being directed to is yourself—the very last place you should be directed to.
You are the problem! The reason you are weak in your faith is because your
focus is already on yourself.
No, if you are weak in faith, you should not be directed to yourself
but outside of yourself. You need to be directed to Christ. And even in his
weakness, Peter recognized this. “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!”
But what are his next words? “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Peter
knew it wouldn’t do any good. He made his objection known to Jesus. He was
tired. He had worked hard all night. He, the professional fisherman, had done
all he could to catch some fish and it just wasn’t happening. Time to pack it
in, clean up for another day, and go to it again that night.
But at Your word, Jesus, I will do it. Faith is strong even when it is
weak. Even though, Lord, I don’t think it will do any good, I will do it. I
will do it because of Your word. Because You have said so, I will do it. At
Your word. This is the essence of faith. Not Peter. Not you. Not even the fact
that God is God and is almighty. The essence of faith is Christ. At His word
faith is formed, faith is sustained, and faith is strengthened.
They let down the nets. Well, we know what happened. We could see it a
mile away. We’ve seen this kind of thing happen so often in Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John that we know that when Jesus says you need to put down the nets
for a catch, a catch there will be. And lo and behold there was.
But they hadn’t seen it coming. They were floored. They were scared.
They were in awe. What kind of person could this be? This wasn’t just a catch,
this was a miracle! This was the kind of thing that just doesn’t happen! They
needed to scramble. Their boats began to sink. At His word was produced
something other-worldly. Something they could in no way bring about. Not
through their toiling. Not through their knowledge. Not through their, well,
their anything. They were in the presence of the Lord. He was the only one. And
He is the only one faith looks to. Not your toils, not your knowledge, not
yourself, not anything you do or of who you are. Christ and Him alone.
And faith sees something else. “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell
down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’”
Peter had come face to face with his Lord. You know what that means? He had
come face to face with his sin. When you are standing in the presence of the
Almighty God, you are standing in the face of the one who is holy and standing
as one who is very unholy. Faith sees this, and is terrified. Faith sees this
and does not shy away from it. Faith knows it cannot be in the presence of the
Lord because we are sinners from birth. Faith confesses what is true, we are sinners
and are unable to stand before the Lord.
But the beauty of faith is that it doesn’t turn inward for help or
hope. But rather to the very Lord of whom the sinner cannot stand in the
presence of! What happens after Peter speaks and confesses? Hearing. Jesus
speaking. Jesus speaking and Peter hearing His word. It was, after all, as
Peter had said, “at Your word,” and now Peter got to hear His Word. Jesus said
to [Peter], “‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ And when
they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”
Do not be afraid. You are absolved. Forgiven. Lifted up. You cannot stand up in
My presence. That is true, but take heart! Stand up anyway, because I tell you
there is nothing to be afraid of. The miracle I have accomplished today is a
drop in the ocean compared with the vastness of the mercy I will bring forth
when I ascend the mount of Calvary. There I will die for all of your sins. Yes,
you are a sinful man. And yes, I will depart from you so that I can go where
you are unable to go and pay for all of your sins so that you can stand before
Me and be in my presence forever.
This we know Jesus has done. The greatest miracle of all. And because
of it the Holy Spirit grants you faith. The best way to think about faith is to
not think about faith but about Christ. Rather than wondering if you have right
faith or enough faith, look instead to Christ. He is the essence of faith, not
faith. Faith hears Him. Which is nothing else to say than, you have faith. You hear
Him and your are forgiven by Him. Your faith and your life are in Him. Amen.
SDG
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