First Sunday of Luke

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the name of the

Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit. This is a vivid, dramatic,

and amazing scene that St. Luke describes to

us today. Have you noticed we jumped from Matthew,

which we've been reading since the week after

Pentecost, all the way up to last week, and now

we're going to move, this is called in a priest's

garden, Luke and Job. And so we begin to read

from the Gospel of Luke. And the church says,

start with chapter 5, verse 1. Jesus, in chapter

4, had been to vast mountains of people. They

were following him everywhere. And he was healing

people. And he wanted to have time to help them

there as well. So he came down. And he came to

the lake. And there were vassals and people waiting

for him to teach. And he saw the two boats, as

you heard. You know the story. And he got into

one of them. It happened to be Simon, who would

become Peter. We have a fresco of St. Peter here.

You see there's a little rock. There was a school

field trip here on Thursday. The Healdsburg School

came, the fourth grade classes. They always do

every year. And one of the kids looks up at that

fresco and says, there's a rock there. What's

that? I hope you can all explain that, but I'll

tell you right now, just in case you can't. A

parishioner went to Rome, I won't say who, and

took the private tour of the Church of St. Peter,

that magnificent and huge church in Rome. And

went under where St. Peter had been buried. And

she took a rock from the floor. You're not supposed

to do that. And she brought it back. And Father

Patrick plastered it in there. Because Peter

was named, his name was Simon. The Lord gives

him the name Petros, Peter. It's a nickname.

It's like Rocky. Simon Bar -Jonah. Simon, son

of Jonah. Simon Johnson, Rocky Johnson. There

you go, in our parlance. So, in any case, the

Lord had healed Peter's mother -in -law. And

so Peter knew him. He had not been yet a disciple

when this event took place. And after the Lord

is teaching, he says to Peter, go into the deep.

Peter had been fishing all night. Nothing. Go

into the deep. Let down your nets. Fish. And

Simon Peter answers him, Master, we're fishermen.

You're the carpenter. We've toiled all night.

What are you talking about, basically? He's thinking

rationally. He's thinking realistically here.

There are no fish out there now. And it's daytime.

We're the experts. We're the fishermen. I think

we know. But then, in his humility, having heard

the Lord speak and having seen his mother -in

-law be healed, he realizes who he is talking

to. And he says, nevertheless, okay, at thy word

I will go. I will go out and let down my nets.

And Jesus gives the sign of what is to come.

It's not a magic trick. It's not a magic trick.

The miraculous catch of fish is not about setting

up a successful fishing business so that it would,

I don't know, finance the whole project of evangelism

for Jesus. Jesus was poor. He had only the clothes

on his back. This miraculous catch of fish is

not about that. It's about the divine power,

the grace of God, the Lord's power over nature,

the holiness of Jesus, who has come for the salvation

of the world. And the boat is the church. And

the fish, obviously people being brought to Jesus

for life, for salvation. These men, Maybe Peter

owned his own boat. That it was subsistence living.

You know, he could go out and if he didn't catch

anything, he didn't eat. He had nothing to sell.

And Jesus does this amazing miracle and Peter

is overwhelmed with fear and wonder. And he falls

down at Jesus' feet and he says, Depart from

me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Now this response

might seem a little odd to us. But is it? No,

it's not. Peter is confronted. He's awakened.

He's astonished by the mighty, loving power of

God crashing in on his world. In his own... As

the master... of all things in heaven and earth,

the sea and all that is in them. This change

of heart is more impressive than the miracle

of the catching of the fish. What does it mean

then? The apostles left everything. They didn't

say, oh, let us tidy up and we'll be with you

tomorrow. They caught this amazing catch of fish,

and it says in the gospel, they left it all behind,

and they followed this homeless, penniless, poor

man who has the words of life. And because they

were astonished, and they were awakened in their

soul. And that's why the gospel is given to us

today. To awaken us in our soul. To give us trust

in Christ. The trust that brings obedience. The

word obedience has a bad connotation. Some are

abused out of their obedience. But that's not

what this is about. This is to be able to hear.

To obey is to hear. To follow Christ. It's about

offering ourselves. Leaving behind. The sin and

the non -essentials of our life. The things that

keep us from being with Christ. You know, with

Christ, there's not a, you must do this, you

must do that. The Lord gives us absolute freedom.

There is no, you must, with Jesus Christ. But

he who believes in me, says Jesus to us, even

now today. As a gift of everlasting life. Belief,

not as a mental construct or an idea or a religious

concept, but faithfulness. Doing what you can

do in your situation of life. To do what the

future apostles did that day. To follow Jesus

with all their heart. I have seven ways, let

me suggest to you. that we can do that. The epistle

itself laid it all out for us. But let me give

you these ways. First, love is always first in

any list. But love God. Love God first. Love

him with the entirety of your being, your mind,

and your strength. More than you love family.

More than you love things. More than you love

video games. More than you love food or any other

thing of pleasure. More than your job. And how

do you express that love? Is it just in our mind?

Prayer. We express our love by prayer. If we

love someone, we want to embrace that person.

Run to them. Be with them in their presence.

Enjoy. their presence pray pray with your heart

that's how you will express your love and by

prayer you will then want to dive into the holy

scriptures to know more about the lord and what

god is giving you his word so it will become

alive and not just pages in a book second again

love If we love God, if we express our love through

prayer, much more, says St. James, do we express

our love for God by loving everyone, even the

most unlovable. And that's a miracle of God's

power and Holy Spirit working in you. To see

the image of God in someone else, that's divine.

This is also about forgiving everyone, as you

would wish. To be forgiven by God. It only harms

us to nurture anger and resentments in ourselves.

So love. Number three. Nurture the attitude.

That everything that you have. Comes from God.

And actually belongs to him. Everything. All

your personal traits. All your material possessions.

all your friendships, everything you have is

from God and therefore belongs to God. And we

offer that back to him even now, today, in the

bread and wine. Number four, live righteously.

Speak righteously. Speak ethically. Be honorable.

Work hard to support your family, your church.

your fellow citizens. Support your church with

your tithes and your offerings. Live righteously,

ethically, honorably with love. Number five,

because you have love now, because God's love

is pouring through you in everything you do and

you think, be merciful then and give alms to

those who don't have love or anyone to love them.

who have less than you do, without judging or

criticizing or analyzing their life. Number six,

because you love God, and because he says, blessed

are the peacemakers, be a peacemaker. Easy, if

you're on social media, do not respond to agitated

comments. Be a peacemaker. In your life, with

your family. Try to bring about reconciliation

between people. Not because you have incredible

powers of negotiation. But because you love God

first. And his love will be working in you. Number

seven. The no -brainer. The absolute easiest

thing that every single one of us could do. And

we're doing right now, go to church. Go to church

as much as you can. Worship the Lord who has

given you everything. Labor for the good of the

parish. Find ways to be astonished by what God

is doing in your life so that your soul will

awaken and you will be able. even to do what

St. Peter did that day, to fall down at the feet

of the Lord and say, depart from me, I am a sinful

man, because you see how holy and good he is,

and you see your own sins. And then he picks

you up and calls you. All of you, brothers and

sisters, you are all an irreplaceable part, a

member. of the very body of Jesus Christ, the

church. These seven steps, they're just a beginning.

They're the things that distinguish an Orthodox

Christian from just about any other person living

in the world, and they're the things that will

allow you to be astonished at the Lord's majesty

and beauty and love for you, which will change

your heart. This is how we follow Jesus. This

is how we become his faithful disciples. And

isn't that the true goal of our life? To our

Lord be glory, now and ever, to ages of ages.

Amen.