First Sunday of Luke

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

of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to Jesus Christ.

This morning we had two gospel readings and,

of course, two epistle readings. The second one

was for the movable feast, the Saints of North

America. And the first one, from St. Lou, was

about the miraculous catch of fish. And it's

that first one that I want to focus on in the

words that I'm about to share with you. You might

have noticed there's a certain logic to our epistle

and gospel readings. After the Feast of the Holy

Cross, we shift into gospel readings from St.

Luke. This is what is popularly called the Lucan

jump. We jump from St. Matthew's Gospels to St.

Luke's. And St. Luke has a definite structure

to his Gospel. We begin with the infancy narratives.

Much of this information from tradition we believe

he received. from the Virgin Mary because of

its content, the Annunciation, and the birth

of John the Baptist, and of course our Lord's

birth, etc. And then his baptism. And then he

moves out after his baptism. Jesus goes on retreat,

so to speak. He goes into the desert for 40 days

and 40 nights, and there he is tempted by the

devil. This retreat was to strengthen him for

his public ministry. And his public ministry,

he, after this time in the desert, in the wilderness,

Jesus went back to his hometown, Nazareth, and

there began his public ministry. The people were

astonished at his teachings, at his teachings

and at his wisdom. This astonishment was seen

in the first several miracles that he performed.

And then what I think is particularly significant

is the one where Jesus went to the synagogue

on Saturday. And it was his turn to read, and

he took up the prophecy of Isaiah when the book

was handed to him. Apparently, it was a custom

that someone who did the reading would give a

few brief words of encouragement or enlightenment.

And so, after Jesus finished the reading, he

sat down and handed the book back and took his

place. And all eyes were upon him, St. Luke says,

expecting him to say something. And then he clearly

inaugurates his public ministry when he says

the spirit of quotes from Isaiah, that reading

he had, the spirit of the Lord is upon me to

preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release

to captives. recovery of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and

to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

This, the acceptable year of the Lord, is the

time to act, for God to act. This is the inauguration,

so to speak, of the Messianic era. All eyes were

fixed on Jesus, and he said, Today, this scripture

has been fulfilled in your hearing. To the amazement

of people that Jesus would claim that these words

of Isaiah are directed to him, obviously as the

Messiah. People were amazed at when Jesus performed

these miracles and at his teachings and knowledge.

And they frequently would say something to the

effect, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph,

the carpenter's son? And I'm frequently, I enjoy

reading the bumper stickers. And my favorite,

they have interesting messages. Sometimes you

could be dangerous putting a bumper sticker on

your car. Someone might not enjoy what you're

advertising. But this advertisement is fantastic.

The one that I saw. My boss is a Jewish carpenter.

What a magnificent message. and an inspiration

to anyone who reads that. My boss is a Jewish

carpenter. Today's gospel, again, is at the beginning

of Jesus' ministry, and we have the miraculous

catch of fish. Labored all night, didn't catch

a thing. Anyone who's... Gone fishing. This was

not a sport for Peter, James, and John. This

was how they made their living. But anyone who

has gone fishing is amazed, I think, at the fickleness

of the fish. Sometimes they bite, sometimes they

don't. For us, you know, it's just fun to catch

fish. But that was their livelihood. And what

was the reaction? Two things I want us to take

from this gospel. What was Peter's reaction,

Simon Peter? He fell at Jesus' feet and he said,

Depart from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man.

Those should be our words, not literally that

he depart from us, but Peter's recognition. of

his own sinfulness, and how distant is a spiritual

space between God and we poor and imperfect followers

of his. Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,

O Lord. We must acknowledge our sinfulness. We

do this daily in our morning and evening prayers,

to receive Holy Communion. We declare our sinfulness

and our unworthiness. But the irony is, we don't

say, depart from me, O Lord. We say, let me come

to you and receive you in Holy Communion, O Lord.

So that's the first idea. Recognizing our own

sinfulness and unworthiness. Every day, how much

we need God's grace and God's help. The second

one is, near the end of the reading, it tells

us that Jesus' disciples, his new disciples,

left everything and followed him. It was an unreserved

declaration of faithfulness. and loyalty to Jesus.

That should be our inspiration. No matter what

we do in life, and when I give talks to young

people, especially if they're thinking, what

should I do in life? What should I be? And no

matter what you choose, you will be successful.

If you are successful, And the one important

thing, the one thing needful, was just to be

a follower of Jesus Christ. Because if you do

not obey God, keep his commandments, do what

he knows we want him to do, you're a failure,

no matter how much success or how much money

you might make. The one thing needful. to follow

Jesus and to do his will so that we can say with

that bumper sticker, my boss is a Jewish carpenter.

Amen.