St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 5th Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 6:1-8 [9-13]; Psalm 138 ; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11
Gospel
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
NRSV
A Little Further from the Shore
Basketball has always been a popular sport in Brazil. Therefore, one of the things you should know about me is that I was born to the world of the National Basketball Association as a 15-year-old Los Angeles Lakers Fan. As a high schooler with nothing to do on Friday or Saturday late at night, the newly broadcast NBA games were a new and interesting thing for me to watch. The most exciting attraction on those nights was Erving Magic Johnson and Karen Abdul-Jabbar’s showtime team, which also had James Worthy, A.C. Green, and Byron Scott as starters and was coached by Pat Riley. I got hooked.
So, when I was browsing the hundreds of useless channels on my cable, an Interview with Mr. Riley caused me to cease my frantic pushing of the same bottom on my TV remote, increase the volume, and actually watch.
It came a time during the interview when he was asked the secret of the sustained performance of his team through the gruesome 82 game season. I mean, it is gruesome. There was traveling, sometimes 3 or more games in the span of 7 or 10 days. Some of them back to back. There was the pressure to perform at an exceedingly high level in every game. This was, by the way, a time when highly paid players understood the cost and the expectation of fans when they came to watch them play. Anyway, this is a matter for another sermon. The point is players would often get burned out, especially the best ones.
Riley said they would honestly approach him and say, coach, I got nothing left tonight. Can I seat this one out? Because he knew his players well, he knew them to be sincere. He would tell them, for instance, tonight, instead of 30 or 40 minutes, can you go a little further, dig a little deeper, and find me 3 or 4 minutes of your best game? Often the player, and the team, as a consequence, would catch fire, and for a moment in the game, it was like, showtime! Sometimes enough to win the game and advance in the season.
Burnout is a thing. Spiritual burnout is a thing too.
Every believer has a call to participate in the mission that we share. The great and universal Christian Commission: to raise up, go, captivate new disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them everything that Jesus taught us, is not as easy as we think.
First, in a free society, and this level of operation, we can’t force anyone to do anything, right? We absolutely cannot pay people to come to church. Sometimes we try to use our influence to strongly encourage someone to join us in our ministry. However, that goes as far as the moment the people figure they have freedom, indeed, and therefore decide to follow their own way. All that is left for us is trying to be inspirational and somehow summon the Holy Spirit in us in the hope that such Spirit will kindle our ability to practice that kind, unselfish, and sacrificial love for one another. It surely can be exhausting and stressful. Such love, as C.S. Lewis describes, is not natural to us. It takes a lot of hard work. It takes a daily remembrance and practice of what we were baptized for. And it takes a monumental effort to carve the space for it in the roller coaster of emotions that come with our busy lives.
Then in normal circumstances, life disappoints us. Sometimes the community of saints, and sinners, disappoint us. And now we have the pandemic and the emotional turmoil it still brings to us. All of a sudden, the temptation to sit this one out or to walk away for a while – or sometimes for good -becomes too much to overcome. We begin to hesitate. Our collective spiritual courage begins to lack. Our hopes become dim.
Spiritual burnout is a big, big thing. We work relentlessly, and we don’t seem to catch anything. Is it us? Are we fit for this? It is here that I belong?
Sisters and brothers, it is then that the incarnation of God’s relentless love and hope for us, Jesus Christ, intervenes. Jesus sees us and asks us, can you go a little further? Can you dig a little deeper? Can you insist on the love that I taught you a little longer? Who knows? Maybe the Spirit will catch fire among you!
Thankfully for us, this love, the one that Jesus also is and teaches, is kind, non-violent, unselfish, without resentment, forgiving, persistent, always willing to die to save us, is eternal. It gives every chance, over and over again. This love never ends. Amen.
Bridging Faith 