5th Sunday after Epiphany

Isaiah 6:1-13; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11  

Luke 5:1-11

¹ Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ² he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³ He 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. ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst. ⁷ So 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. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and 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.” ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

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We are what We are

Grace to you, beloved of God, and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I am what I am. I am my own special creation. So come take a look. Give me the hook or the ovation. It’s my world that I want to have a little pride in. My world and it’s not a place I have to hide in. Life’s not worth a [blip] ’til you can say, I am what I am.

I don’t need to tell you the words you heard are not from scripture. Maybe you recognize the song. If you don’t, these are the lyrics for the version immortalized by 2-time Grammy winner Gloria Gaynor called “I Am What I Am.” 

It is the sort of thing one can sing after experiencing those liberating and enthusiastic moments of self-realization when one’s purpose in this world is discovered and makes sense. The person can’t help but proclaim their identity and self-worth for everyone to hear: I am what I am. 

Often, the drive to undergo an identity search may come from a place of confusion caused by uncertainty. For instance, beating after beating, one may find oneself surrounded by people wearing cheese hats and cheering for Brett Favre in the Super Bowl and ask: Am I born and raised in Chicago, or did I become a Packers fan? Similarly, Am I the son or the daughter of so and so, or Am I called to leave what I know behind and follow Christ? It can get confusing, we know. 

Sometimes, we may get a hint of our purpose, but we hesitate. Everything we learned tells us that casting the net further from the shore will be pointless. We’ve seen that and done that. 

Other times, we are repeatedly told that we are not good enough, young enough, old enough, eloquent enough, hard-working enough, or our lips are too unclean. We are too far gone, too much beyond repair, that we have too much of a bad reputation to embrace our God-given identity.  So many times, we start believing that we do not belong or have a place. In the case of us, the baptized, the ones already claimed, we may get convinced that we do not deserve the loving mercy of our creator. The God in Jesus Christ would never want anything to do with us! (That is false)

Yet, at other times, we want proof from God that this identity of catchers of people by proclamation of the good news that is being unveiled to us is worth the trouble. We need a miracle. The risk of losing what we thought was true about us is too much. The possibility of becoming uncomfortable or even vulnerable is too terrifying. 

Here is how God responds to our crisis of identity. Unfortunately, we are not our own creation. God says, I have formed and made you. You are mine. I have redeemed you. You are precious in my sight, and I honor and love you. I have called you by name; do not be afraid (from Isaiah 43: 1-7).

We are what we are, fellow beloved of God. Saved by grace through faith without any merit whatsoever, created anew to do good to others (Ephesians 2: 8-10). That is our common identity. We may lack confidence, or we may be too confident in ourselves. Yes, we may be too hesitant to follow our Lord wherever he leads. Yes, we may become terrified in times of uncertainty. Yet, it is exactly at those times that he calls us to become what God made us to be: light for each other. It is precisely at those times that he invites us to come down from the mountaintop into the valley, into the fog of confusion created by the seed of the evil of distrust, vindication, and self-righteousness. God invites us down from the mountaintop into the darkest valley to love God and others, share our burdens, and rise each other up.

We are what we are. We are sinners made saints. We are the tree that was burned down too many times and yet is never beyond repair. We are always worthy of His grace. We are all mercifully loved. We are the miracle of the holy seed that sprouts from the stump. We are good news to the vulnerable, the poor, and the oppressed. We are called to be light to the nations. We are the body of Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.