The Fifth Sunday after Trinity – July 20, 2025Psalm 27; 1 Kings 19:11-21; 1 Peter 3:8-15St. Luke 5:1-11
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.[1]
St. Peter’s work as a fisherman does not interfere with his
attention to the Word of God, nor does his attention to the Word of God
interfere with his work. In fact, they go hand-in-hand. One of the curses of
the fall was that ‘by the sweat of his brow shall man eat bread.’[2]
This curse of God is not just a punishment. It is, in fact, a barrier to sin.
Needing to work in order to eat combats the sins of sloth and envy. It is our
sinful nature that turns this barrier to sin into yet another avenue for sin,
namely greed.
The reading for today also places the Third and Seventh
Commandments into their proper order. St. Peter first loans his boat to Christ and
then casts his net into the deep water. Attention to the Word of God must
always come before our work. If we are to be fed by the work of our hands, it
must be blessed by God. If God is to bless our work, it must be done in faith
toward Him and in love toward our neighbor. And in order for this to happen, we
must keep the Sabbath holy by gladly hearing, receiving, and learning God’s
Word.
Now make no mistake, every day is a Sabbath rest in Christ.
Every day is to be kept holy and everything is sanctified, made holy, by the
Word of God and prayer. Therefore, the reception of and learning from God’s
Word is not an activity reserved for Sunday morning. It isn’t even reserved for
your morning and evening devotion. St. Paul commands us to pray without ceasing.[3]
The proper understanding of this command is that everything we do should be
done in the knowledge that God has placed this work before us. Obedience to the
Seventh Commandment relies on obedience to the Third.
If we gain our bread by the sweat of our hands, then why pray, ‘give us this day our daily bread’? The simple answer is that we do not gain our bread by our work. God gives daily bread to all creation even without our prayer. But we pray this petition that God would lead us to recognize that all bread, meat, and possession comes from His hand; and that we would rightly give Him thanks for it. We must work for our daily bread but anything that comes from our work is only delivered by the grace and mercy of God. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”[4]
Why not spend an additional 30 seconds in your car before
going into work for the day, praying that God would bless your work this day?
And then the same as you return home from work, giving thanks that you have
been able to serve your neighbor in faith? Or why not sing hymns throughout
your day, in your head if necessary or out loud if your job allows for it?
Imagine what it would be like if you sit down for lunch with your coworkers and
rather than starting your conversation with, “how bout them Royals,” you
started with, “God really has been good to me that I can sit here and enjoy
this meal with you.” Or better yet, “Say, I’ve been thinking about how David
ate the showbread when he was running from Saul. What do you think about that?”
Now, I understand not everyone has coworkers who are open to, let alone capable
of, a conversation about the nuances of the Old Testament. But at the same
time, have you ever tried?
Now we also learn from St. Peter that we mustn’t let the
Word of God idly bounce off our eardrums, but we must put it into practice.
After hearing the teachings of Jesus, when our Lord told him to cast his nets,
St. Peter responded, “At Your word I will let down the net.” Remember that in
this situation, St. Peter is the expert in the field. Our Lord is a prophet.
What does He know about fishing? Yet at the Word of the Lord, St. Peter’s
actions are affected. He hears the Word and acts accordingly. If the Word of
God takes firm root in our hearts, then we can be certain that our professional
activities are pleasing to God. And when I say ‘professional,’ don’t get too
bothered. If you are a mother, you are a professional mom. If you are a
gardener, you are a professional, no matter what your tax filing says.
“If God’s Word illumines our endeavors, we will recognize
that we are unworthy, that we are not worthy of even a crumb of bread. For
God’s Word teaches us this, that we are all unworthy of His blessings.
“If God’s Word illumines our endeavors, we will not become
impatient and resentful when the Lord God at times delays His blessings and we
suffer want.
“If God’s Word shines forth in the work of our calling, we
will not ascribe it to our cleverness and efforts when He gives it His
blessing. This is taught in God’s Word as well, that we should not kiss the
work of our hands nor sacrifice to the ‘net’ of our labors.[5]
“If God’s Word shines forth in our labors, we will not only
be courteous to our neighbor but also helpful and compassionate, and turn away
from temporal things and seek the treasure and joy of our hearts in God. This
is because God’s Word teaches all these things.”[6]
Finally, we must also see St. Peter’s boat as a picture of
the Church. Christ is in the boat, and it is from this boat that the Word of God
is proclaimed to the world. So too, Christ is present here, amid the gathering
of His people, and it is here, in the Church, where His Word is proclaimed for
all the world to hear. This alone makes Peter’s boat more precious than the
greatest merchant’s ship, laden with gold and jewels.
It is also in this boat that a great haul of fish is caught at
the very word of Christ. In the Church, the great nets of heaven are filled
with men and women, caught fast by the Word of God.
And just as the nets begin to rip open at the weight and
fighting of the fish, so too the Church of God has been rent apart by schism
because of false teachings and the vexing spirit of man. The world is a
tumultuous sea in which everything swims at random, and there are huge predatory
fish who prey on others. But out of the great kindness and mercy of God, His
net is cast far and wide to gather men by His divine teaching into the boat of
His Church.
Now to be sure, there are fish even in the boat who
continue to struggle against that Word. They tear holes in the net and want
nothing more than to rejoin the chaos of the sea. The broadly cast net catches
fish of all kinds. Even for those fish who submit to their Captor, desiring to
remain in the boat, this causes pain and suffering. They may even be caught in
the struggle and fall overboard.
Among these stubborn fish, we can see St. Peter, himself. At
the first sign of struggle, danger, and even imminent death, he does two
things. First, he humbly confesses his sin – both the sins he actively commits
and his very sinful nature. But second, he makes that horrible plea that Christ
would depart from him.[7]What
we do not see Peter do is remain silent. Seeing the tearing nets and the
sinking boat, he does not decide to sit down and give up without a word to his fishing
companions or to Christ. He goes to the source. He speaks up. He is willing to
suffer the humiliation of saying something blasphemous if only to remedy his
sorry state.
Peter was right to humbly confess his sins because he is a
sinful man. He was wrong to beg Jesus to depart from him. He wanted the
blessing of God without the presence of God because it was too difficult for
him to bear. And on such a one as this, even when making the wrong statement
about the presence of Christ, our Lord has mercy on Him. St. Peter had yet to
learn that so long as Christ is present, he had everything he would ever need –
be it a time of feast or famine. In the darkness of night, he had caught
nothing. In the presence of Christ, he had everything he could ever need, even
if it came with a time of suffering.
And so it is with all of you. You are present with Christ in
the boat today. The fish have been gathered. Our pews are not full to the
bursting, but the haul of Christ’s net is. Aside from your personal struggles,
we face financial difficulties and personal strife. Do not be tempted to cast
off Christ for the sake of your temporal gain – be it money, possessions, friendships,
or relations. Do not be afraid. Christ is in this boat. He has pulled you from
the tumultuous sea even as He has dived to its depths. He spent three days in
the sea of death that you would never have to face it again.
Is your comfort worth fleeing the net of Christ’s salvation?
Is your job worth breaking the Third Commandment? Or are you willing to forsake
all and follow Christ? Are you willing to be changed by the blood of Jesus
Christ such that you will follow Him in every way, including standing before
God and man to say, “I am a sinful man. Lord, if I have You alone, then I
expect nothing of heaven and earth. Though both my body and soul were to
languish, You, God, are still ever the comfort and portion of my heart.”[8]
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
[1]
This sermon is inspired by and follows the general outline of Johann Gerhard,
“On the Fifth Sunday after Trinity,” Postilla, Volume 2 (Malone, TX:
Repristination Press, 2007), 58-67.
[2]
Genesis 3:19.
[3]
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.
[4]
St. Matthew 6:33.
[5]
Habakkuk 1:16.
[6]
Gerhard, Postilla, 63.
[7]
St. Luke 5:8.
[8]
Cf. Psalm 73:25-26.
