Homily

After this miraculous catch of fish Peter falls to his knees and says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” I think this is very impressive, this act of humility on Peter’s part. I think if it had been me I would have said, “Can you do it again?” I would have been thinking big bucks and buying bigger boats. I would have cut Jesus in for 30% at least. But Peter recognizes that this man is no ordinary man. That’s why he goes back out onto the water again to drop the nets. At first, he calls Jesus “master,” but after this miracle his language changes and he calls Him “Lord.” Let’s not think that Peter believed Jesus was God here, but “Lord” was the highest title he could use on Jesus. He is aware, deeply aware, that God is somehow working in Jesus.

It’s a miracle, a great miracle. There are a good number of miracles in the Gospels. Jesus did not begin His mission in order to work miracles, but He did work out miraculous deeds from time to time, which pointed to His divine mission even if they did not always lead to people thinking He was divine. Imagine being one of His disciples and seeing these miracles from time to time! A blind man sees, a young dead girl comes back to life, lepers are instantly cured, and others are healed as well. The miracles pointed to the divinity of Jesus but no miracle ever convinced these disciples that Jesus was the Son of God. Only faith could do that. We remember the desertion that happened at the time of His crucifixion, and even the few who stayed loyally at His side when He hung on the cross could not understand what His predictions about a resurrection really meant. It took faith and time for them to put it all together.

Imagine being there to see these miracles. But our modern age does not have much sympathy for miracles. Ever since the age of Enlightenment things have grown darker as far as recognizing miraculous events. By reducing all of creation, either virtually or actually, to the material world many of the great men of the Enlightenment era saw no need to believe in, or at least not talk about a reality that is greater than what we can see, or touch, or experiment on. This even crept into some areas of Protestant theology, where Biblical miracles were treated as natural events that could be explained using natural causes, or else the miracles were described as stories made up to teach something.

So, what about miracles? Have you ever seen a miracle or experienced a miraculous event in your life? Once I found a parking spot very close to the airport terminal, and once I was the only person in line at a checkout counter at Costco. But have you ever witnessed a miracle?

Thomas Jefferson’s New Testament was a tribute to Enlightenment thinking. He cut out all the miracles from the four Gospels in his Bible because they had no meaning for him, and it appears he thought they were fiction. Jesus was not a miracle worker, just a great teacher of moral philosophy, so we don’t need to spend time talking about these falsely-created stories that went against the scientific understanding of the world, which all educated folk understand to be the genuine way to discover truth and explain reality. I read a letter in the paper recently which explained why science is a superior and better way to understand the world than religious faith. He wrote that science is always asking questions and seeking the truth, and ready to change its opinions if it finds that this idea or that theory is not correct, whereas religious faith is not willing to change in the light of new evidence. So, what he is saying is that it’s a better thing to have a truth that can change rather than a truth that is certain and eternal. Amazing but not surprising.

Do you believe in miracles? How many times have you prayed for something and after a short time given up on praying, because you don’t believe it will happen, or because it hasn’t happened yet, or you think God isn’t going to help out so why bother to keep asking? I surely am guilty. And maybe there’s an attitude of “this is how the world works, so why keep asking for something different?” Do we truly believe the God Who loves us can work miracles for us and those we pray for? Or is there an expiration date on our prayers for something? “Prayers for healing best prayed before 10/15/17.” And after that we quit? It reveals something very true about the way we see God, doesn’t it?

Then there are people who have given up on faith because they prayed for this thing or that but no miracle happened, so they no longer believe, or at the very least, they no longer care about God. What does that show about the way they understand God? Not that He is their creator Who loves them beyond any understanding, not that He has a plan and a goal for each of us, and not that He desires all to live in His love and life forever. But rather He is seen as God Who won’t give me what I want, and therefore I’m done with Him. How different is that from a child who hates his parents because they won’t let him do this or that, they won’t give her what she wants? “No, you can’t eat any more Halloween candy now and you have to go to bed.” When people are angry with God because He will not perform the miracle they are asking of Him, or even granting a non-miraculous result for something, I think it shows their lack of understanding about Who God is, and turns the Almighty into a sort of personal power Who must do as I ask, or else I’ll just not care about Him. Imagine if a child’s love for his parents was based on whether or not they always gave him what he asked for. Or because they would not give her this thing or that thing, she is completely done with them. But what about us? Do we believe in a God Who can work miracles? Do we believe in a God Who loves us beyond any measure? Do we believe He desires our good at all times? Or do we prefer to see the world as a place that I can best manipulate and try to control all on my own so that I can be happy?

At the end of the Gospel reading Peter, James and John were not totally converted. But they left their huge catch of fish, their boat, and nets and family and their old way of life to seek out a kingdom that was greater than this world. May His kingdom come, may His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.