Kahu's Manao
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Sunday, Februay 7, 2010
The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika
“Into the Deep”
Isaiah
6:1-13 & Luke 5:1-11
All that was required was a bamboo pole, with a tsuji line, a
lead weight, a fish hook, and a raw shrimp or two and we were set for a
day or a night of fishing. Some may think of fishing as a sport but
for us it was a way of putting food on the table.
My mother always reminded us of that fact. Most of the time we would
complain about the hïnälea or ‘ala‘ihi stealing our bait. But
whenever we managed to hook a hïnälea or wrasse my mother would
promptly announce her preference for what would not end up on the dinner
table by loudly declaring:, “Ah, throw that one back in the water. That
one not so good for eat. Too slimy and stink.”
Or if we managed to catch an ‘ala‘ihi or squirrelfish she would
remind us: “That one get too much bones. Humbug for eat.” And
then she would caution us: “Remember, be careful when you unhook
‘em. Otherwise you going get poke.” The ‘ala‘ihi was
notorious for its sharp and prickly spine.
The line and hook that we used worked for a number of different fish but
depending on the kind of fish we were out to catch, my mother would be
the one to let us know if a change was needed. There were other times
during the fishing season when my dad would venture out on our canoe with
different kinds of nets to catch ‘ūpelu or akule. As
children, we were too young at the time to be of much help out on the ocean.
They measured the catch of the akule the by tons not pounds. Our
job was to make certain that when the canoe returned to the beach the tree
logs were down on the sand to help with rolling the canoe up to its resting
place.
We had to make sure that the pä kini or metal tubs were close
by for the transfer of the fish. It was always amazing to see the
fish thrashing about in the storage box filled with water and ice in the
center of the canoe.
The work involved some separation depending on the size of each fish. That
was done by the adults. Those more highly prized fish went to market
and those that were smaller but no less edible went to the families of
those who worked on the catch that day.
I never thought about how the fish may have felt getting caught on a hook
or in a net and yanked out of the ocean to meet a suffocating demise. It
was not until I came across the story in our reading from The Gospel
According to Luke that I found myself troubled by the metaphor of
applying nets to people. After instructing Peter, James and
John to let down their nets for a catch of fish, Jesus turns to Peter and
says: “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.”
The idea of “catching people” is troubling to me. After all the church
has a history of evangelism that some view as entrapment. The zealous
among us will insist, “Whatever it takes, we are going to win souls for
Christ.” (Luke 5:10) And though it may not be intentional,
the faith quickly becomes one of repression and oppression. We basically
set out to “squelch and squash” others with our zeal and enthusiasm.
Clearly that is not what Jesus intended. He had witnessed the lives
of Peter and other fishers in Galilee. In many ways, Jesus spoke
about things with which he was familiar as he instructed Peter to put out
into deep water and let down his net for a catch.
It has been said that when Jesus turned to Peter and said - “Do not be
afraid, from now on you will be catching people” (Op. cit.) –
something was lost in the translation from the Greek. What Jesus
is saying to Peter is that he will be “saving men and women alive” (The
Gospel of Luke, I. H. Marshall, Paternoster Press, 178, page 205)
for the kingdom of God.
Peter Eaton, the Dean at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver, Colorado, writes: “‘To
take men and women alive for the kingdom is a very different image from
simply catching them as though they are food to be consumed.” (Feasting
on the Word, Year C, Volume 1, Bartlett & Taylor, Westminster/John
Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2001, page 335) John Drury reminds
us that the verb is “used in the Septuagint” - which is the first and most
important of a number of ancient translations of the Hebrew Old Testament
into Greek – “to denote rescue from peril of death, not the capture of
animals – and so (it is) as inappropriate to fishing as it is appropriate
to the Christian mission which it initiates.” (Tradition and
Design in Luke’s Gospel, Darton, Longman & Todd, London, 1976,
page 67)
In other words, the work of the kingdom of God to which Peter, James and
John are called does not require dead fish, but human beings who are fully
alive – not creatures writhing in the last gasps before death, but people
living the life of the good news of God’s love in its fullness. (Feasting
on the Word, Year C, Volume 1, Bartlett & Taylor, Westminster/John
Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2001, page 335)
We are called to make disciples of others but the challenge we face is
how. How do we nourish others without force-feeding them? How
do we rescue persons from the peril of death, and then allow them to live
in freedom? (Op. cit.)
Peter, James, John and the other disciples were the first to receive the
teachings of God’s kingdom and reign. According to some scholars,
no less than eight of the twelve disciples fished for a living.
Some say the miracle of the story is not about the catch of fish but about
Peter’s response to Jesus’ teaching. Peter senses that the ways of
Jesus’ teaching cannot be contained in the same way the fishing nets were
not able to contain all of the fish. He also senses that what has
happened is a revelation of God at work and he quickly realizes that he
has fallen short of God’s intentions for his own life.
So he says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” (Luke
5:8) When
Jesus reassures Peter that he need not be afraid it is then that Peter
as well as James and John leave everything and follow him. To say
that their decision is radical would be an understatement. They leave
behind their work and their financial investment in equipment and fishing
rights. They also leave behind their families and a life that was
familiar to them.
Most of us may not be willing to make such a radical response. But
we know time and time again, God asks those born in each succeeding generation
what was asked of the prophet Isaiah centuries ago, “Whom shall I send,
and who will go for us?” (Isaiah 6:8)
Over the last several weeks we have invited those
of you who are members and friends of this church to prayerfully consider
serving in one of the ministries of this church. We are still in need
of a Secretary. We are still in need of others who may be willing to
serve on our Board of Trustees, Board of Christian Education and Board
of Mission & Outreach.
I hope that there are others among us like Isaiah who will say, “Here am
I. Send me.” Or that there will be others among us like Peter,
James and John who will respond to the invitation to live a life of faith
that is in service to others.
I was on Oʻahu for a meeting yesterday. It was there that I thought
about Isaiah, Peter, James and John and about ourselves when Sharon Matsuyama
from the Pukaʻana Church in Kealia, Kona shared the following story about
four other people. This is what she said:
This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and
Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked
to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody
could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about it, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody
thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t
do it. It ended that Everybody blamed Somebody, when Nobody did what
Anybody could have done.
Let me conclude by saying this to Everybody. We should never think
of ourselves as Nobody no matter what Anybody may say. Like Isaiah,
Peter, James and John we are Somebody and the God we have come to
know in Jesus Christ is always calling Somebody – and today as we gather
around this table to share the bread and the cup, it may be you.
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