Why do we ever doubt Jesus? I don’t know why we do – but I know that we do. We are no different from skeptical Simon. In this story, Jesus had just finished “preaching the Word,” and from all accounts that we know, he was no wimp of a preacher. His sermons washed over the lives of sinners, healed those who were diseased or broken, and satisfied the masses that they were indeed loved by God. When he got done preaching – lives were changed – except when they weren’t.

Simon had heard the good news of God’s Word from Jesus’ own lips. Simon had been attentive to Jesus’ teaching from his own boat. Then professional fisherman Simon was asked to do something about it. Jesus says to him, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” You’d think Simon would be ready, eager even to see just what the Master would do. But no! Simon starts out with the excuses. “We’ve worked all night.” “We didn’t catch a thing.” “We resident fishermen know what we’re doing – son of a carpenter.” “This is how we’ve ALWAYS done it. Our fishing is over for today.” “What do you know that we don’t already know?” “All our best data tells us that we’ve exhausted our catch.”

Jesus doesn’t really pay much attention to the excuses; can’t get a rise out of him. Jesus refuses be hooked. So perhaps to humor this traveling teacher, or perhaps to prove him not much of a fisherman – Simon does what Jesus asked of him: he puts out his nets – he goes deeper.

So how often is Jesus asking us to “Go deeper?” But we choose to say, “No thank you.”

We too have heard God’s Word proclaimed. Maybe we’ve even gone to a Sunday School class to learn something more. Now it’s time for lunch with our friends. We get our dose of religion, enough to inoculate us from being part of the no-religion club – then we carry on as if nothing really happened to us, nothing changed, ho hum, glad that’s over for the week.

Jesus is calling us – “Go deeper. Let out your nets in unfamiliar waters. “ Like Isaiah was called in the temple – God says to us, “Who will go and deliver my message?” but we try to look small, not make eye contact, and hope that God will finally appoint someone else. What if instead we said, “Here I am, send me,” or even if did as Simon did and just try to play along?

What if we trusted God – more? Jesus says, “Go deeper. Try something different,” and we are afraid, terrified even. That’s what excuses are, my friends, a big cover up for our fear. We are afraid to fail, but maybe we are even more afraid to succeed. Greatness, especially spiritual greatness, is a very scary thing. If we know the stories, even a little bit, we will know that achieving spiritual greatness puts us at odds with the rest of the world. Spiritual greatness attracts crowds, big crowds of people who might not be like us. In those crowds, we might find ourselves face to face with the hungry, the captive, the poor, the oppressed, and a multitude of those whose lives are broken by disease or despair. Spiritual greatness takes huge commitments of time, money, energy, and imagination we may not feel we have to give. And spiritual greatness means that we will give, and give, and give again – we will give of who we are, and we will give up who we are. Spiritual greatness means letting go of our sense of control, and letting God’s path become our own.

Go deeper. Trust God. Risk your reputation to invest in unfamiliar territory. Wow. That’s a tall order, but look what happens. The nets come back full, full to breaking, so full that the fishermen have to yell for help. This is not just a story about fish. It is a story about us. The “duh-huh” moment occurred when people realized that all that Jesus was preaching and teaching about God’s abundance was absolutely true – they got it because they saw it with their very own eyes. Sure, I can preach about going deeper, trusting God, and letting go. I can tell you that it will absolutely knock your socks off when you do, and some of you will hear me, some of you may even believe me, but others won’t because they need some sort of proof to take that leap of faith. Now Jesus, Jesus did the ultimate object lesson. He showed them beyond a shadow of a doubt that life in him would be a life of joy, and fulfillment, and abundance to the point of excessiveness. Those bursting nets surely made a difference that day.

What if we could accept that sign of life as inspiration for this church, for this community of the faithful? What if we could go deeper, trust God, and risk looking like absolute fools so that we might experience the exponential spiritual excitement that comes with taking that leap? What if things got so crazy full here that we had to ask for help? Oh dear – maybe we could even open up another Sunday School room in the Education building! Some of us most certainly would be amazed, excited, and joyful to see actual signs of the abundant life Jesus promises. Others of us may be like Simon and fall to our knees, recognizing our own sinfulness in the face of such glory. For too often, it is our pride holding us back. It is our fear preventing us from being the church that God calls us to be. It is our worry about what others might think that keeps us tethered right where we are instead of venturing into uncharted territory. And it is our own reluctance to put our trust in Jesus that keeps our nets empty when they could be full to bursting.

This story about a great catch of fish is meant to be a story about us. Jesus makes that point clear as he connects the visual to exactly what he wants his newbie disciples to do. He recruits them by saying, “You saw what just happened – well, now do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” And then, at the very end of this story, we are told that these former fishermen, Simon, James, and John, left everything, they LEFT EVERYTHING to follow him.

For the disciples who followed Jesus, their lives would continue to be full of surprises. The full catch of fish was just the beginning. They continued to watch as he taught and healed, as he challenged authority and comforted the downtrodden. Sometimes they were amazed; other times they were frightened. But it would be skeptical Simon who gets a new name, Peter, and then builds the community of the faithful by the thousands after Jesus death.

Yes, we may still make our excuses. Yes, we may be reluctant to trust in God to provide. Yes, we may be embarrassed to try new things or go deeper because we are far too comfortable with where we are. But when we give up our need for control and truly accept that Jesus will enlighten our way, we will be overjoyed by the surprises. Though I am not always successful, I try to live by that path myself, and I can tell you that when I am able to cast my proverbial net in the deeper, stranger waters, I always find something more than I ever asked for. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus tells us, “from now on you will be catching people.” Let’s leave our small lives behind and follow Jesus.

Amen.