Sermon for Sunday February 8, 2004

Overtime Pay on the Mad Mouse by John Beehler

Luke 5:1-11

Overtime Pay on the Mad Mouse
I had a job once working as an inventory control analyst in a factory. Like most factories, this one operated round the clock with 3 shifts. I was one of three analysts, 1 per shift. We worked the swing shift. 2 weeks on each shift.
I liked 2nd shift, get up at 7am, all day to get things done. You know I’m not a morning person so 1st shift was okay, but 3rd shift, 11 p.m.-7am, the graveyard shift, that was the worst. Hate is such a terrible word but I really, really, really didn’t like working that shift.
And if working 11-7 wasn’t bad enough, sometimes one of the others would call off and the big boss (the materials manager, not God) would come down and say, “You’re not done yet. Bob called off and I need you to work over 4 hours today”. And you’re screaming in your head, “Noooo! Bob, you big jerk!” Or something similar.
All you want to do is go home climb into your nice warm, soft bed and sleep because it’s been a long, rough night. You’ve gotten all your paperwork filled out, written up all the orders, & mentally prepared yourself for the end of the shift. But then you find out you’re not quite done yet. The bed and sleep will just have to wait.
I think many of us can relate to Peter. Had a rough night, tying up the loose ends, cleaning his net, can’t wait to go home. Jesus finishes his sermon and says to Peter, “Hey let’s go fishing!” What He actually said was, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch!” And Peter’s response? “Nooooo!” Peter probably would have liked to told Jesus, “Hey you want to fish, go right ahead. I’m going home and going to bed.”
Now, keep in mind Jesus is a carpenter and Peter is a fisherman. Jesus knows how to build things and Peter knows how to catch fish. Peter has worked all night and not caught any fish. What Jesus asks him to do goes against everything he knows about fishing. It makes absolutely no sense. Peter has lived in the town by this lake his whole life. He has fished on this lake for years. He knows where to catch fish and when you can catch them.
Jesus says, “Let’s go fishing.” Or, “I need you to work overtime.” I can imagine the look on Peter’s face and what he’s thinking. “I’ve just finished cleaning and repairing my nets. Now this carpenter wants me to throw my CLEAN net back into the water where there are NO fish”.
But what is Jesus REALLY asking him to do? He’s asking him to trust.
Do you trust me enough to obey?
Do you trust me enough to throw you clean nets into dirty water?
Do you trust me enough to try again-even though you’d rather go home?
Do you trust me enough to do what I ask-even though it makes no sense?
Trust and obey! That’s what Jesus was really asking.
Peter offers a small objection, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing” but then resigns himself to the fact he’s stuck there for 4 more hours and says, “Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Peter tells Jesus that, common sense aside; he will trust and obey him. And that is just what he does. He looks beyond his own fishing expertise, beyond the arrogance that he doesn’t need anyone’s help in doing his job. He did what Jesus asked – this is the next step of faith – obedience, when it doesn’t make sense.
This isn’t unusual in the faith growing business that God is in. He has a rather interesting habit of asking those who listen to do something that doesn’t make sense.
Noah was told to build an ark to hold all the different animals in the world because God was going to flood the earth, even though it had never even rained before. That’s not really sensible is it?
Joshua was told by God to march around the walls of Jericho for six days in silence and on the seventh day to march around the wall seven times in silence and then to blow the trumpets. – Not exactly a sensible approach to taking a walled city by siege.
Namaan was leprous and Elisha told him to dip himself seven times in the Jordan River to be healed. The Jordan isn’t much more than a muddy creek. Nonsense!
God is in the business of growing faith. It would be nice if faith were like an escalator; but in reality it is more like a roller coaster.
If you’ve ever ridden a roller coaster you know what I’m talking about. Lots of ups and downs. The ups actually seem like the downsides and the downs are the upside of the ride. Do you understand that?
When you get on a roller coaster you start at the bottom and go up & up & up & up. And it seems like you’ll never get to the good part of the ride, the exciting part where you whoosh down the long hill.
That’s a lot like life. On the up part you sometimes struggle. It’s an uphill battle and you think you’ll never get to the good part of life. But you have faith that you will eventually reach the apex and life will get better.
Trouble is, when you get there and see what lies ahead, you start having second thoughts about this whole thing. And you think, “Why in the world did I ever want to get on this ride? I must be crazy!” Sometimes the ride is just a little bit more excitement than you can handle.
When I was a kid and went to the county fair I couldn’t wait until I was tall enough to ride the “adult” rides. The round-up, tip-top, ……and the mad mouse. The mad mouse was a roller coaster.
It had cars with pointy fronts, kind of like a mouse nose, big drops (at least to me), and when you came to a turn in the track it seemed like you weren’t going to make the turn. Scary. And I went on it once and never again. Now, though, I love roller coasters. That drop is exhilarating. Best part of the ride.
Peter is on a roller coaster ride. He just doesn’t know it, yet. He’s going up: I can’t wait to get home, “Peter, row me out. I’ve got something to say”, “Let’s go deeper”, “Put down your nets for a catch”.
Now Peter is at the top. And he’s got his eyes closed because he doesn’t see what’s coming, the exciting part of the faith ride. Because he was obedient, because he “endured” the uphill part of working overtime, rowing deeper, letting down the nets, he was about to be rewarded.
The ride is about to get exciting. BOOM! The lines on the nets go taut. The opposite side of the boat goes up in the air because the great weight of the fish is dragging down the other side. Just like the thrill of whooshing down the hill is almost too much, the weight of the catch is almost too much. The blessing for being obedient is almost too much. Almost.
In the next chapter, Jesus teaches the disciples, “Give and it will be given to you.” Too often we measure obedience with an eyedropper, but eyedropper faith gives only eyedropper rewards. We see over and over in the Bible where God gives abundantly.
Miracles of abundance like the manna in the wilderness (Exod. 16), the unending supply of oil 2 Kings 4:1-7), the feeding of the 5,000 (Matt. 9:12-17), and the wine at the wedding of Cana we discussed a few weeks ago.
This is an epiphany story for Peter. He finally sees the “big picture”. He finally understands that because he worked overtime, putting the good of the company ahead of his own wants and needs, because he was obedient, he was rewarded. And, as a result of this obedience, you could say he was “promoted”. He and the other disciples were “promoted” from fishermen to “fishers of men”. All because he finally sees things through the eyes of Jesus.
We often hold ourselves back because we look only at our own wants and needs. We fail to look at the big picture and be obedient for the good of the company. Earl Weaver is a former manager of the Baltimore Orioles. One of the players who played for him was Reggie Jackson.
Weaver had a rule that no one could steal a base unless given the steal sign. This upset Jackson because he felt he knew the pitchers and catchers well enough to judge who he could and could not steal off of. So one game he decided to steal without a sign.
He got a good jump off the pitcher and easily beat the throw to second base. As he shook the dirt off his uniform, Jackson smiled with delight, feeling he had vindicated his judgment to his manager.
Later Weaver took Jackson aside and explained why he hadn’t given the steal sign. First, the next batter was Lee May, his best power hitter other than Jackson. When Jackson stole second, first base was left open, so the other team walked May intentionally, taking the bat out of his hands.
Second, the following batter hadn’t been as successful against that pitcher, so Weaver had to send up a pinch hitter to try to drive in the men on base. That left Weaver without bench strength later in the game when he needed it.
The problem was, Jackson saw only his relationship to the pitcher and catcher. Weaver was watching the whole game. We, too, see only so far, but God sees the bigger picture. When he sends us a signal, it’s a good idea to obey, no matter what we may think WE know.
I worked a lot of overtime that year; brought home quite a bit of money, got a good evaluation and a nice raise. Unlike Bob who kept calling off. Peter worked overtime, too. He rowed out, dropped his clean nets, and brought in so many fish one boat couldn’t hold them all.
Peter rode the roller coaster. I’m riding the roller coaster. We went all the way to the top and were blessed with the whoosh down because we trust Jesus and are obedient to him. You, too, can ride the roller coaster. All you have to do is trust and obey. It’s not always easy, but oh man, what a ride!