Note:  I am indebted to a sermon by the Rev. Earl Palmer for the approach to the text in this sermon. 

       Your whole life can change in a single afternoon.

        I shared a few years ago how I spent my first two years of Seminary working with Junior High students at Bel Air Presbyterian Church. For my final year I went to serve at a somewhat smaller congregation, St. John’s in West L.A. where I could have a different range of experience. The first activity I went to at St, John’s was a swim party for the Junior Highs.

        One of the youth workers, a young woman named Carol Brant, had decided not to attend this particular party -- even though she knew full well that I was going to be there. But her mother insisted. "You never know," she told Carol. "He might be the one."

        What a wise mother. 

       We don’t always recognize the big moments when they come. That is true for our lives today and it was also true for a group of men two thousand years ago. We read their story in John 1:35-42.

       John gives us quite a buildup to these verses! In the first eighteen verses of his gospel we meet some tremendous themes -- from the creation of the cosmos to the total amazement of God Himself becoming a human being in Jesus Christ. Then the brooding, intense figure of John the Baptist steps on the stage and points us to Jesus.  We talked about these verses before Christmas.

       The first four verses of our text from John for this morning read:

       "The next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said: 'behold, the Lamb of God.' The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and spoke to them..."

       Now if you take John's chronology and put it together with the other Gospels, these will be the first recorded words of Jesus to His disciples. Listen to them. These are the first recorded words of the Lord to them: "What do you seek? What do you want?"

       After the buildup that's quite a letdown. From the movie "The Greatest Story Ever Told" or "King of Kings" we've been led to expect something a bit more Hollywood -- like "I am the Messiah" or "I am the Son of God" -- complete with religious sounding music swelling in the background and special lighting. Instead the first words are a simple and rather unimpressive: "what do you want?"

       One of the men who hears this question is Andrew. The other is almost certainly John, the author of this Gospel. They reply with a polite question of their own: "Teacher, where are you staying?" Jesus answers: "come and see."

       John's life was formed by his love for Jesus. And here is where it all starts; in a very ordinary conversation -- a conversation that opens John and Andrew to a whole new reality.

       The disciples begin their Christian walk by simple, very ordinary steps -- just like I suspect the great majority of us became or are becoming His disciples by similar ordinary steps. Jesus begins where they are and where we are and shepherds us as we grapple with the meaning of our faith.

       When prospective members of our congregation meet with our Session, we spend some time sharing about our personal Christian experience.  It’s a wonderful time.  At times I have found that some people are reluctant to take part in this way. It's not that they don't believe or are too shy to speak but that they feel that they don't have anything dramatic to say -- something that would be a sure fire winner in a game of "top my testimony."

       But for every person who comes to Christ after being knocked down on a personal road to Damascus, there are another ten who come by a much quieter process. "What do you want?" "Where are you staying?" Come and see."

       C. S. Lewis made a Christian commitment because God overwhelmed his intellect. He describes himself as being "dragged kicking and screaming into the Kingdom of God -- the most reluctant convert in all England." In my own life, I wrestled with the truth of Christ for years until God bypassed my mind completely and touched my heart. Then my mind fell into place. If we were to stop and share right now, I suspect that we would find that we took many different roads to faith. We can share this way in our small groups.  We should not assume that our story is the only story nor should we covet one another's stories. There are many ways of coming to know Jesus Christ but he is equally the Lord of us all. That is our unity.

       John stresses that it is about the tenth hour when he and Andrew meet Jesus. This is about four o'clock in the afternoon according to the Jewish way of figuring. They know they have business with Jesus that can't be dealt with in a few moments beside the road. They spend the rest of the day with Him.

       John doesn't tell us what they talk about but it's enough to send Andrew to his bother Simon with the announcement: "we have found the Messiah." 

       Andrew brings Simon to Jesus. Jesus looks at him and says: "So you are Simon the Son of John. You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter -- the Greek word for rock). Jesus names Simon with a new name-- "The Rock" -- "Rocky."

       During these Sundays of Lent, from today through Easter Sunday, we are going to look at this man Jesus calls Rocky.  We will look at him each Sunday morning and then in our small groups during the week.  If you aren’t part of a small group, then march right over to Karen Bryan at the small group table and become part of a small group today. 

       I think you will enjoy and grow from this seven-week walk with the Rock and his Lord. Peter is the one disciple we can all relate to.  He has been described as a person who is consistently inconsistent.  He salutes Jesus as the Son of God and the very next moment tries to give instruction to the Son of God and receives a severe rebuke from Jesus. When he hears Jesus say, that night on the stormy Sea of Galilee, “It is I, do not be afraid!” immediately all his fear leaves him.  The next moment he tries to walk with Jesus on the water.  Then he is sinking and crying out in despair, “Lord, save me!”  At the Last Supper, he protests that Jesus must never wash his feet, and the next moment he asks Jesus to wash not only his feet but his head and his hands.  With splendid boldness, he draws his sword in the presence of a Roman cohort sword and strikes the servant of the high priest.  But within another hour he turns tail before the pointed finger of a servant girl and denies that he had ever known Jesus.

       That’s Peter.  But Jesus says, “You’re going to be the Rock.”

       There is a story that someone once came upon Michelangelo chipping away with his chisel at a huge, shapeless piece of rock. He asked the sculptor what he was doing. "I am releasing the angel in this marble," Michelangelo answered. "I need to take away everything that isn't part of the angel."

       That is what Jesus is going to do with Peter (and what Jesus continues to do in you and in me). Where everyone else saw only undependable Simon, Jesus saw what Simon could become. Jesus gives Simon a new name, and Simon spends the rest of his life trying to live up to it.  But if Simon is going to become Peter, it must be by his own choice.  He must be willing to follow. 

       Now let’s see where the willingness begins.

       As we read the other Gospels we sometimes get the idea that the disciples start with superhuman faith -- that they see Jesus for the first time by the Sea of Galilee and at His words "Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of people" threw down their nets in a decisive act of obedience. That’s what I was told in Sunday school through the magic of the flannel graph.

       But as we read John's gospel, we find that before the disciples responded to Jesus' call by the Sea of Galilee, they had already spent time with him in Judea. They had had the time and the opportunity to begin to come to a decision about this Jesus.  The first disciples went though the kind of processes we go through as we seek to assess the meaning if Jesus Christ for our own lives.

       Look at the call of Simon Peter. As we combine the information from all of the gospels we learn that when Jesus calls Peter to become a "fisher of men" it was far from being their first encounter. Peter is introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew. Peter then travels with Jesus to the wedding at Cana where he witnesses Jesus' first miracle and probably enjoys the wine Jesus makes.

       Now what is interesting is that this miracle is apparently not impressive enough for Peter to come to a wholehearted commitment to Jesus. For later, up in Galilee, Luke tells us that Peter is still checking Jesus out. Peter is still evaluating.

       Luke 4:31 tells us that "Jesus went to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And He was teaching on the Sabbath; and they were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority. And in the synagogue there was a man with a demon. The demon cried out with a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

       Jesus rejects this witness from a demon. He tells the demon to be quiet. And yet the people hear: "and they were all amazed and said to one another, 'what is this word? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.'"

       Peter is in that synagogue and sees and hears all of this.

       How do we know this? The next verse: "and Jesus arose and left the Synagogue, and entered Peter's house. And Peter's mother-in-law was ill. (This is the passage that shows us that Peter was married). And Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her."

       Peter and the other disciples hear about Jesus from John the Baptist. They hear Jesus Himself announce the gospel. They see the power of Jesus in changing water into wine, casting out demons and healing people. But this doesn't create the faith to rise up and follow. What does create the faith, at least for Peter, is something we don't expect.

       Luke 5 tells how Jesus is teaching the people by the lakeshore. The crowd presses in on Jesus so hard that He needs some space. He sees two boats by the lake. He gets into the boat that belongs to Peter and asks Peter to put out a little from the land. Then Jesus sits down and teaches the people from the boat. When Jesus finishes speaking to the crowd He says to Peter, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

       Peter answers, 'Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word, I will let down the net.'"

       Some interpreters use this as a wonderful sign of Peter's great faith. That's one interpretation. It makes Peter look very devout. But that interpretation doesn't explain how Peter responds at the end of the encounter. I think what actually happens is that Jesus watches Peter during His speech to the people. And Jesus knows He is not getting through to Peter.

       Earl Palmer comments: "We realize that up to now Jesus has not really gotten through to Peter. Peter has not really decided to follow Him all the way. Peter has seen many things happen, but still he is not fully convinced. He hears John the Baptist's speech. He maybe sees that amazing baptismal scene where the dove came down. His own mother-in-law is healed. But all this evidently did not impress him enough to convince his mind and heart completely. He watches a great crowd of people coming with all kinds of diseases, and that evidently does not impress him. He hears demons scream out, "You are the King. You are the Son of God," and that does not get to him.

       But something does get through to Peter. That's the event that is about to occur.

       It's not recorded as a miracle. It is just recorded that Jesus is a better fisherman than Peter. That's all! All Jesus does is help the disciples catch fish in the middle of the afternoon. Peter could not catch them at night. Jesus catches them in the middle of the afternoon."

       Try to enter the text and Peter's feelings: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.” In other words, “We fished at the right time. You are a carpenter. You live up in Nazareth. You may not know when expert fishermen are supposed to fish. We fish at night around here. It is now two in the afternoon. You are going to fish now? Then we have to dry these nets again and roll them up for tonight? Is that what You want? All right! If that's what You want, we will do it. Then that will end all this discussion about fishing between us. You can use my boat for teaching, but let me use it for fishing."

       I think that's the way Peter's internal dialogue may have gone, but Luke shortens it. "But at your word I will let the nets down." I don't think that was necessarily said in a pious tone of voice. It probably had overtones of resignation and sarcasm. He only does it because he owes Jesus one for healing his mother-in-law -- and she is worth at least one pointless fishing trip.  (My mother-in-law is worth a lot more than that because she pointed Carol in the right direction.)

       "And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come, and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so they began to sink."

       Now notice what happens. "When Peter sees this, he falls down at Jesus' knees and says: 'depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!'"

       Peter did not say that when his mother-in-law was healed. He didn't say it when Jesus turned water into wine. He did not say that when he saw the demons coming out of other people. He did not say it when John the Baptist talked about Jesus. He said it when Jesus out fished him.

       Luke wants us to know that this fishing incident played a major part in convincing Peter and these other disciples to follow Christ. The event was aimed and directed at them. Jesus said to Peter, 'do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching people.' When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him."

       What happens in this event is that Jesus makes contact with Peter where Peter really is. It is a less than cosmic event that finally gets through to Peter.

       This makes sense. Peter doesn't know much about medicine. He does not know much about demons. He does not know much about wine on the production side. But he does know fishing so fishing is where Jesus proves His Lordship.

       There is only one way to finally win Peter, and that is to take him out in that boat. Peter hears Jesus talk and it goes right through him. He hears about three weeks of speeches and it does not make a deep mark upon him. But Jesus goes out and catches one catch of fish, and Peter falls down on his face and says, "Depart from me for I am an unclean man."

       The one thing Jesus does not do is go away.  He stays with Peter and, in effect, says to him, “Yes, Peter, you are a sinner.  But a sinner isn’t all you are.  You are so much more than sinner that instead of my going away from you, I want you to come with me.  I want you to follow me and to become a fisher for human lives.”

       An American tourist was driving through a small town in Europe.  He asked a man in the town square, “Where there any great men born in this town.”  The man replied, “No, just tiny babies.”

       That’s where Peter started.  That’s where we all start when we meet Jesus – even if we are sixty years old when we come to faith.  Jesus in love challenges the best in Peter and calls forth everything that Peter is capable of becoming.

       He will do the same with us.