The Fifth Sunday after Trinity – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. Luke 5:1-11 “Caught in the Net of Christ’s Grace”
July 5, 2026 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
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Lord God, heavenly Father, we all like sheep have gone astray, having allowed ourselves to be led away from the right path by Satan and our own sinful flesh. We beseech You graciously to forgive us all our sins for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ; and enliven our hearts by Your Holy Spirit that we may abide in Your Word, and in true repentance and a steadfast faith continue in Your Church unto the end, and obtain eternal salvation; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 158)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 5th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
And when [Jesus] had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, the One who has brought you all here this day, to teach, preach, and to graciously give to you the forgiveness of all your sins, dear fellow redeemed:
What do you do when you live in town and you have varmint trouble? Maybe you just have a rock chuck who has decided to call the underside of your shed His home. Maybe he isn’t hurting anything, but what about the raccoons or the skunks? There are a few options to deal with such a problem. Depending on the size and type will depend on the trap you most likely will use. For the smallest of critters, maybe a simple snap trap or glue trap will do the trick. As the critters increase in size, the traps increase in size. While traps can be used to capture creatures to get rid of them, some use traps to keep the things they have caught. The trap that comes to mind is a net. A net is made out of a material designed to be easy to get out and not hurt what is inside. A net can be used to capture and not kill. And here you are, sailing in a boat on the sea of life, protected safe as you are caught in the net of Christ’s grace.
Being caught in any kind of net doesn’t sound like fun, but the Savior knows what He is doing. With the imagery of our text, He paints a picture of how He catches and brings us straight to His wonderful side. As the disciples toiled all night, which can be a great time to catch fish, there are a few ways in which they could haul in their earnings. The net most likely used was a casting net, which was thrown out in a skillful way so it would spread out into a circle and sink, capturing whatever is below it. They also may have used drag nets. A net that grabs any fish in its way. And while I have even made comments about how unlucky these fishermen were as we see our Lord helping them out a few times where they caught nothing, they must have had some decent success as we see on the night of Christ’s betrayal how these fishermen were able to get to places normal people couldn’t get to. Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest (John 18:15). With nets of fish, John is in touch with leaders in Jerusalem.
And he went into the courtroom following the One who had caught him with a net. A true “fisherman” as He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” The definition of telling someone who took a few tries to complete a task, to be told to do it over again. This was a very important lesson with many lessons to come. And they would be tough lessons. As we see with Peter’s response, he takes all of Jesus’ Word head on, listens and trusts in what the Teacher has to say. And the Word of Jesus’ speaks truth as Peter is hauling in nets full of fish. Simon Peter has witnessed a miracle revealing the power of Jesus’ Word, and Simon realizes as a sinner he shouldn’t be in Jesus’ divine presence.
This is the strong response and this response has its powerful moments. In the world today this moment is also mostly absent. We like the first response and we can hear ourselves saying, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.” This is the response of complete trust. A trust where we have to doubt the impossibility of what can happen. And when we do see miracles, which we do see because we come into this sanctuary, our proper response is the one we start each and every service by saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” This response is an echo of the past. As we celebrated last Sunday, that celebration was because of a wonderful grace given to us. Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) To be here is to admit this.
So, where is the remedy for us that we can go from saying woe is us, to trusting in His Word? To trust in His Word means to continually want to hear His Word as the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God. Everything Jesus does is to fulfill and preach the Word of God. Since this is the most important thing to hear and listen to, this is where all focus needs to be. In our text we are witnessing an early form of catechism class. The definition of a catechumen is one who hears of the Word of God. To hear is to believe. To learn is to hear these accounts preached over and over again as the preaching comes first. This is Christ’s gracious net with everything else also happening as a result of the Word. A great result for the faith held on by those who believe. For the most part, what is happening as has happened for all time, is there are many who do not believe and reject the Word. To come in here and to hear preaching means we fully accept we will hear a message that will touch our heart and soul in a way that should make us uncomfortable. The longer we go without hearing the law of God, the easier it is to be set in our ways and to think that God isn’t around us. And this is far from the truth. We are gathered into the heavenly Father’s net. A net where there will be sorting. A net that points out God’s presence and judgement for us. We must have both of Peter’s reactions.
We will continue to live on the sea of life learning these reactions. Here in the presence of God, He isn’t sitting idly by. He teaches about the sinfulness of man and the search for redemption. And this search will only point to the net He has thrown out to catch His fish and fishermen alike. He pulls us in, starting us off at the beginning. Jesus demonstrates this as He called these fishermen to train them as disciples, which is someone who is a learner, into an Apostle or someone who is an envoy. Simon has a lot to learn to follow the Son of God. He doesn’t know the extent of what his failures will be and the sins that will be committed by him in the presence of God, but as he commits them like any human being, they aren’t disqualifying him. Instead, Jesus continues to remain in his presence, calling them to become fishers of men, using the Gospel in Word and sacrament to gather His people. As this is a test of Simon’s faith, our faith is tested. He points us to the work as we witnessed last week that is not done alone. We work together with the net and when the catch is landed, in the words, “Do not be afraid,” Jesus is telling Simon his sins are forgiven, and with confessing we aren’t worthy of being here He forgives us too.
In His call to you, this is a message that you must hear every time as the struggles for daily bread, sin, and doubt can make God feel distant. But here is Jesus continuing to call men to bring the Gospel, the bread of heaven to feed all. For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers. “Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them (Jeremiah 16:15b-16a). From the Old Testament waiting to be led out of captivity, the Word of history echoes as Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him. As these men leave behind their homes to throw out Christ’s gracious net of grace, you put behind your sinful lives through hearing the Words, “Do not be afraid.” For in His gracious net He says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37). Being called and chosen out of the net, with the forgiveness shed on the cross, He rightly has your trust. A trust He will never break.
This trust will never be a dangerous trap. It is a trust in His process and His patience, for He does fill His net. And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. Sink, they did not, and neither will you in His Church as you are taught, But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:14-15). He guides your studying and learning so when the time comes, your trust will be in the promises of grace from His cross. This is the main teaching heard in this nave, this ship. And with the discovery of the presence of God that is found in this ship, the presence of God is in His church, you see His same order of taking care of those He has caught with catechesis, Baptism, and Lord’s Supper. Here is His net laid out for you and in it you see His presence. This presence through the teaching of Word and sacrament will carry you through any storm and night. The church may shake to and fro, but He endures to not cast out, to capture you, and to be faithful to you with His salvation. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
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