God's pick: the fishermen: Epiphany 5C Luke 5

Looking at the way Jesus chose his first followers gives us a glimpse of the mind of God at work. Luke says that Jesus was walking along the lake shore. There he met some frustrated fishermen with nothing in their nets. He told them to go out again. They did as he asked and the catch stunned them. They knew they were meeting someone with great authority. And he asked them to come with him and catch people.

God's choices often stun and even offend us.

Jesus could have chosen richer or wiser men. Instead he chose the surprisingly ordinary people who he met out working along the shores of Lake Galilee. None of them had perfect faith, but they believed. None of them was always ready to do exactly as the Master asked them, but they were surprisingly bold despite their fears and doubts.

He ignored the religious establishment. Instead he went with the best and worst choices of all, the ones that we wouldn't have chosen because they were too imperfect or too unpolished.

Jesus unapproved choices for followers didn't stop on the shores of the lake. Look at the 12 and you can see the sinners. Look at the women who followed along side and you can see people with tough histories who chose to walk with the one who set them free from daemons or who remembered their dignity even if they were sinners.

Now look at the church today. Look at the sinners who are following him today. Look at the people who struggle with all kinds of challenges but who follow God through it all. It is clear that we are all called by the same God who called his first followers from the shore of Lake Galilee. God to bring the Good News to this real world. Look hard enough and you can see that the same God who could work through fishermen is still doing it today by working through all of us.