You never know what a day will bring. When Elisha set out to work the field that fateful morning, he surely had no idea what was headed his way. Just another workday, it seemed, when out of the blue a man walked by him and tossed a coat on him. Suddenly his whole life was topsy-turvy. A farewell feast for family and friends, and then off he went to apprentice under Elijah. He would learn firsthand what it was like to be a prophet of Yahweh, the God of Israel. I wonder if Elijah began the teaching by telling him it was no bed of roses? If he complained to him as he had just complained to the Lord, that he had done things God’s way and it didn’t seem to pan out. “Yet, young man” the older prophet might have said: “don’t rely on your eyes or your own understanding. Speak His Word. Do what He bids you. He promised me that though I couldn’t see the result, seven thousand in this land still belong to Him, seven thousand who wouldn’t think of committing idolatry with Baal. I didn’t see it, though His Word had done it. I thought I was all alone. You’ll have days like that too. Just remember, you’re not.”
And what was running through Peter’s mind that fateful morning when he was cleaning his nets besides the Lake of Gennesaret? Up all night and casting, casting again and again, and coming up empty. He wasn’t fishing for pleasure, after all. It was a matter of income, of eating, of paying his bills. Did he wonder: why such a fruitless night, O God? Why do you let us work and work and pay no heed nor help us?
You never know what a day will bring. Suddenly there is a shadow in the morning light. A man standing beside them and asking if he could use their boat. Crowds gathered and the man talked and talked. Did Peter even listen? Maybe with at least half an ear as the nets were mended, washed, and carefully stowed away. Maybe the man went on talking for a while longer, and Peter and the others became restless. It was growing later and they were very tired and just wanted to lay down for a bit to rest.
At last the teaching came to an end. Or so it seemed. But you never know what a day will bring. The rabbi turned to Simon and looked him in the eye: “Put out in the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
Can you imagine the thoughts that chased through their mind? “The deep isn’t where you catch the fish; and in daytime they see the net and just swim away. Rabbi, you should maybe stick to teaching and leave the fishing to the experts, eh?” But if such thoughts arose, they quickly fled. The teacher hadn’t asked, after all; he had commanded. And the look in his eyes did not suggest it wise to do anything but what he said. With no doubt a sigh, Peter answers for them: “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Was he relishing already the thought of being able to pull the net up and say: “See, I told you it was pointless”? Before he could even think it, let alone say it, the vicious tug and suddenly the sea is alive, as though the Lord of the sea had commanded his fish to jump into their nets. The nets breaking, the boats swamped and even sinking, and their shock turns to terror as they turn back to the man who stood there.
On his knees Peter falls: “Go away. Leave. Get out of here. You can’t be hanging around me, Lord. I am sinful man.” Peter may not yet know the fullness of who this man is, but he knows holiness when he meets it. He feels the terror of his sin the way sinners always feels in the presence of One in whom there is none at all.
Comes the answer from the Master: “Do not be afraid. Do not fear.” That is, I have not come into the flesh to judge you, to destroy you, to pay you back. I have come into the flesh to save you and to restore you. To give you more in Me than you lost in Adam. And I’ve got a job for you. From now on, it won’t be fish; it will be men you are catching. Come!”
You never know what a day will bring. And so what started out as bummer of a workday ended up being the day of a major haul, and yet they walked away from it all. Like Elisha burning the yokes, slaughtering the oxen; they walked away from the old into the new. And they began to learn what it was to serve the God of Israel, the Lord of the Sea, who had come among them in human flesh and blood – not to terrify with His holiness, but to save in His righteousness.
What would they use to catch men? A net, a net supplied by the Lord. We call it the Gospel – the message of the cross, the word of the Crucified. They were witnesses to it all. They saw Him do what no mere man can do. They saw Him experience, what no apparition could experience. They came to know first hand that He was both God and man in one person. They learned He was God when He silenced the storm; they learned He was man when He was plum worn out, asleep in the boat. They learned He was God when He raised the dead; they learned He was man when He wept beside the grave of His friend. And they saw this God-man not merely do wonder after wonder, not merely give teaching after teaching, but they saw how He lived His teaching to the full – forgiving His enemies, doing good to those who hated Him, showing mercy to those who persecuted, betrayed, denied and killed Him. They saw it all with their own eyes – as He in unshakable trust, yielded up His body on the Tree, to give humanity back to the Father, to pour upon the world the blood that wipes out all sin, to enter death itself that He might blow it up from the inside out and open wide the Kingdom of heaven to all believers. They saw Him raised from the dead and they knew in that moment that their sins were forgiven. They received from His hand the blessed Spirit with the strength to go forth and bear witness. And so they did. They went out with a message of Christ crucified and told it to one and all: Your sins are forgiven! They were laid on the Lamb of God and He has taken them all away. Believe it, it is yours and it is true. God loves you, even you, sinner, even you. Come to Him, and taste His forgiving love. And so the message went out and goes out still.
No, you never know what a day will bring. You never know what will happen to your life when God bumps along into it, surprisingly claims you as His very own, His beloved, sinner though you be, and makes you a witness to His grace – putting the Gospel net into your hands.
You never know what a day may bring. Things may turn inside out and upside down. Hardships may come like never before – certainly it is what happened to Elijah, Elisha, and to the holy Apostles - but suddenly the hardships don’t have the power to crush you anymore. They become fellowship with the Crucified and Risen Lord and you know that at the end of it all – not matter what comes - is resurrection and life everlasting with Him.
You never know what a day may bring, but you know that as long as it is called today, He will be there for you, handing over His body and blood into your mouth as the comforting guarantee and seal of His forgiveness and your eternal future. And in such joyful assurance, you go with Him, casting the net over and over again as He pilots you across the sea of this troubled age to the far shore, to the Father’s house.
You never know what a day will bring, but with Him you know it will end in “good things that surpass all understanding” (Collect) and for that all praise, glory, and honor to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and to the ages of ages! Amen.
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