Readings, hymns and sermon ideas for Sunday 10 February 2019, Fourth Sunday before Lent

‘He saw two boats there at the shore’ … two fishing boats at the Quays in Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Next Sunday, 10 February 2019, is the Fourth Sunday before Lent.

The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland are:

Readings: Isaiah 6: 1-8 (9-13); Psalm 138; I Corinthians 15: 1-11; Luke 5: 1-11.

There is a direct link to the readings HERE.

Introduction to the readings:

The call of Isaiah, the call of Saint Paul, and the renewed call to some of the disciples, including Peter, James and John come not to people who feel they are worthy to this call, or have inherited a call or have a right to speak on God’s behalf.

Isaiah is the Temple when he hears and responds to God’s call. The Psalmist is in God’s presence in the Temple when he finds God answers his prayer and gives him a new calling or new spiritual gifts. Saint Paul recalls his own call after all the other disciples have been called. Peter, James and John are called not only to speak on Christ’s behalf, but to do what he commands and to follow him.

In all these readings, Isaiah, the Psalmist, Saint Paul and then Saint Peter, all express their feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness, yet accept God’s call to speak in God’s name unconditionally and in faith.

‘I saw the Lord sitting on a throne … Seraphs were in attendance above him’ … a fresco in the church in Piskoiano, outside Iraklion in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Isaiah 6: 1-8 (9-13):

The setting for this reading is in the year King Uzziah died, 742 BC. Assyria is expanding its borders, and the northern kingdom, Israel, is trying to coerce Judah into a military alliance against the threat from Assyria.

In this reading, the Prophet Isaiah hears his call from God to be a prophet.

Isaiah has a vision of God enthroned, surrounded by seraphs or winged angels, each with six wings. They cover their faces with one pair of wings, their feet with a second pair, and use the third pair for flying.

Each pair of wings represents one of the three aspect of their work on God’s behalf, in humility, modesty and obedience.

The acclamation ‘Holy’ is repeated three times for emphasis (verse 3). This word identifies God as all-holy, sinless, and set apart from earthly things. God is the Lord of hosts and rules over the whole earth and all peoples.

Isaiah is in the Temple when the gates shake with an earth tremor that he understands as a sign of the presence of God. Smoke too is a sign of the divine presence, as is the cloud of glory in the desert (see Exodus 40: 34).

Isaiah feels unclean and unworthy in the presence of God, and yet he sees God. He sees the people as unworthy too, but one of the seraphs purifies him, rendering him fit to speak God’s word to his people.

When God asks who he should send as his messenger or prophet, Isaiah volunteers to be this prophet. God accepts his offer, but he warns Isaiah that most people will not hear God’s message and will fail to understand it, preferring instead their old, traditional, corrupt ways.

While a small number of people, the ‘stump’ (verse 13), will accept it, most will reject it and be destroyed. Even the remnant will endure difficult times.

Within nine years, Assyria had invaded and had made Judah a puppet state.

‘It will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled’ … an old tree stump in a churchyard in Kilkenny (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Psalm 138:

Psalm 138 thanks God for his steadfast, enduring love and for his care for his faithful followers. When he calls upon God, God not only answers him but gives him a new calling or makes him more confident spiritually: ‘you increased my strength of soul’ (verse 3).

The psalmist then sings a hymn of praise. All the rulers of the earth shall praise God, who cares for the lowly but distances himself from the proud and haughty.

The psalmist’s faith in God is strengthened, and he grows in his trust in God, knowing God’s love endures for ever.

‘All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord’ (Psalm 138: 4) … a depiction of King Charles I in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I Corinthians 15: 1-11

In the Epistle reading (I Corinthians 15: 1-11), we have the earliest New Testament account of the Resurrection. Saint Paul has heard that some people in the Church in Corinth deny the physical resurrection of the body, claiming that only the spirit matters. Here he argues against this view. He says: I draw your attention to the ‘good news’ I proclaimed to you, which you received, and ‘in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved’ (verses 1-2), assuming that you all hold to it.

Those he addresses are challenged to note the form of the words he uses, unless, in not accepting the message fully, they ‘have come to believe’ to no purpose. The most important tenets he hands on are: ‘Christ died for our sins’ (verse 3); ‘he was buried’ (verse 4), in other words, he really died physically; he ‘was raised ...’ and appeared to various persons and groups. His death, burial and rising again are ‘in accordance with the scriptures,’ and are part of God’s plan.

Only the appearances to Peter or Cephas (verse 5), and to the ‘twelve’ are recalled in the Gospels. Saint Paul says he was the last to see the Risen Christ, the ‘least of the apostles’ (verse 9). Yet, through ‘the grace of God’ (verse 10), he has achieved more than any other apostle.

Saint Paul tells us that the Risen Christ first appeared to Cephas (Peter), then to the twelve, then to 500 at one time, then to James, then to all the apostles, and finally to Paul himself (see I Corinthians 15: 3-8).

Why does Saint Paul not name the women?

What does Saint Paul count all 12 disciples?

Why does Saint Paul name Saint Peter but not Saint John?

And why does he name Saint James separately?

Who are the 500?

Who are apostles here?

Baptism is described as sharing in Christ’s suffering and death and being raised with Christ to new life in Christ. Remember here how in the Early Church, the Baptism of new believers took place at Easter. So, Baptism has ethical implications for our discipleship: we are to cast aside both sins of the body and of the mind. In the baptised community, ethnic and social barriers are shattered, for ‘Christ is all and in all.’

An icon of the Church as a boat, including Christ, the Apostles and the Church Fathers (Icon: Deacon Matthew Garrett, www.holy-icons.com)

Luke 5: 1-11:

This is a story of commitment to Christ, to his message and to his destiny. Simon is named Peter for the first time in Saint Luke’s Gospel in verse 8. Christ calls Simon or Simon Peter to be a disciple, promising him he is to be a ‘fisher of men,’ and Peter, James and John leave everything and follow Christ.

This episode begins beside the ‘lake of Gennesaret.’ Gennesaret is the plain on the south-west shore of the Sea of Galilee. The crowd is pressing in to hear Christ, the Word of God, preach the ‘word of God’ or the Christian message.

Jesus gets into the boat with Simon Peter. There are two boats in this episode, and James and John are also fishing in one of the boats.

Simon acknowledges Jesus as ‘Master’ or teacher. They do what Christ tells them to do, and they are amazed at the consequences. Simon Peter responds by falling down before Jesus in humility, pointing to himself as a sinful man, and calling Jesus ‘Lord,’ which becomes an expression of faith.

Peter, James and John make a total commitment to Christ, leave everything, and follow him.

The Ichthus symbol remains discreetly unnoticed in the pebble mosaic of the former church courtyard in Kaş (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A closing reflection on the Gospel reading:

In illustrations, the boat is often used as an image of the Church, while the fish is an image of Christ.

In the Early Church, the fish came to symbolise Christ because the Greek word Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ), meaning ‘fish’, is an acrostic for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ, ‘Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.’

Some years ago, when I was visiting Kaş, a pretty town on the south coast of Turkey, I visited the former Church of the Annunciation. This had once been a Greek-majority town known as Andifli, but the Greek-speaking population was expelled in 1923 in one of the early examples of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in 20th century Europe.

For 40 years, the Church of the Annunciation on the acropolis or hilltop above the top, lay deserted and crumbling. But in 1963, 40 years after the Greek-speaking people of Andifli were expelled, the Church of the Annunciation was requisitioned as a mosque, and – despite its age – was renamed Yeni Cami (New Mosque). A minaret was added, along with a fountain with a quotation in Turkish, rather than Arabic, from the Quran: ‘We made from water every living thing’ (Surat al-Anbiyya, the Prophets, 21: 30).

Inside, the church was aligned facing east, a new mihrab or prayer niche facing Mecca and a minbar (pulpit) were inserted on the south wall, the frescoes were stripped away and the icon screen removed. All obvious Christian symbolism, including crosses, was picked out of the hoklakia pebble mosaic in the courtyard. But no-one noticed the significance of the fish, symbolising the Greek word Ichthus (ΙΧΘΥΣ), so that dozens of fish remain scattered though the pebble mosaic.

This is, truly, the story of the ‘fish that got away.’

Have you ever spoken of or described someone or some thing as a ‘good catch’? A person you had an emotional or romantic interest in? A job you wanted? A house you wanted to buy?

Can you imagine how Christ sees you as ‘a good catch’?

If the Church is the agent of Christ, do we do a good job in drawing in his ‘good catch’?

‘He saw two boats there at the shore’ … two fishing boats at the harbour in Skerries, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Luke 5: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

‘The fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets’ (Luke 5: 2) … a fisherman washing his nets in the harbour in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: Green

The Collect:

O God,
you know us to be set
in the midst of so many and great dangers,
that by reason of the frailty of our nature
we cannot always stand upright:
Grant to us such strength and protection
as may support us in all dangers
and carry us through all temptations;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of tender care,
in this Eucharist we celebrate your love for us and for all people.
May we show your love in our lives
and know its fulfilment in your presence.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch’ (Luke 5: 4) … a fisherman at work in the Venetian lagoon at Torcello (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

The hymns suggested for this Sunday in Sing to the Word (2000) edited by Bishop Edward Darling include:

Isaiah 6: 1-8 (9-13):

316, Bright the vision that delighted
415, For the bread which you have broken
454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
331, God reveals his presence
696, God, we praise you! God, we bless you!
355, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
714, Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty
715, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Lord Almighty
700, Holy God, we praise thy name
581, I, the Lord of sea and sky
6, Immortal, invisible, God only wise
427, Let all mortal flesh keep silence
7, My God, how wonderful thou art
639, O thou, who camest from above
370, Stand up, and bless the Lord
446, Strengthen for service, Lord, the hands
323, The God of Abraham praise
476, Ye watchers and ye holy ones

Psalm 138:

250, All hail the power of Jesu’s name
358, King of glory, King of peace
21, The Lord’s my shepherd, I’ll not want

I Corinthians 15: 1-11:

218, And can it be that I should gain
257, Christ is the world’s Redeemer
264, Finished the strife of battle now
244, There is a green hill far away
286, The strife is o’er, the battle done
248, We sing the praise of him who died

Luke 5: 1-11:

454, Forth in the peace of Christ we go
567, Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go
419, I am not worthy, holy Lord
553, Jesu, lover of my soul

‘When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him’ … fishing boats on a shore at Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

‘They caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break’ (Luke 5: 6) … fish on a stall in the market in Thessaloniki (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)