II. Human Response (v. 6)

Just as Jeremiah is awestruck and overwhelmed by such a call on his life, so too is the thoughtful believer. We recognize our limitations and our inadequacy for the task. Our words are trivial, almost meaningless to the Word of the Almighty. Nothing in our upbringing or experience in life prepares us to speak God's Word for Him. Standing next to this incredible task, we feel like children.

Jeremiah's perspective (and ours too!) is flawed in that it focuses solely upon the human side of the equation. The audacity of frail human believers declaring the incomparable Word of the Sovereign God is obvious. We do not have the qualifications, even worse, we have no hope of gaining them. It is the enablement of God Himself that gives us hope to accomplish what He asks of us.

III. The Ultimate Response of God (vv. 7-10)

The Lord makes four responses to our cry of inability. First, He negates our faithless statements. Since His vantage point is different than ours, He can solve the equation by including His character, His nature and His power. From that perspective, all things are possible.

Second, the Lord clarifies the essential nature of our obedience to His call to proclaim His Word. We "must" go to "everyone" to whom He sends us. This is His mandate. Just as He sovereignly chooses us, He chooses His recipients. The task is clear, we are to proclaim His Word to those to whom He sends us.

Third, the undertaking of proclamation is accomplished with the assistance of His presence. Fear on our part is unreasonable because the Almighty who speaks and chooses us also dwells with us. He is present to rescue us.

Finally, the Lord does what our past experience could not do. He qualifies us for the prophetic ministry. By touching our mouths He puts His Word in us. What does the Word say? Perhaps, we should more correctly ask, "What does His Word do?" It is active in demolishing and uprooting the enemy of God's people. Then His Word builds and plants newness of life where once stood only rubble. The prophetic Word is a "restoring" Word. No greater privilege could be given to us than to participate by receiving His call to speak. (Joseph Byrd)

Fifth Sunday of Epiphany (C)

Sunday, February 8, 1998

Trust and Obey

Luke 5:1-11

This gospel story is about a radical life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. It demonstrates the call from the world into the Kingdom of God. Following such a call demands we leave behind old values, objectives, and methods to pick up new ones. It is a call from the humanly mundane to the divinely miraculous.

I. The Kingdom of Jesus Christ (vv. 1-3)

The opening of this story could easily be by-passed as simply the "set-up" for one of Jesus' miracle stories. Looking deeper at the description of the events reveals certain fundamentals of the ministry of Christ.

First, we note Jesus' activity of proclaiming the Word of God. Any signs or wondersperformed were to confirm His proclamation. In reality, the authority of His teaching was in His identity, but that identity had to be revealed to His followers. Nonetheless, the people gathered to hear this teacher because there was a qualitative difference in His message. They were drawn to His words because they were life-giving water to parched souls. Proclaiming such a Word was central to the ministry of Jesus. It also is central to those in ministry of His Kingdom.