LAUNCH OUT INTO THE DEEP: ON THE QUIET OBEDIENCE THAT REBUILDS THE CHURCH

A Medieval Western Icon of Christ Calling St. Peter to Let Down His Nets

“Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.”
— St. Luke 5:4

INTRODUCTION

Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, welcome once more to this sacred gathering at the Cathedral of Saints Mitrophan and Alopen, where we strive to live the ancient faith of the Apostles in the midst of a modern world, which is a world too often unmoored from the deep things of God.

Today, in this season after Trinity, we continue our pilgrimage through the long green stretch of the Church’s calendar, a time devoted to growth, discipleship, and the steady unfolding of sanctification. Having beheld the mysteries of the Holy Trinity, and having been filled anew with the fire of Pentecost, the Church now bids us to walk daily in grace: to cultivate unity, humility, and the fruits of the Spirit in the midst of a restless and fragmented world.

And how timely are the Scriptures appointed for this Sunday. We hear Moses begging to see the Lord’s glory in the wilderness of Sinai, and Peter falling to his knees before the incarnate Lord in the prow of a fishing boat. We are reminded that the presence of God does not dwell in temples made with hands alone, but in the quiet obedience of the heart. We are exhorted by Saint Peter to be of one mind, tenderhearted, and to return blessing for insult. We are reminded by Saint Paul that the Church is God’s building, and that her only foundation is Christ.

And in the Gospel, our Lord calls Peter, and us, to launch out into the deep. It is this word (gentle, commanding, and world-changing) that we must now attend to with hearts open and still.

May the Holy Spirit give us ears to hear, courage to obey, and joy to follow.

Let us now open our hearts to the word of the Lord.

SCRIPTURE

The Old Testament Lesson: Exodus 33:12–23; 34:5–9

Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight. Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee. And the Lord said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us... and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

The New Testament Lesson: I Corinthians 3:5–23; 4:1–5

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Let no man glory in men. Therefore let no man judge before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.

The Epistle: I Peter 3:8–15

Dearly beloved: Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.

The Holy Gospel: St. Luke 5:1–11

At that time: it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Jesus to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 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 was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken. And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

SERMON

Beloved in Christ, today the Spirit bids us “launch out into the deep.”

This phrase from our Gospel—a simple command from the lips of the Incarnate Word—contains within it the trembling and expansive call of every apostolic age. Christ finds Peter at the end of his strength, nets empty, labors fruitless, and with little to show for the night. And yet, after speaking to the crowds, He turns to the weary fisherman with a deeper command: “Launch out.”

What does it mean to launch into the deep? Is it not to step forward into the mystery of God's providence, even when everything in us cries out for shore, for safety, for simplicity?

The Deep Sea of Obedience

In Exodus 33, Moses prays: “Show me now thy way, that I may know thee.” And the Lord answers: “My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” Here, as in our Gospel, it is not mastery or understanding that God grants, but presence. The mystery of divine intimacy is not given to those who conquer, but to those who obey. The Lord descends in the cloud and proclaims Himself: “merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth” (Exodus 34:6). Moses, like Peter, falls in awe—one from the mountain, the other from the boat.

St. Gregory the Great, preaching on this Gospel, remarks:

“The sea is the world, and the ship is the Church; and just as Simon must go deeper, so must we go deeper into the faith, into charity, into sacrifice. The deeper the Church goes into the love of God, the more souls she draws into her net.” (Hom. on the Gospels)

And here is the mystery: it is at Christ’s word (in verbo tuo) that Peter lets down the net. Not because the conditions are right. Not because he expects success. But because the Word has spoken. It is the same obedient echo we hear in the Theotokos: “Be it unto me according to thy word.” The Church lives by obedience, not outcomes.

Building on the Foundation of Christ

The lesson from 1 Corinthians 3-4 speaks of building on a foundation not of our choosing, but of Christ Himself. “No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” We are warned not to boast in men or in ministries, for all things are Christ’s, and we are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

This harmonizes perfectly with the Epistle of 1 Peter—which bids us to “be of one mind… not rendering evil for evil, but contrariwise blessing.” That is to say, the foundation of the Church is not only dogmatic but deeply ethical. She is built not just on doctrine, but on mercy.

St. Leo the Great writes:

“Nothing is stronger than humility, nothing more exalted than charity. The Church conquers not by force but by forgiveness; she builds not by conquest but by compassion.” (Sermon 95)

In a world drunk with the pursuit of power, the Apostle calls us to unity, compassion, and courtesy: all words that feel quaint, perhaps, in our modern spiritual warfare. But this is the warfare of the Lamb. This is how the Church catches men, in the most counterintuitive way possible. 

The Patristic Mirror

The Didache, echoing 1 Peter, instructs the earliest Christians:

“Do not be quick to anger, for anger leads to murder. Be gentle, for the meek shall inherit the earth.” (Didache 3)

And in St. Augustine’s homily on this Gospel, he reflects:

“Peter’s astonishment was not in the fish, but in the grace. The net of grace breaks not because it is weak, but because we cannot contain the mercy we receive. Let us be like broken nets, not in despair, but in joy, for the Lord fills what is empty, and stretches what is narrow.” (Sermon 250)

St. Basil the Great, among the Cappadocians, saw the deep as an image of the unknowable divine:

“To go into the deep is to depart from the shallows of easy religion and encounter the God who is fire and light. It is there, in the deep, that the soul is purified.” (On the Holy Spirit)

And St. Bede the Venerable, patient scholar of our Northumbrian Patrimony, links today’s readings with a pastoral application:

“The Lord sat and taught from the boat. So the Church, tossed on the waves of the world, becomes the pulpit of the Word. Her trials become His platform.” (Homilies on the Gospels)

Into the Deep with the Fathers

The Desert Fathers, who fled to the barren places to find Christ, constantly reminded one another that true obedience is quiet, sacrificial, and unseen. Abba Poemen once said:

“Teach your mouth to say what is in your heart. And teach your heart to listen when Christ commands.”

When Christ commands, “Launch out into the deep,” He calls us into that mystical poverty where His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). He calls us to forsake our illusions of success and cast our nets anew: not because we are certain, but because He is.

The Gospel ends with these words: “They forsook all, and followed Him.” That is the true miracle. Not the fish. But the surrender. The new creation that comes from obedience.

Reflection

At the conclusion of his great English epic Paradise Lost, the poet John Milton (a devout Christian in our English Patrimony, student of Scripture, and theologian in verse) offers a vision not of paradise regained through earthly glory or religious spectacle, but of humble, faithful obedience.

Milton’s work, saturated in patristic thought and classical form, is deeply at home in the tradition of the Western Church. Like St. Augustine before him, Milton understood that the grace of God does not undo suffering or erase sin, but transfigures it: turning even the fall of man into a deeper occasion for divine mercy. As we saw in today’s sermon, from Moses' cry to see God’s glory, to Peter's trembling obedience in the boat, God draws near not to the triumphant, but to those who return with sincere and lowly hearts.

This passage from Paradise Lost Book XII shows the Archangel Michael revealing to Adam the future of redemption: that through repentance, worship, and loving awe of God, mankind will dwell with Him again: not through temple rituals alone, but through inward conversion and the grace of Christ.

Let us read and reflect:

Then shall they seek to avail themselves of God,
More than to behold His presence; and with hearts
Sincere, and lowly, reverent, shall return
To Him; and He, whose bounty's boundless, shall
Abundantly His gifts bestow, as in
The days of old, so shall they fear Him still.

That fear to sin will keep them true and just;
Shall oft be stayed from doing ill through awe,
Not for themselves, but God, for whom they love
With holy love, more sacred than the fires
Of altars old, and daily sacrifice
To Him shall be the song of thanks and praise
True hearts devout, they shall not need
Such outward rites. Religion shall then be all in all.

So spake the Archangel Michael; then paused,
As at the world's great period; and our sire,
Replete with joy and wonder, thus replied:

"O goodness infinite, goodness immense!
That all this good of evil shall produce,
And evil turn to good; more wonderful
Than that which by creation first brought forth
Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
Whether I should repent me now of sin
By me done and occasioned, or rejoice
Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring:
To God more glory, more good will to men
From God, and over wrath grace shall abound."

Milton’s vision mirrors St. Peter’s awe: confronted not merely by fish, nor by fire or cloud, but by the unexpected nearness of a merciful God. And like St. Peter, our Patriarch Adam can only marvel at a grace that transforms wrath into mercy, toil into joy, and sin into the occasion of God’s greater glory.

Conclusion: A Church That Catches Men

The world needs a Church that launches into the deep: not into the deep of politics or spectacle, but into the deep of prayer, humility, repentance, and unity. The kind of Church St. Peter, humbled by glory, forsook everything to build.

Let us ask ourselves: are we living on the shore of safety? Or are we launching, even tremblingly, into the deep? The Spirit speaks today, as He did to the early saints: 

Be not afraid. Launch out. And follow.

COLLECT

Let us pray…

O Lord Jesu Christ, who didst call thy servant Simon from his nets, and by thy word didst bid him launch into the deep: Grant unto us grace to obey thy voice, to forsake all that is earthly when thou dost summon, and to follow thee whithersoever thou leadest; that, being built upon thee the only sure foundation, and drawn into the depths of thy mercy, we may be made fishers of men, to the glory of thy Name and the increase of thy kingdom; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.
Amen.