失敗灰心之時，耶穌對我們說的可能不合邏輯；
學習彼得的順服:「但依從你的話，我就下網。」
主日經文
哥林多後書6:1-10
我們與神同工的，也勸你們不可徒受他的恩典。因為他說：在悅納的時候，我應允了你；在拯救的日子，我搭救了你。看哪！現在正是悅納的時候；現在正是拯救的日子。我們凡事都不叫人有妨礙，免得這職分被人毀謗；反倒在各樣的事上表明自己是神的用人，就如在許多的忍耐、患難、窮乏、困苦、鞭打、監禁、擾亂、勤勞、警醒、不食、廉潔、知識、恆忍、恩慈、聖靈的感化、無偽的愛心、真實的道理、神的大能；仁義的兵器在左在右；榮耀、羞辱，惡名、美名；似乎是誘惑人的，卻是誠實的；似乎不為人所知，卻是人所共知的；似乎要死，卻是活著的；似乎受責罰，卻是不至喪命的；似乎憂愁，卻是常常快樂的；似乎貧窮，卻是叫許多人富足的；似乎一無所有，卻是樣樣都有的。
路加福音5:1-11
耶穌站在革尼撒勒湖邊，眾人擁擠他，要聽神的道。他見有兩隻船灣在湖邊；打魚的人卻離開船洗網去了。有一隻船是西門的，耶穌就上去，請他把船撐開，稍微離岸，就坐下，從船上教訓眾人。講完了，對西門說：把船開到水深之處，下網打魚。西門說：夫子，我們整夜勞力，並沒有打著什麼。但依從你的話，我就下網。他們下了網，就圈住許多魚，網險些裂開，便招呼那隻船上的同伴來幫助。他們就來，把魚裝滿了兩隻船，甚至船要沉下去。西門彼得看見，就俯伏在耶穌膝前，說：主啊！離開我，我是個罪人！他和一切同在的人都驚訝這一網所打的魚。他的夥伴西庇太的兒子雅各、約翰，也是這樣。耶穌對西門說：不要怕！從今以後，你要得人了。他們把兩隻船攏了岸，就撇下所有的，跟從了耶穌。
李亮神父講道：
因今日是教師節，先謝謝在座的老師。要記得在家中和日常生活中，我們都是老師。即使你沒有在教書，這不是你想不想要的問題，因為我們每個人都藉著我們的言行在教導他人。耶穌雖在世上三十三年，然而祂教導的日子只有三年。
今天我們要看的是福音書中的故事，耶穌清晨去到加利利海，在那祂看見祂的四個門徒彼得、約翰、雅各、安德烈以及二艘船。那時他們尚未成為耶穌的使徒，他們只是坐在岸邊修補他們的漁網。看到這樣的情景讓人很感動，在那裏耶穌要彼得把船撐開稍微離岸，因為眾人擠著耶穌，祂要上船教導他們。
當漁夫整夜捕魚後，他們必已疲累，彼得一定覺得很失望，因為他毫無漁獲。換作任何人在這麼累的情況下，必定會請耶穌離開。但彼得溫順地把船牽到岸邊，讓耶穌可以上船講道。耶穌在船上教導群眾時，我們可看見彼得和他同伴的善良個性。當耶穌來到我們生命中，可能會為我們帶來一些些麻煩，可能並不容易。祂在我們正好疲累不堪的時候到來，祂在我們忙得沒有時間的時候到來，特別是在當我們正處於失敗之時到來。
祂對彼得說把船開到水深之處，下網打魚。很有趣，彼得很尊敬地對主說：「夫子，我們整夜勞力，並沒有打著什麼」。彼得身為專業漁夫，他和一些有釣魚經驗的人一樣知道，大概早上九點之後，魚在睡眠中是不吃餌的，這也是一整天漁獲量最少的時候。但彼得並未抱怨，他只是說他已經試了整夜也毫無所獲。但因為耶穌這樣說，他就照著做。要注意的是，在我們失敗之時，耶穌的到來，並不會強迫我們做什麼。祂可能說一些依我們的邏輯判斷聽來是不可能的事。早上九點鐘是魚休眠的時候，牠們不會吃餌，然而彼得說:「但依從你的話，我就下網。」在我們的生活中要記得這個原則，也要對主說一樣的話。你可能會好奇為何神不更直接、更具體、更巨細靡遺地命令他說：「你要這樣做、那樣做…」？因為神不是老闆，祂非常溫柔且充滿愛心，祂所要的是我們與祂一起合作努力。倘若神直接命令我們照祂說的去做，那最可能的結果是我們反而根本不想聽祂的話。
一旦順服，神蹟接著就發生了。他們捕到了許多的魚，多到要找其他的漁夫一起來幫他們把漁網拉上船，漁獲多到快要沉船。彼得突然明白了一些事情，就俯伏在耶穌膝前說：「主啊！離開我，我是個罪人！」他並非因為不想服事耶穌基督，才如此說；而是因為在聖靈光照下，他明白這是個偉大的神蹟。每當我們愈認識神，我們也就愈明白自己的不配。這也是為何有許多聖徒說：「我是個罪人、我是個罪人。」當弟子問：「神父，你如此聖潔，甚至行了這麼多的神蹟，你到底犯了什麼罪呢？」聖徒卻無法回答。另一位修士為他解釋到：「這就像我們現在抬頭看著太陽，你可以看到它遠在天上。但若我們搭乘太空船，去到外太空靠近太陽，我們不但無法看見太陽到底有多大，還會驚訝太陽的巨大炙熱，甚至會被燒成灰燼。而那靠近神的聖徒，知道神無窮無盡又強烈的愛，在這樣巨大的愛面前，他們覺悟到自己所做的一切，實在渺小的什麼都不是。這就是聖徒們為何稱自己為罪人的原因。」
但耶穌並沒有轉身離去，祂告訴他們應該要跟從祂，祂會使他們得人如得魚，實際上中英文聖經翻譯得不夠準確；希臘文是指能捕抓到生命（lives）。你知道使徒和一般的基督徒是不會去捕抓任何人的，他們生活也尊重別人的自由，他們是為了要給他們生命的糧。這是為何我們教會從最早開始就從未留下你的名字與任何紀錄，我們從未監視你，也不會去介入你的私生活。如你所看見的，也能與其他教會比較，在一些教會就算你明明沒有留下電話，他們還是會找到你的電話，並打電話給你。要記得即使我們只有一點點良善，看起來我們如此失敗；我們做很多努力，試過各種方法，人生還是一敗塗地，一事無成。儘管我們如此不堪，但若耶穌是我們的盼望，那麼我們的失敗其實仍有意義。這是一個認識主的機會和功課，我們藉著失敗的道路，步步走向真實的生命，那是永恆的生命—就是耶穌基督。
讀今天的使徒書信時，要明白這也是我們生活的寫照。哥林多後書6:1-10是在說明與神一起同工，這實在是我們至高的榮耀。奉勸各位，別失去了神的恩典。重要的是，有太多次，我們領受了神的恩典，然後又失去它。舉例來說，十個大痲瘋的病人去找耶穌，病得醫治。這本來是神豐富的恩典，但是卻有九個人白白浪費了這樣的恩典，因為他們痊癒後，只想要快樂地回家。只有其中回來尋找耶穌的那一個人，他不只守住了領受的恩典，他還得到更多，因為他不只是得到身體的醫治，也得到了真實的生命—也就是耶穌基督，然而這只是一個開始。
保羅說到的祝福，是一切關係的開端，所有這些發生在我們身上的事，都與我們和神的關係有關，與神的關係也包含了我們彼此的關係。我們面對許多患難與困苦，今天使徒書信的內容就像是我們的親身故事。我無法一一舉例，但請你牢記哥林多後書6:1-10告訴我們的，我們會有許多的試探，例如：「似乎受責罰，卻是不至喪命的」。面對這麼多的困難，我們仍要對神熱切地持守信仰。
信心不是智性活動，是與神的關係，這樣的關係是應在眾人間分享的。保羅說我們似乎貧窮，卻是叫許多人富足的，我想這也是我們這間小小的教會的寫照。我們最早是在2000年的九月26日開始台灣的聚會。我搭飛機帶來的餅，是位弟兄—也是我最好的朋友—的媽媽所製做的，那是教會的第一次聖餐。我當時身上沒什麼錢，只有一千元。即使世界抵擋我們，人們假冒為善，與我們為敵，甚至假冒我們教會的名義欺騙人們，我們仍然存活了下來，我們仍保有這小小的教會。我們需要支付許多薪水，但聖禮儀後的中餐是免費的，我們出版的書和許多演講也都是免費提供。
我相信我們都同在福音書中得到許多，從過犯中學習、成長，得以靈性成熟。記住，我們一無所有，但我們要使他人富足。結尾是使徒書信的結束是最美的部分，那裏保羅說「似乎一無所有，卻是樣樣都有的」。這是因為我們有耶穌，當耶穌在你心中，領受祂的聖體聖血，你就擁有了那位擁有宇宙萬物一切的主。
請別說與其擁有耶穌，你還寧願有個更好的老公，或是一部更大的車子、更成功的事業…等。別說這樣的話，因為若你只想著這些東西、只擁有這些東西，恐怕伴隨而來的會是癌症、死亡之類，或是更糟糕的事情。神有個美好的秘密，用不可置信的方式來讓我們成長、成熟，並知道如何改變自己，成為一個充滿愛的人。所以別忘記在我們失敗、困苦、絕望之時，耶穌將會在其中顯現，並在我們的生命中施行神蹟，這是千真萬確的。當我們擁有了祂，也就擁有了整個宇宙。
願聖三一的神保守我們眾人。
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2014.09.28 路加福音第一主日
東正教會簡介：
https://theological.asia/taiwan-orthodox/
紀錄: Timothy Baker教授
翻譯：張奉書
Photo: https://www.facebook.com/HolyCrossOrthodoxMonastery
2014.09.28 First Sunday of Luke – When Jesus Comes to Us in Our Difficulties
St. Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians 6:1-10 BRETHREN, working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in any one’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watching, hunger; by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
The Gospel of Luke 5:1-11 At that time, Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But 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 who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
Fr. Jonah’s Sermon
Since today is Teacher’s Day we first thank all the teachers here, and remember that we are all teachers in your family and in your surroundings. And even if you don’t want to teach, you are a teacher whether you want to or not because everybody is teaching by what he is doing. Jesus was in the world for 33 years and yet He was teaching for only three years.
Today we will say a few things about the Gospel, in which Jesus goes to the Sea of Galilee in the morning, where he saw two boats with Peter and John and James and Andrew – four of his Apostles. But they were not Apostles at this time; they were just sitting on the beach, mending their nets. It is so moving when we see this scene, in which Jesus asked Peter to bring his boat to teach from since he was being surrounded by people.
It is very important to know that fishermen work all night and so they must have been tired, and Peter must have been disappointed since he had not caught anything. Somebody in his situation might have asked Jesus to leave him alone since he was very tired, but Peter very gently brought the ship close to shore so Jesus could get in and teach from it. Then, when Jesus was teaching the people there we can see the kindness of Peter and his partners. So we can see that when Jesus comes to us it may give us a little bit of trouble; it will not necessarily be easy. He comes when we are tired, when we don’t have time, and especially when we fail.
He says to Peter to go back to the lake and cast his nets again. It is interesting, Peter addresses him respectfully, saying “Lord, all the night we threw the net but we caught nothing.” It is also important that Peter knew, as a professional – and people who have been fishing know this, that after about nine o’clock in the morning the fish will not bite since they are sleeping and it is the most unproductive time of the day to try to fish. But Peter did not complain, he only said that he had been trying all night and caught nothing, but since Jesus said to do this, then he would do it. It is very important to notice here that in the time of our failures Jesus is coming to us and not forcing us. And He may say to us something that sounds impossible according to human logic. At nine o’clock in the morning the fish don’t bite, they don’t eat anything; they sleep. But, Peter said, “In your name, because you said, I will do it.” Remember this, in our lives that we should say the same. You may wonder why God does not say, “You will do this and you will do that?” It is because God is not like a big boss; He is very gently and loving, what he does is always with our cooperation. If Gd appears directly and says, “You will do this,” then the most likely thing is that you will not do that.
Then the miracle happened. They caught so many fish that they could not pull the net in and they had to call the other fishermen to help take up the nets. There were so many fish that the boat was just about to sink from the weight. Then Peter understood and he fell down at Jesus’ feet and said, “Go away from me. I am a sinner.” He did not say this because he didn’t want to serve Jesus Christ, but it was in front of the Holy, he realized that this was a very great miracle and when we know God we know how unworthy we are. This is why the saints say, “I am a sinner; I am a sinner,” and as was saying this, his disciples asked, “Father, what sin have you done?” and he could not answer, but another monk said, “You never know if we can gaze at the sun now, we can see it, but if we take a space ship close to the sun and see how huge it is, not only will be unable to see it because we will be burned, but we will be shocked.” So the saints, who are close to God, know the infinite and strong love of God, and in front of this they feel as if they are nothing.
It is very important that Jesus did not simply leave them, but he told them they should follow him and he would make them – actually, the English word is not good because it says t “you will catch” human beings.” The Greek word is from the word for life, and it means that I will catch lives. You know that the Apostles, and Christians in general, did not catch anybody, but they live and they respect the freedom of the people. They catch them by giving them the food of life, the way of living. This is why in this church here, from the very beginning, we have never kept your names or records, we never watch you, and we never have done anything to intrude into your personal lives. And you can see, you can judge in comparison to others, who may call you even though you did not give them your mobile phone number. The most important thing is to remember, if we have even a little bit of a good heart, even though it may seem that we fail, we do many things, make many attempts, but life becomes a failure, still nothing is resolved. if Jesus is our hope then our failure takes on a meaning. It was a time and a lesson to know him, and be led in this way, by a failure, to the real life, the eternal life, which is Jesus Christ.
And it is very important, when we read the Epistle today, to see that it is the story of our lives. The Epistle says that we are co-workers with God, and this is a very great honor, indeed. We say to you not to lose the grace of God. It is very important that we receive the grace of God, but we lose this many times. For example, the ten lepers went to Jesus Christ and were cured, this was so much grace of God, but nine of them just wasted this grace because they just went home, were happy, and that was it. But one of them not only kept the grace that he received, but he took much more. Why? Because he not only received the health of his body, but he received the real life, which is Jesus Christ. And it is a beginning.
Paul says about blessing that it is the beginning of a relationship. All these things that happen to us have to do with relationships, the relationship with God, which includes our relationships with each other. I say that this Epistle is like the story of our lives because we go with difficulties and hardships. Please, I cannot speak of every example, but you must remember Corinthians 2 6:1-10. , he says, so many temptations, and he says it is as if we are prosecuted but not really arrested. He speaks about the passions, to keep the faith when there are so many difficulties.
Faith is not an intellectual thing. It is a relationship with God, and this relationship with God is something that we should share among all of us. He says that we are poor but we make others rich. And I think this is also the story of this, our small church. We started doing the first liturgy in Taiwan on September 26 of the year 2000, when I was in Taichung. I was carrying bread that the mother of my best friend and brother had made that I had brought it with me on the airplane, and I did the first liturgy. With only one thousand dollars – not much money – on me. And even though the world was against us, people who don’t have honor, who are enemies of the Church and are imposters, still we live. And we have this small church. We pay a lot of money for salaries, but the food we give here is free, as are our books and the lectures that we do: everything is free to all.
I think that we all together grow in the Gospel by learning from our mistakes, growing in them and becoming mature spiritually. Remember this: that we have nothing, and we make the others rich. The end is end of the Epistle is the most beautiful thing, where he says, “Having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” Why? Because we have Jesus, and when you have Jesus in your heart and you partake of the Holy Communion, you have Him who has the universe in his hands.
And don’t say that you would prefer to have a better husband or a bigger car of a better business, don’t say this, because if you had these things you might have a cancer and be dead or you would have something worse than that. God has his beautiful secret, unbelievable ways to make us grow and become mature, to know what is to change and become love. So, remember, in our failures, our difficulties, in our failures, in our times of despair, Jesus will appear and He will do a miracle in our lives, this is one hundred percent sure, And when we have Him we have all of the universe.
May the Holy Trinity protect all of us.
Recorder: Prof. Timothy Baker
