Sermon for the First Sunday of Luke

2 Corinthians 6:16–7:1 · Luke 5:1–11

Dear brothers and sisters,

All summer we have heard the Gospel of Saint Matthew on Sundays. Since last Monday the Church has turned to Saint Luke. Why the change? The Church’s new year begins on 1 September. Soon after, on 23 September, we remember the conception of Saint John the Baptist. This is the first step in the story of our salvation. And only Saint Luke tells us about it. So as the new Church year gets under way, we begin to read Luke.

Notice where Luke takes us today. Back to the very beginning. Tired fishermen by the Lake of Gennesaret, who have worked all night and caught nothing.

Jesus steps into Simon’s boat and says, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon is the fisherman. Jesus is the carpenter’s son. Simon knows better. Yet he answers, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

In that small answer, Simon lets go of his own judgement, his skill and his pride as a fisherman. He empties himself so that Christ can act. And the nets fill until they begin to break.

The Church has a word for this self-emptying. It is kenosis, and it comes from Saint Paul. He writes to the Philippians that Christ “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant”. The eternal Son of God did not hold on to his glory. He came down to us in humility and love. Just before this, Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”

That word “mind” matters. The Greek word Paul uses is closely related to phronema. Phronema means the way we think, the settled attitude of the heart. The Orthodox phronema is not just knowing the right things about God. It is learning to think and feel as Christ does. And the mind of Christ is a self-emptying mind.

We see it in Peter. When the boats are full, he does not boast. He falls at Jesus’ knees and says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Before, he called Jesus “Master”. Now he calls him Lord. He has emptied himself even further. Now there is room for grace. Jesus lifts him up. “Do not be afraid,” he says. Then, “henceforth you will be catching men.”

Today’s epistle shows us why this matters. Saint Paul tells the Corinthians, “we are the temple of the living God.” God promises, “I will live in them and move among them.” Think about that. God wants to make his home in us. But a house full of clutter has no room for a guest. So Paul goes on, “let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.”

This is kenosis in daily life. We empty ourselves of pride, of grudges, of the need to control everything. We make space. And God fills that space with himself.

Peter and his friends “left everything and followed him.” They were not made smaller. They became fishers of people, apostles and saints. Simon the fisherman would become Peter, the rock.

So let us ask the Lord for the right mind. A mind that trusts his word more than our own. A mind that lets go, so that he can fill. A mind that makes our hearts a temple ready for him. In the words of the Apostle, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” And may the Lord fill our nets, and our hearts, with his grace.

Amen.