I remember having a few bad memories on some Super Bowl Sundays, I bet you do too. Maybe you were even at the game. The Broncos were playing against the Giants, Redskins and San Francisco 49’ers – what was that 15 maybe 20 years ago? In each of those games the expectations for a Bronco victory, in Bronco country, were high. We had John Elway and he could beat any team, even with one arm tied beyond his back. But those games left Broncos fans scarred!! By half-time the parties were over and a blow-out victory for the evil Giants, Redskins and 49’ers were well in hand. All that was left to the party was the drinking!! The expectations, just for a good game, never occurred. (But that all changed a few years later for the true Bronco fan!!)

The day of that great catch of fish and the calling of Peter was a day of great changes in the life of Peter. Peter and his partners had been fishing using a net during the night. And he caught nothing. Maybe, like all good fisherman, he had a story about the one that got away. But he finds himself cleaning his nets on the shore when Jesus instructs John and James and Peter to go back out and catch some fish. It was morning - that was no time for catching fish!! And what did Jesus know about fishing? Don’t you hate it when someone who knows nothing about your specialty offers suggestions to you on solving the problem that they know nothing about? But Peter had seen enough through the hands of Jesus that he responded, “But because You say so, I will let down my nets.” (Luke 5:5)

And that is when the expectations changed. They caught enough fish that two fishing boats were packed full of those flopping fish. You would think that Peter would be excited. He had just hit the jackpot!! Every one of those fish was worth money to him. But his reaction was, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8) What were the expectations of Jesus in all this? Peter saw his sin and was overwhelmed by the person of Jesus and he just wants Jesus to go away, he doesn’t want Him to be in his life.

Sometimes people want nothing to do with God because He might change life too much and they don’t want that!! “Away from me!!” He might want too much of my time or He may ask me to change a bad habit or a sinful behavior. He may intrude in my life and the way that I am living it. Away!! For some people they are openly opposed to Christ and the Christian faith. They are not neutral, they are not open-minded to it, or Him – they are bitter and hostile and reject the basic thought of human sin and need and the death and resurrection of Jesus for our rescue.

But for others the call for Christ no longer to be part of their life happens slowly. They take a step away from Him, maybe because of some sin that they love or they have lost their spiritual life blood and they find themselves slightly separated from Him. Then pretty soon the reading of the Bible stops and prayers become less frequent, church attendance becomes occasional, and then may cease, and now the distance is great. It is not a defiant “Away from me, Lord”, but more like a whisper, “Lord, please, go away.” But the same result happens.

Isn’t that a sad thing that Peter would want Jesus to go one way and for he to go the other? Isn’t it a sad thing when we do the same? It is harder for us to say that we want Jesus close to us. We wonder what His expectations of us will be, how He wants to be a part of our life – the master of our life. And we keep Him at a distance. He is much safer at a distance.

But that is when the great expectations of Jesus become greater. And the expectations are not what he wanted Peter to do and change, or what He calls us to do or change, but the great expectations is what we see Christ doing!! He doesn’t give Peter his wish. He doesn’t say, “That is a good idea, Peter, let’s just part ways!! You’re a sinner and I’m looking for saints!!” No, Jesus calls him into His service – “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”

I think Peter is my patron saint. I see myself in him too often. Peter puts his foot in his mouth more than once, he acts without thinking too often and he makes promises that he fails to keep. On the evening before the crucifixion of Jesus, when a friend needs a friend, Peter says that he has no knowledge of a person named Jesus. You would expect him to have some backbone and courage and it all but flees. Great expectations? He failed every one of them. But Jesus never failed him.

For every one of my sins and everyone of my failings, for everyone of your sins and everyone of your failures we have an expectation – Jesus will not fail us. This reaction of Jesus is the waiting father/prodigal son stuff. The son runs away and hates his family and father. He ruins his life, lets everyone down and has little to live for. But then he comes to his senses and says, “I will go back to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’” (Luke 15:18-19) And the father waits for the son, runs to him and receives him, not as a slave, but as his dearly beloved son!!

There is nothing that we do that allows us to say that is what we should expect of God!! We don’t deserve such kindness and mercy and forgiveness. We messed up. We screwed everything up. We ran away. But he wants to take one that is dead and lost and make them alive and found. Doris Kreymborg, one of our long-time members, who died about a month ago had this as her confirmation verse,” {Jesus said} My sheep listen to My voice; I know them and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28)

I have great expectations of how God treats us sinners!! After Peter didn’t live up to his or Christ’s expectations, and denied Him, Christ sought him after the resurrection and asked him to tend Christ’s sheep and feed His lambs. Paul says that though he was the worst of sinners - and he was – putting believers in Christ to death or taking them to prison – he was shown mercy. Even in the Old Testament reading for today, the account of Isaiah seeing God and responding, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” (Isaiah 6:5) God would not let him leave. God purged his sin, taking a coal from the altar, placing it on his filthy lips, making his mouth clean.

I expect God to act in such mercy!! We don’t deserve it and we have no claim on our own for such a gracious act, but He gives it. For all of us “no hopers” there is hope. Jesus forgives sins. Jesus defeats death. Jesus doesn’t want us to slip away or run away from Him – His expectations are to give us the fullness of life!!

But did you see that Christ does not come with less expectations of Peter, but more!! The great expectations that are made in this text are also expectations of us. Christ has an expectation of our life. “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” (Luke 5:10) Isn’t that a great calling? We get to catch people for Christ. Now this is a little different than what Peter was doing with fish. When he caught fish he was not involved in a “catch and release” program. Peter caught them and they would die and then be sold. But we catch people in Christ’s name not for them to die but for them to live. That is what we as disciples are about. We want people to live, really live. We want people to live in heaven, not in hell. We want them to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. We want people to know Him as their Lord – their master, not keeping His Spirit at a distance but directing their life in ways that are strong and courageous and full of blessings.

When my niece who is now in her 20’s was just a young girl she made a poster for my church that read, “You catch ‘em, He’ll clean ‘em.” The expectation of bringing people who don’t have faith in Jesus to a living faith in Jesus is that He does the work. He converts the sinner. He saves the soul. I can’t do that. You can’t do that. But He can use you. That is a great expectation. In last week’s prayers and also this week’s we have a petition, “for those whom we name in our hearts who have no faith in Jesus.” And then we pause and we name before God and in our minds those that we know who are not saved, who aren’t Christians, who have no assurance of eternal life. Who did you name? Who will you name? His great expectation is that we would be speakers and witnesses of Jesus Christ. You catch ‘em. He’ll clean ‘em.

We have great expectations of our God. And He has great expectations of us!! Amen!!