For those congregations following the three-year lectionary, this past Sunday focused on the miraculous catch of fish and the calling of the first disciples in St. Luke 5. That Holy Gospel begins, though, with our Lord’s own preaching and teaching of His Word, and the gathering of the crowds to hear and receive that Word from Him. As that crowd was pressing upon Him, He got into Simon Peter’s boat, sat down (kathisas), and continued teaching the people from there. In this way, St. Peter’s little fishing boat became a mighty “cathedral” of the Word-made-Flesh.
I happened to hear this Holy Gospel – and an excellent sermon on it – while visiting one of our beautiful little Indiana District congregations: First Lutheran Church in Hanna. I was struck by the pertinence of that text within that context. Looking at that little church outwardly, one might think “quaint” or “lovely,” but probably not “powerful” and “profound.” Yet, the latter adjectives are precisely what the Word of God makes of even the lowliest little church and congregation, no less so than it did from the pulpit of Simon Peter’s little fishing boat on the Lake of Gennesaret.
Meanwhile, for those following the historic one-year lectionary, this past Sunday celebrated the Transfiguration of Our Lord, in which the same St. Peter famously suggested the construction of three tabernacles on the Mountain, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah (St. Matthew 17:4). Although he did not know or understand what he was saying (St Mark 9:6; St. Luke 9:33), there is some background context and precedent for his suggestion, considering the significance of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament (Exodus 25:8-9; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5-6), as well as the Feast of Tabernacles and its place in Israel’s history (Lev. 23:33-36; Deut. 16:13-16; 31:10; Ezra 3:3-5; and Zech. 14:16-19). As the people lived in tents or tabernacles in the wilderness on their wanderings from Egypt to Canaan, so did the Lord abide among them in His Tabernacle.
But now the Word has become Flesh and tabernacles among us in the Person and work of Christ Jesus (St. John 1:14). The Father calls us to fix our eyes on Him, and to hear and heed His Word (St. Matthew 17:5-8; Hebrews 8:5-6, 12:2; St. John 7:1-2, 14-18, 37-39; 12:23-32). Indeed, His own Body, crucified and risen from the dead, is the true, divine, eternal Temple of God (St. John 2:19-22; Revelation 21:1-6, 22-27). In Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and we live and abide in Him, as living members of His Body, by His grace through faith in His Gospel (Colossians 1:15-20; 2:9-12), even as He lives and dwells with us in the Ministry of His Gospel.
It is a tremendous encouragement to realize and take to heart that the Word and Flesh of Jesus make of our churches here on earth – be they big or small – tabernacles of God among men and cathedrals of the Lord in our very midst. Nothing else on earth can do or accomplish that, nor is there any point or purpose to our work on earth apart from the Word and Flesh of Jesus. But as we have received these sacred treasures of the Lord from Him, so are we privileged to preach and administer His good gifts to His holy people to the praise and glory of His holy Name.
Like St. Peter, we too are humbled by the grace and goodness of our Lord, by the authority and power of His Word, and by all that He accomplishes for us, in us, and even through us, often in spite of our own doubts and fears and cynical incredulity (St. Luke 5:8-9; St. Matthew 17:6). It is certainly true that we are not worthy of the least of all His benefits, but deserve only punishment for our sins. Yet, not only does He continue to gather in a great catch of fish – men and women, boys and girls, caught alive in His nets of the Gospel – by and with His Word and the preaching of it, even when spoken and confessed with our “unclean lips, in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5-8) – but what is more, in doing so He also makes of our humble little churches His own abode and dwelling place on earth, wherein He bestows forgiveness and eternal Life.