Wk 5: Have You Been Marginalized? Pt 1

Looking Back at a Misunderstood Story of Marginalization

Imagine this scene: a family dinner. Four to six people. A small enough gathering that only one person speaks at a time. A large enough gathering that there can be competition for who gets to speak. Got that image?

Now, imagine you're the one speaking. You're telling a story about something that happened to you. Suddenly, your brother jumps in, cutting you off, and sending the conversation in an entirely different direction. No one steps in to defend you.

How do you feel? Angry? Unappreciated? Small? Unloved? Maybe it's a mix of emotions.

What if this has happened before—often, even? Does that intensify the emotions this time?

What if this happened in your faith community? Metaphorically speaking, I mean. What if you were cut off?

If you're a Christian, this could happen in what you might call your church "family." And you could add to that list of emotions these new ones: Judged. Marginalized. Shamed. Ostracized.

So, you leave. No wonder. Now what?

God Wants You Back

If you've felt marginalized like this, I have good news: God wants you back. Not as in "back in that church you left." Rather as in, "Let's be friends, just you and me."

Are you sensing that call? That call to be in relationship? If you are, read on. Or, if you and your Creator are already solid, share this with someone else who needs to hear it.

I want to tell you a story. Two stories, really. One from the New Testament and one from my own life. They are stories about hearing and responding to a call to be in a deeper relationship with the divine.

Our first story (from Luke 5: 1-11) starts on the banks of a lake—a really large lake. You may know it as the Fishers of Men story.

Story Layers, Again

What I always find fascinating about scripture is that three different people can look at the same story and get three different messages from it. (Think: Shrek – onions – layers.)

Courtesy of WikiShrek

After I wrote the first draft of what I wanted to say here, I looked at

Diana Butler Bass

’s thoughts (because this began as an actual sermon based on the lectionary—a common specification of Christian scriptures to be considered each week).

I read her Musings on this scripture, and I realized this is what an activist gets from it. I'm not going to tell you that. And then I went on the Worship Helps (what my own church, Community of Christ, publishes), and I realized this is what a traditionalist would say. I'm not gonna tell you that, either.

I'm a writer. (Not that Diana isn’t. 😉) You're going to get the writer’s story. So here it is.

Let's look at the story, one piece at a time, and imagine we are there.

Imagine You're at the Lake

As our story begins, Luke tells us that people have been listening to Jesus on the shore of the lake. In other words, he’s not there just out for a stroll all alone. There’s a crowd. And there are two boats pulled up on the shore. Three fishermen are there, washing their nets.

So just picture this. They've been out there all night and they bring in their giant fishing nets. Those nets probably have seaweed in them and sticks and maybe even a lost sandal. You can imagine the kind of junk you can pull out of a natural lake like that. So they’re just getting all that junk cleaned out so they'll be ready for another round of fishing the following night.

Luke tells us Jesus gets into one of the boats. Simon’s boat. Luke doesn't even say he asks permission. He just steps in.

As it turns out, if you read Luke 4, Jesus had recently been to Simon’s house. In fact, he healed Simon’s mother-in-law. So they were not strangers. And now it makes sense that Simon wouldn’t object to Jesus using his boat as a pulpit.

Jesus tells Simon to push off a little bit from shore. Now, if you've ever been in a boat, you know that you can't just sit there in the boat and expect that it's going to stay there. So imagine that Simon has some really long poles that he shoves into the mud so the boat won't move much at all while Jesus is talking.

Jesus sits down to speak, to continue his preaching. This usually indicates you might be there a while if you’ve decided to sit down. But in this case, we might recognize Jesus’ M.O. There are other times when a gospel writer tells us Jesus got into a boat to get relief from the crowds. Maybe he was just thinking ahead about how to make an easy exit.

The Surprise After the Sermon

In any case, it isn’t long before Jesus is finished speaking. He tells Simon to put out into deep water and put down his nets. Now, Simon had been working hard all night long. He and his friends in the other boat hadn't caught anything. The last thing he wants to do is to go back out into the deep water again.

So he gives Jesus a little pushback. He says, you know, we've been doing this all night, we’re exhausted, and there aren’t any fish here. Maybe you can see him rolling his eyes at Jesus. Seriously? You want me to do that?

But, you know, Simon has this little bit of history with Jesus. He already saw Jesus perform a miracle, so he has a lot of respect for him. And he says, okay, because you said so, I'll do it.

And then comes the big surprise. Simon puts down the net and the catch is so large the net starts to break. The boat starts to sink. So Simon calls his friends out and they pull in this huge catch.

Just imagine what this was like—to go from being sure you weren’t going to catch anything to being about to sink because of all the fish you just caught.

Suddenly, Simon says something unexpected. He says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”

What's That About?

Why didn't he say, “Oh, thank you, Jesus! You saved me!” No, he's all worried.

It wasn't obvious to me at first, what was going on here. Here’s what occurred to me as I thought about this.

It seems like his success in fishing that day made him afraid. That statement, “Go away from me, Lord, I'm a sinful man,” is a statement of fear.

Maybe he had what we call today imposter syndrome.

• That's where you feel like your success was just an accident. It wasn’t anything you did by yourself.

• You’re worried it won’t happen again, because it was just luck the first time.

• You’re worried that someone will find out that you aren't the real deal, you’re just a fake who got lucky.

• And because you think you’re a fake, you also think you aren’t worthy.

By saying, “I'm a sinful man,” Simon was saying, “I'm not worthy of this blessing. You've got the wrong guy. You need to go find someone worthy to bless. It's not me.”

Luke tells us that his partners, James and John, felt the same way. They all felt unworthy to be blessed.

But Jesus says to them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” (Some versions of the Bible use the more lyric-worthy “fishers of men.”)

What's Jesus Saying Here?

He's saying, you aren't imposters. You are worthy. Don't worry about your sinful past. That's not important.

Jesus saw their true selves, their value and potential.

Let’s think about the ways Jesus was testing their potential up to this point.

• Simon let Jesus step into his boat, which was his life and his livelihood.

• Simon let Jesus use his equipment, his boat, as a pulpit. It was the one thing Simon had to offer. And he did it in order for Jesus to fulfill his mission.

• Simon did whatever Jesus asked, with minimal pushback. Go into deep waters. Put down your nets. There was a bit of hesitation, but he did it.

• James and John came running when Simon called out for their help.

And in response, Jesus effectively said, because I see your response to my small requests, I will now reveal to you your true mission and purpose. I will make you fishers of men.

So what was that going to involve?

Well, Jesus didn't spell that out. And based on another article by Diana Butler Bass, he may not even have meant what we normally think he meant about being fishers of men. But once again, I'm not going to go there.

My point is, Jesus offered them a new mission after proving to them that he was worthy of their trust. And then, in the conclusion, they pulled their boats up on the shore after they had this big catch, and they just left them.

They Just Left Their Boats

Now, according to historians (and Diana), this wasn’t an entrepreneurial venture they were running, the way we see it from today’s perspective. It was more like indentured servitude.

They were fishing for Caesar, not for themselves. They didn’t own those boats, they rented them. They paid fees to fish in Caesar’s lake. They paid taxes as well.

They were required to send the biggest fish to feed the wealthiest citizens of Rome. Other people got the mid-sized fish. And then, finally, they would be allowed to keep the tiniest fish to feed their families.

In fact, I can image there was some government official right there at the shore to collect whatever was owed as taxes and rent. And it sounds as if the haul was enough to buy them their freedom.

There’s an old song from the 1950s about a situation like this: Sixteen Tons, memorably sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Here’s the refrain:

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter, don't you call me, 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store

The lyrics refer to company-owned stores where coal miners of the early 20th century were forced to shop for food and supplies (presumably at inflated prices), using scrip (chits) advanced by the company. Just to survive, they would end up owing more than they were paid, essentially becoming slaves.

What’s ironic is the line about “Saint Peter, don’t you call me.” The Simon in Luke’s story is Simon Peter who eventually became Saint Peter. So who would understand the company store situation better than one who had been in it himself?

Free At Last

Jesus literally gave Peter, James, and John a way out of a situation of near slavery. They had been silenced and marginalized by the forces of power. We might image they were feeling small, unappreciated, and angry.

They took Jesus up on his offer. They quit fishing.

It wasn’t as if they were well-off small business owners and they were giving up their source of income. That’s what a modern reader might think in the absence of historical context.

No, they were lucky to get out of there with their lives. They left everything behind to take care of their debt. They had caught just enough to keep themselves from being thrown in jail (debtors’ prison).

And now they were free. Free to follow Jesus.

In other words, Jesus redeemed them—paid for their freedom. It only makes sense they would accept a spot on his team.

But note the lack of detail on what was going to happen next. All they knew was the first baby step.

Now that you’re free to go, leave your stuff, and let's get outta here.

Note also that in the course of this one incident, spanning no more than a few hours, their entire identity changed. They went from being fishermen to being fulltime disciples. You could say they had a type of spiritual awakening, or at least a major leap in spiritual growth.

Peter, James, and John heard and (ultimately) responded to a compelling, personal call to be in a deeper relationship with the divine.

[To be continued…]

Next: The recipe for responding to a call. And my own story.

Prompts for Journaling

I’m not very good at creating journaling prompts. The list below is courtesy of ChatGPT, based on the text of the article (exclusively mine) above.

1. Reflect on a time when you felt marginalized or disconnected from your faith community. (Maybe that’s right now.) What emotions did you experience, and how did you navigate that situation?

2. When Simon initially doubted Jesus, he still chose to act. Write about a time when you faced doubt but decided to push through and take a leap of faith.

3. Reflect on the importance of community as seen through Simon calling his friends for help. Who are the people in your life that support you, and how do they help you respond to challenges?

4. Simon expressed fear of his worthiness after a miraculous catch. Have you ever felt unworthy of blessings in your life? Write about those feelings and how they affected you.

5. If you were to share the message of this article with someone who feels distanced from their faith, what key points would you emphasize? How would you encourage them to reconnect?

Happy journaling!

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