Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text is the Holy Gospel reading which has already been read.

Dear friends in Christ, ups and downs: it's cliché, but life is full of them. Today we learn from Peter's experiences at the lake of Gennesaret that we Christians shouldn't be surprised by the ups and downs of life; rather we should expect them and learn to understand especially the "downs" as a necessary part of our life under the cross of Jesus Christ.

It's fitting that Peter's ups and downs are in the context of a fish story. Are all of your fish stories happy? No way, there are lots of ups and downs involved in fishing. Most of us have experienced the disappointment of coming home empty-handed. Or of breaking our fishing line, losing our pole in the water, or the big one getting away!

At the beginning of our fishing story today in Luke 5, Simon Peter is rather discouraged. He has labored all night but has caught no fish. And he's not fishing for pleasure—he's fishing for a living! When a commercial fisherman doesn't catch fish, his family doesn't eat and he doesn't make any money. But after a long and frustrating night of catching nothing, they still have to wash, dry, and put away the nets so he can go home and at least catch a bit of sleep. Peter is not only exhausted but pretty far down in the dumps. And when Jesus tells Peter that He is going to solve Peter's fishing problems, Peter is skeptical of the advice from this non-fisherman Jesus and only reluctantly goes back out to dirty their freshly-washed nets.

But within a few minutes, things for Peter will have made a complete turn-around; things are looking up. Jesus will provide Peter with a world-record catch and then commission him to go out and catch men with the Gospel. Yet the turn-around will not be without its ups and downs. There will be sin, shame, and the need for forgiveness before everything ends on a high note.

You see, after Jesus performed the great miracle of enclosing the fish in the nets, Peter recognizes that he is an unworthy sinner standing in the presence of not just any old man but the Holy Lord of Creation, so Peter collapses with guilt and shame before the Man who controls the wind and the waves and even the fish of the seas. "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

But then Jesus restores Peter with His word of absolution: "Do not be afraid," Jesus says. In other words, "Peter, I know you are a sinner but I forgive you all your sins and allow you to stand in My holy presence without fear." And then Jesus says, "From now on you will be catching men." In other words, "Peter, from now only you'll be working for Me, and I'll be the One empowering all your labors." And the forgiveness and assurances of Jesus give Peter the confidence to leave behind everything else and follow his Lord and Savior, Jesus.

We can recognize similar ups and downs in our own lives, like Peter's lows and highs. When we struggle with health problems, or difficulty with our children and grandchildren, or financial issues, or unemployment, we get down in the dumps. And in those times, it doesn't seem like Jesus is there to see us through, to lift us back up. And our sinful hearts even doubt the effectiveness of prayer, perhaps we give up on praying, because we're skeptical that the Lord even hears and will answer, as He has promised. But then what happens? The Lord provides. He doesn't always give us exactly what we want, but He does provide what we need to make it through the day. He provides our daily bread. He provides the assurance that He is in control and is working all things together for the good of those who love Him. And of course, He constantly provides us with forgiveness, life, and salvation through Jesus Christ, the greatest treasures we could ever enjoy; He always promises that when our last hour comes, He will take us from this valley of sorrows to Himself in heaven. So the Lord reaches down to lift us up, just as He did for Peter.

But then a different type of trial occurs, a spiritual trial. After we realize that we never should have doubted—we never should have been skeptical of our Lord's promises—then we recognize how wretched and full of doubts our hearts are, and like Peter, we fall down before Him and cry, "Depart from me, for I am a sinner, O Lord!" And it is good for us to be brought low like that, to be brought to confess our sins, so that we don't become proud of our own works or forgetful of our Lord's mercy. Yes, we need to be called to repentance and face up to our Holy Lord for our sin.

But then Jesus deals with us like He does with Peter. He says, "Don't be afraid! I forgive you. I came down from heaven to become a Man and live a perfect life in your place, living the righteous life you couldn't. I took all your sins upon Myself and went up to the cross to suffer and die for your sins. I went down into the depths of suffering for you, bearing God's wrath in your place. But death couldn't keep Me down! I burst up out of the grave, and commissioned the apostles to go out and be fishers of men so that through the Church I could lift you up out of eternal condemnation by making you my disciples by Baptism and My Word. And then I ascended up into heaven to prepare a place for you and to rule the whole world for your benefit. All of this I have done for you, so don't be afraid! Now, come take up your cross and follow Me!" That's the message Jesus has for you. Although you are and should be acutely aware of your sinfulness and unworthiness, Jesus doesn't want you to be left in shame and guilt, but to be lifted up in confidence that He has done everything necessary to save you for eternal life and sustain you between now and then.

But there are going to be lots of ups and downs for the disciple of Jesus, as Peter's life also shows. That day at the lake of Gennesaret, Peter had no idea what kinds of ups and downs he would be blessed with in the coming years. Peter would get to be the one who made the confession that Christ's whole Church is based on, saying to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!" But then almost immediately Peter crashed down by speaking for Satan when he tried to prevent Jesus from going up to Calvary to suffer and die. Peter got to go up on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus but then not long after would deny Jesus and flee out of fear of persecution. But finally after Christ's resurrection He lifted Peter back up and sent him out to feed His flock with the Word of God, yet Jesus also prophesied that Peter would suffer death as a martyr for confessing Jesus. Peter would experience lots of ups and downs, but he knew that Jesus would be with him through them all.

This is the pattern of our lives, too, but not because we are followers of Peter, but because we are followers of Jesus, and His life was shaped by the cross and resurrection, the biggest down and the biggest up in all of history. In our Epistle reading, St. Paul says that the cross of Jesus is the revelation of God's wisdom and power to those who are being saved, even though it seems foolish to the world. When you were baptized, you went down into the tomb with Jesus and were also raised with Him by faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Jesus from the dead. So you have died to the world's wisdom and now live in the foolishness of God, which "is wiser than men"; even though the cross and Baptism appear weak and helpless in the eyes of the world, "the weakness of God is stronger than men." God has chosen to save us through the "foolishness" of Christ cross, but that also is the pattern that God has given for our lives.

So for our Christian lives, God takes the pattern He used for His only-begotten and Incarnate Son and then applies it to us. St. Paul says that we are continually being conformed to our Lord Jesus (Romans 8:29). Not only should we be called "Christians," but we also could be known as "Crosstians" (M. Luther). So look to Christ's life for the pattern of your own. Jesus experienced great ups and downs in His life, much more extreme than we ever could experience. The greatest down was His shameful death on the cross, bearing the weight of our sins. The greatest up was His glorious resurrection in which He declared us righteous—forgiven of all our sins and heirs of His glory. And so when He tells us to take up our crosses and follow after Him, He knows what He's asking us to do. He leads us down no road that He hasn't already traveled for us, and He knows the best way for us.

But in order for us to learn not to rely on ourselves, but on Jesus, He sometimes lets us plunge down into the depths and get to the end of our rope before He pulls us back up. If you are in one of those "downs" right now, just be patient, as our Psalm of the Day says: "Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" He'll never forget you, He'll never leave you or forsake you, no matter how low you get, for you are baptized, you are God's beloved child united with Jesus, God's Son.

In the darkest moments, as well as when you're on the top of the world, what matters most is the Lord's promises to you, and He guarantees that after all your ups and downs in this life, He will finally will give you one eternal, perfect "up" in the resurrection, as our Psalm also says: "I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Those words first applied to Jesus, as He awaited the resurrection and ascension to God's right hand. And God made good on His promises to Jesus, didn't He? Because of this, you can most certainly be sure that He will make good on those promises for you. So no matter how wild the ups and downs of life, you always have the certainty of the future resurrection to comfort you when you are down and to thrill you when you are up. You follow in the footsteps of your risen and ascended Lord, who will bring you safely along your journey of life down here on earth just as He did for Peter and all the other saints who are enjoying eternal bliss up in heaven.In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.