Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
A new buzzword is being heard in America these days and over the next few months it will be used so often everyone will be tired of hearing it. The word: “Affordability”. Just hearing the word stirs up emotions of many kinds, am I right?
Oh, it’s not at all a new word or a new challenge for normal people living in every country of the world. It just happens to be the latest political flash point in America. Did you know ‘affordability’ was an issue in every generation all through God’s “Grand Narrative” which we’ve been following since last August?
So today, let’s get in a fishing boat with Jesus and Simon Peter and let’s see what Jesus does about “affordability”!
We find this story in Luke 5:1-11 and while there are some elements of the story that seem similar to events reported in others of the Gospels, I think Luke gives us a unique perspective on what happened that day.
Jesus came back to Capernaum from Cana and one day was strolling along the shoreline of the Sea of Galilee talking with a group of people who were following and listening to Him. As the crowd grew larger Jesus paused and seeing a fishing boat pulled up on shore, Jesus asked the fisherman nearby if He could borrow the boat for a few moments. That fisherman was Simon Peter and evidently, he agreed. So, Jesus got in the boat and asked Simon to push it out from shore just a little, so Jesus could speak to the crowd who was standing on the shoreline.
Now if you’ve spent anytime near lakes or the ocean you know about waves, don’t you? And you know a floating boat, left unattended, will drift with the waves and the wind, right? So, I assume this required Peter to leave what he was doing and hold the boat steady while Jesus sat & talked to the people.
I’ve often wondered how frustrating that was for Peter who was washing his nets after a long night of ’empty net’ fishing. (Luke 5:1-3) I’m sure Peter was tired and wanted to get home and get some rest. But there he stood, probably waist deep in the water, holding his boat steady while Jesus spoke to the people, on and on.
Finally, Jesus finished, but instead of thanking Peter and both of them getting on with their day, Jesus invited Peter to get into his boat and asked him to put out into the deeper water of Lake Galilee and put down his nets for a catch! Oh my!
When was the last time someone interrupted your day expecting you to help them with something, but you were quite busy with your own things and to help them would mean setting aside your busyness, your agenda, your projects for the day? How did you handle that interruption, my friends? Peter objected: “…we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But, because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5)
Now pause and think about this for a moment. This would mean Peter would have to gather up the nets he was washing, put them in the boat, then get in the boat himself and either row or rig up the sails, to get the boat out into deeper water.
I wonder if Jesus offered to help weary Peter that morning? I wonder what they talked about as they headed out, away from the shore? I wonder how often Peter asked Jesus, ‘how about this spot, or would you prefer over there’?
Finally, Jesus evidently indicated they’d reached a good spot, and the nets were dropped. Likely this was one large net with floaters on the top and weights on the bottom of the net, and after it was in the water, then rowing the boat to close the net in a circle before pulling the net into the boat again to see if any fish had been trapped in the net. It was a laborious, tedious process which Peter had done a thousand times before and many times that night… but that night the nets had been empty every time.
This time, however, Luke reports: “When they had done so they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break! So, they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink!” (Luke 5:6,7) We know that Simon Peter and his brother Andrew; John and his brother James were a team of fishermen and thus I presume the others had been on the shoreline cleaning their nets, along with Peter, when all this started. So, it was likely those three jumped in the second boat headed out to help Peter and Jesus.
Can you hear the shouts of surprise and delight as these men all pulled on those nets and filled both boats? I imagine Jesus was right in the thick of it pulling in nets and soon they were all standing nearly knee deep in flapping fish!! How do you describe this miracle my friends?
Obviously, Jesus had miraculously called the fish, hundreds of them, to this one net on a morning after professional fishermen had tried all night with no success! Among all the back slapping and clapping and whistling with great joy, Peter was simply overwhelmed and fell to his knees in the fish. “Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man!”
Fisherman Peter, overwhelmed by the largest catch he’d probably ever seen, was deeply moved in his soul. It wasn’t about fish. Not about ‘affordability’ that this huge catch of fish would address for his family and many others. Not even about the practical logistics of how that many fish came from all over the lake to his one net.
Peter was overwhelmed by what this miracle meant about the man standing in his boat, Jesus! All these flapping fish were the tangible evidence of WHO this Jesus really is, for only God could do this miracle! God, the creator of the universe, including planet earth, including the Sea of Galilee and every fish in that lake was sitting in Peter’s boat with him that morning, surrounded by the biggest haul of fish Peter had ever seen.
So, how do you respond my friends, when you sense the Presence of the Creator of the Universe in your home or at your dinner table or riding with you in your automobile or when you are sitting at the shoreline watching the waves or sitting outside at night looking up at a star filled sky?
How do you feel when you hold a newborn baby, or hear the voices of hundreds of people all around you worshiping Almighty God, or when you sense God’s touch in a quiet prayerful moment, or when the words you are reading in God’s Word jump off the page to you?
Let’s do that right now, let’s pause and read this short story two or three times, inviting Jesus to speak to YOU in a personal and powerful way. Some reflective “Lessons Learned” notes are at the Grand Narrative link just below and then a wonderful worship song I found for just this experience. Invite Jesus to overwhelm you today as He did Peter…and I’ll be here waiting for you tomorrow.
Today’s Scripture: Luke 5:1-11.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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