A Miraculous Catch of Fish (Part Three)

Luke 5:10b-11

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him (NIV).

The miraculous catch of fish greatly affected all who witnessed it. Since Simon was kneeling before Jesus, the Lord directly addressed him with an encouragement not to fear. Observe the reaction of people when they truly encounter the supernatural. They are awestruck; they do not know what else might happen. Here, Simon was afraid. So, Jesus quickly put Simon at ease. We see the compassion and kindness of Jesus. He was aware of how other people experienced the miraculous and calmed them. We also should think about the feelings of others.

But then unexpectedly Jesus said what would change Simon and some of his partners forever. “From now on you will fish for people.” What did this mean? First of all, the Lord Jesus met them where they were at that point in their lives. As you study the Four Gospels you learn that this was not their first meeting. They had heard Jesus speak and seen him act powerfully for several months. They knew he taught about the kingdom of God and how he called people to repent, to change their world and life view. Now this call summoned them to change what they knew about fishing and what kind of catch they ought to seek. The point of contact was fishing, but they would need to learn from him what it meant to fish for people. How do you fish for people? Obviously, you do not cast your nets into the waters of the lake to do that! Even more, why would you fish for people? They had caught fish to sell them to others, but from what they knew of Jesus and his teaching, that was not what the Lord intended. It is easy for us to say that he called them to become disciple makers, but it must have puzzled them. 

So second, this was an invitation for them to become his disciples (students or learners). He would teach; they would learn from him. Clearly, Christ made the point that they would have to consider him their Teacher. This required them to humble themselves before him. Do we grasp this point? Yes, we may ask many questions, but Jesus is not our Teacher if we debate with him the truth he teaches. Every true Christian learns from the Lord Jesus. We do not try to teach him how his world and kingdom must operate. Simon was in the right posture before Jesus, on his knees, and he would have done well to have stayed there at various times in his life, instead of arguing with the Lord.

Third, it was a challenge to live by faith in Christ. They understood this. They immediately left their former occupation. Simon, Andrew, James, and John at that moment quit fishing for fish. They walked off their old job, probably much to the confusion of other fishermen, including their families. This was a bold step of faith, much like Abram had to take when he left Ur (Genesis 12:1). Their prior act of faith, putting out into deep water (5:4-5), was not risky. The greatest cost to them would have been inconvenience and perhaps disappointment if nothing happened. But this was a life-altering demand, and they knew it. Their whole future awaited. Would they choose self-reliance or complete dependence on Jesus. But they considered the cost and the benefits and decided that it was better to fish for people than for fish. So, they left everything and followed him.

What about you? What is the everything that you must leave to follow Christ? Does the life of faith seem too risky for your liking? Jesus calls people out of their comfort zones to surrender their lives and their futures to him. How can you leave everything to follow him? 

You must know who Christ is! Do you?

Grace and peace,
David

After the World Changed (Part Two)

John 21:1-14

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called “Twin”), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples were together. “I’m going fishing,” Simon Peter said to them. “We’re coming with you,” they told him. They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus. “Friends,” Jesus called to them, “you don’t have any fish, do you?” “No,” they answered. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat,” he told them, “and you’ll find some.” So they did, and they were unable to haul it in because of the large number of fish. The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” (21:1-7a CSB)

Sometime after Thomas’ confession of faith, we have this post-resurrection appearance that is recorded only by the apostle John. Because they had experienced that Jesus their Lord and Teacher was risen from the dead, they now had two major items on their immediate agenda: to meet Jesus in Galilee and then to return to Jerusalem, where the Holy Spirit would be poured out on them. However, they did not know the details of either meeting. They had to wait in obedient faith for both. Waiting in faith is always difficult, even to people who have demonstrated great faith in the Lord. Plenty of examples are available from the lives of people like George Mueller and Hudson Taylor, both of whom daily depended on the Lord to meet their needs. We live in tension between confidence in the living God to supply our needs and anxiety about when or how or even if God will act for our good this time. If you are finding it difficult to wait for God’s answer to your prayers, know that you have many brothers and sisters in Christ that are in the same situation. I hope that does not sound like “misery loves company”; instead, I hope it sounds like this is a normal experience of the life of faith.

While they were in Galilee, apparently waiting to meet the Risen Messiah, Peter and some of his friends decided to go fishing. We are not told why he wanted to go fishing. Nor are we told the reason the others agreed to go with him. They are not blamed for this action. Men have things they like to do, just as women do. It is really okay to the Lord that we act like humans because he made us to be humans. There might have been any number of reasons for their choice, from the simple “they needed food to eat” to “they wanted to lend a hand to the family fishing business” (this is often overlooked by the critical) to “they wanted to relax out on the lake.” This is only to suggest three possibilities. The last is quite human, considering all the turmoil they had been through. If God gives me grace to get through this pandemic safely, I might either want to go for a hike in the nearby mountains (Mt. Joy and Mt. Misery) or go fishing myself. After a time of instability and upheaval, people need time to recover, to return to a normal routine of life, to rekindle relationships. Let us not give those early disciples a hard time, when the Holy Spirit does not in the written word.

When Peter and the others went fishing, I am sure they expected a successful night catching fish. But even the best fisherman does not always catch fish. I have never been a skilled fisherman, although my dad’s nickname was “Fishhook”. How he loved to fresh water fish! Anytime anyone would go with him, he was ready! (Ah, the memories! Excuse me while my eyes tear up for a moment.) He usually caught some fish, even if they were not keepers. My brother and I went fishing one day up in New York. We rented a boat for sixty dollars. We caught one fish. I assure you we had that fish for supper that evening. It was the most expensive fish dinner I have ever had. Anyway, the disciples, some of whom were professional fisherman, caught nothing that night.

But a man stood on the shore of the lake. He had been a carpenter by trade. From the shore he called out to the unsuccessful fisherman. Most English translations are rather formal and say something like “Friends”, as the way the man addressed them. To be more colloquial, we could translate, “Hey guys, you haven’t caught any fish, have you?” A line like this never makes any fisherman happy, but they politely answered, “No.”

The man then gave them some advice that was about to resonate in their hearts. For the same man had said similar words to them a couple years previously (cf. Luke 5:4-7). They did what he said, and immediately their nets were full of fish! Immediately, the disciple that Jesus loved (John) knew it was the Lord. What exciting news! The Lord over all creation had come to be with “his guys”!

After the world changed, Jesus kept his word. The same Lord Jesus they had known and loved for years had come to meet them in Galilee. And he meet them where they were, doing something that they loved to do, and providing for their needs and wants. Hey guys, Jesus loves his people, even after the world changed. He still loves us today.

Grace and peace,
David