Fishing Stories

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR Luke 5:4–7 ESV And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. CONSIDER They were professional fishermen. Okay, so they weren't professional fishermen, like Bill Dance or Jacob Wheeler, but they were commercial fishermen. Professional fishermen have sponsors and get free equipment and prize money for winning tournaments and other such provisions as their profession might afford. Commercial fishermen, not so much. No fish—no food. No fish—no paying the bills. No fish—big problems.  Andrew and Peter and James and John were commercial fishermen who fished all night and caught nothing. As they cleaned and mended their nets on the shoreline, the Galilean carpenter waxed eloquently from their otherwise useless boat. As he finished his message and the fishermen were preparing to apply for other jobs, Jesus famously said these words: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” What do carpenters know about fishing? Apparently nothing.  Because ancient fishing nets were thick and clunky and not made from synthetic polymers, the fish could spot them from a mile away in the daytime. It's why they fished at night. And because fish like to feed in the warm shallow waters during the daytime, anyone who knew anything about fishing knows you don't catch them in the deep water in the daytime. Jesus was obviously more into fishing than catching.  And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” They caught so many fish it filled Peter and Andrew's boat to capacity and it began to sink. James and John brought their boat over and they filled it to capacity and it, too, began to sink. I know nothing about the price of fish in the first century, but something tells me they made their budget for the year and just maybe their bank for the next three.  That's an important detail, because they were about to burn the proverbial boats. Meanwhile, Jesus was about to knit their lives together into the proverbial net and throw them into the deep water of the world.  And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” One more brief bit we don't need to miss: "But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord” (Luke 5:8). Let that scene sink in. Everybody is mesmerized by the fish. Peter sees only Jesus.  But for my money, the catch of the day are these three words earlier from Peter's mouth. Nay four: But at your word . . .  Sometimes, really many times, what Jesus says to us seems wrong, nonsensical, absurd, and maybe even a little bit crazy. No matter how much all that seems true to us, here's our script: But at your word. . .  PRAY Lord Jesus, thank you for this iconic day on the lake; really at the shoreline where you launched us all into the deep waters to fish for people. Some of us feel like we missed that boat. Thank you for being ever ready to pull back up to the shoreline of our lives and let us get on board. Thank you for saving us from our sin and even more for saving us for our life with you—fishing for now and swapping fish stories for all eternity. Praying in your name, Jesus, amen.