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A voyage with Jesus leads to bigger fish to fry
March 12 Lesson
___Luke 5:1-11, 27-28
___1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2 he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
___4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
___5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
___6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 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.
___8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
___Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. ...
___By Marv Knox
___Editor
___Sometimes, personal failure and human limitations turn into occasions of unexpected grace and unanticipated bounty.
___Take the time my family visited a dude ranch in Creede, Colo. This was many years ago, before I started school. We had great fun in the Rocky Mountains. But one day, I was disappointed. We went fishing, and I had envisioned my little 5-year-old self pulling huge, beautiful trout out of the icy waters of a mountain lake. We caught nothing. My father expended all his energy helping me cast and keeping me from puncturing everyone in the family with fish hooks. Eventually, coming darkness forced us to pack up our gear and head back to the cabin.
___That night, on the way to the outhouse, my father cheered me up by coaxing me to sing a homemade ditty: "Marv and Daddy fished all day and caught no fishes." Soon, we began laughing as we sang, apparently louder and louder.
___The next morning, a stranger knocked on our door. "Were y'all the ones singing about fishing last night?" he asked.
___"Yes, we were," my father answered.
___"Well," the man replied, "we've gotta go home today, and we've got plenty of fish here we thought y'all might like."
___We feasted like angler-royalty. We had so much fish, we even ate them with eggs the next morning at breakfast, before we headed for home.
___A big fish story
___In this week's Scripture, Simon Peter experiences a bad day on the lake. Of course, Peter's frustration was much more profound than a preschooler's disappointment. The Lake of Gennesaret --the other gospel writers call it by its more familiar name, the Sea of Galilee--was Simon's second home. He and his brother, Andrew, and their friends, James and John, were professional fishermen. They made their living on that sea. A bad catch impacted their very livelihood. So, you can imagine the discouragement they were feeling when Jesus showed up and used Simon's boat for a pulpit.
___Don't you find it interesting that Luke doesn't record what Jesus preached that day? The object lesson Jesus was about to perform provided a stronger sermon than words could conjure.
___"Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch," Jesus told Simon. That was the last thing the veteran fisherman wanted to hear. Night time was the right time for fishing. But here it was, the middle of the day after a night of futile fishing, and Jesus said to do it all over again.
___Instinctively, however, Simon recognized Jesus was more than a mere armchair angler. "The authority and power of the word of Jesus are underlined," the late New Testament scholar Malcolm Tolbert notes. "The response required of a disciple to this authority is unconditional obedience." Like any other person who has heard Jesus' clear command, Simon knew he must obey.
___The result was instantaneous and overwhelming. Simon immediately encountered the catch of a lifetime, even at the "wrong" time of the day. First, he caught so many fish his nets began to break. Then he called in reinforcements, and both boats took on so many fish they began to sink. Anybody who ever prays to catch fish ought to remember this story.
___"Go away ... I am sinful."
___You can't help but love impetuous, shoot-from-the-lip Simon Peter. Here he was, pulling in a haul that could cast him to the top of the "Fisherman of the Year" nominations, and he saw more than fish. He dropped to his knees and confessed his sinfulness. The abundance of Jesus' goodness reminded him of the depths of his own wickedness. He understood he was unworthy to receive the bounty of Jesus' favor, and he wasn't shy about saying so.
___In that moment, Simon recognized a truth that people today--who live 2,000 years later and receive the benefit of Scripture and centuries of New Testament teaching--often miss. Good gifts and the abundance of life come from God, not from us. We live in a production-oriented consumer culture. A successful advertising campaign has sold millions of products by persistently repeating the American mantra: "I'm worth it."
___You know what this means; you've seen it happen. A person enjoys material success. Maybe it's a "dream" job with top-dollar pay and commensurate perks. Perhaps it's a stock portfolio that has grown in geometric proportions. It could be more-basic blessings, like a happy marriage, well-adjusted children, good health and plenty of friends. In our culture of hard work and success, we're inclined to see such blessings as the just return on an investment of hard work. While the Bible affirms diligence and labor, Simon saw more. He--and we--never could work hard enough to deserve such abundance. The goodness of life is a gift from God. It's grace. Like Simon, we're all sinners. We don't deserve God's blessings. But we're blessed just the same.
___Different "fish" to catch
___As soon as Simon "gets it"--as soon as he understands his great haul is more than just a mess of fish--Jesus provided both comfort and the punchline to this maritime metaphor.
___"Don't be afraid," Jesus first said. Jesus always utilizes his divine powers to bless, not curse, his followers. Simon didn't need to fear Christ's presence, even in the wake of an ominous miracle. And neither do we. However, he did need to prepare to change.
___That's where Jesus' next statement, actually, the rest of his sentence, comes in--"from now on you will catch men." Jesus issued a new call on Simon's life. From that moment on, Simon's purpose in life was to "catch men," to cast the good news net of the gospel and bring people to faith in Jesus. That didn't mean Simon never fished for fishes again. But wherever he went and whatever else he did, his "job" was to fish for people.
___Through the ages, all who have followed after Jesus in Simon's footsteps have shared that same calling. No matter how we earn our monetary livelihood, according to Jesus, we're all "fishers" who are angling for souls.
___Been there, done that
___Jesus' timing was not coincidental. He sent Simon and company back onto the sea after a night of futility, gave them a great catch and then called them to a different kind of fishing for eternal purposes. Sure, these fishing families' fortunes were good that week. But Jesus had a greater purpose. He showed them that, just as he controlled the fish in the sea, he was capable of directing their spiritual quest to fish for people. Just as Jesus provided a bounty of cod or haddock or whatever swam the depths of that sea, Jesus would provide a bounty of Africans, Americans, Asians, Australians and Europeans who roam the face of the earth.
___More specifically, Jesus demonstrated his power, not human ability, is the key to the catch. "The work of God's kingdom does not depend on the capabilities of those called to be the instruments of its power," Tolbert says of this story. "Their effectiveness is guaranteed by the sovereign power of the one who calls them to his service. When they act in response to the word of Jesus, they meet with success, even when efforts seem futile."
___That's good news, especially for Texas Baptists, who occasionally find ourselves discouraged by the challenges before us. About half our state--as many as 10 million people--make no claim to a saving relationship with Jesus. Many of them express no interest in knowing about Christ. Our state's population is booming, with countless newcomers speaking a symphony of languages. Families are breaking apart. Children are abused. People are losing hope. Yet Texas Baptists have vowed to do something about all this. We are nearing the end of our Texas 2000 ministry/evangelism campaign, in which we intend to tell everyone in Texas about Jesus and start 1,400 churches.
___When we look at the obstacles before us, we can empathize with Simon's discouragement as he cleaned empty fishing nets. But when we recall how those nets soon burst with a historic catch, we can anticipate the bounty of God's blessings in our state during our day. The Lord of the Sea of Galilee is the Lord of Texas. May we be as obedient as Simon, so that we may participate in God's spiritual "catch" in the Lone Star State.
___The one least likely ...
___This week's Scripture concludes with Levi, whom Jesus invited to join the disciple band. Levi--better known as Matthew --was a tax collector. To most people of his day, that meant he was a traitor. He was a Jew who worked for the occupying Roman forces. He took from the Jews to give to the Romans. And he got rich by taking more than the Romans required, fleecing his countrymen for the bounty of Rome and his own estate.
___Levi/Matthew probably was the last person Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John expected to join them as Jesus' newest apostle. This call defied conventional wisdom. How could a good guy like Jesus pick a wicked turncoat like Matthew? But just as Jesus saw fish where others saw empty sea, Jesus saw a faithful follower in the face of an economic mercenary. Isn't it interesting, however, that the results were the same? They all responded to Jesus' call upon their lives, left what they were doing and followed him.
___The calling of Levi echoes through history and has meaning for us today. Jesus didn't take a vote of the apostles to decide if Levi should get "in." Levi never would have made it. Rather, Jesus recognized the faith potential of an unlikely candidate and beckoned him to follow. Levi didn't deserve Jesus' favor, but neither did Simon. And neither do we.
___Texas Baptists have been blessed with diversity, just like the diversity that marked Jesus' first followers. And just as Jesus called them all, he bids us to follow him too.
For thought and discussion
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