Faith


When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
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.” Luke 5:4-5


Two things strike me here. The first isn’t terribly remarkable but the second is, to me, pretty amazing. First of all, this meeting with Simon [Peter], James and John is recorded in all four Gospels. Each one is a bit different, but only Luke tells the longer story of putting the nets out again. When you read all four Gospels you can see each writer’s style. Luke is the wordy one. He likes to get every detail in his stories. He may have been one of those people who noticed things that others find superfluous. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest. Mark was the, tell the story and move on type, I guess. So the idea that Luke added more detail is notable but not remarkable. What is remarkable is the lack of relationship between Jesus and the fishermen.

When Jesus notices those guys dragging in nets, cleaning up boats, he is not acquainted with them. By all four accounts he sees them, speaks to them and bam, they’re going right along with him. That I don’t doubt for a second. The Gospels make it pretty clear that Jesus had a compelling presence. Love him or hate him, no one failed to be intrigued by him. What does amaze me is that he walks up to these men, experienced fishermen, with no knowledge of their trade and says “hey guys, try again, but this time do it my way.” His way, which is opposed to everything the fishermen know about fishing. He tells them to do something that is ridiculous to them and what do they do? They do exactly what he says.
Of course this story is one of the many reasons why I love Peter. “Uh, we’ve already worked hard for nothing, but okay.” Alright, what he really said was, “because you say so” and that, to me, is the truly amazing part of the story. Who is Jesus to Peter at that point? Peter isn’t even Peter yet. He’s still Simon. This isn’t his best and closest friend telling him to something ludicrous. This is some guy he may have heard about but that’s it.

We learn that the apostles were people, just like us. True and yet they answered the call much faster and more fully than most of us. The difference I suppose was that they were face to face with a person so intriguing, so charismatic that they could not resist him. Jesus, being God, never, ever changes, which means the character of Jesus, is just as strong and compelling now as it was all those years ago. What has changed is our vision. We don’t see as clearly as Peter, James or John. Maybe we see as clearly as Nathaniel, who asked, “what good comes from Nazareth?” But even Nathaniel moved faster than most of us. If we would be still, listen and then do things Jesus’ way, our lives would be productive.

This reminds me of a day, several years ago, when I was trying to help one of our students get on a swing. No matter what I said she wanted to do it her way. As I tried repeatedly to help her all I could think was, “If you’d just do it my way, I know so much better than you.” I also remember wondering how many times my heavenly Father has that same thought toward me. Obedience with alacrity and without question would be the best course of action. Who knows? I might even catch a fish.

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