Jesus is pretty much a total celebrity at this point because he has been healing all these people and his ministry is at a peak. So there is this mob of people hoarding around him (aching to hear what He says and probably curious to see what He will do next) on the banks of this lake. At this point, Jesus walks up to this fisherman, Simon, as he is cleaning his nets getting ready for the next day of fishing. He basically just hops on into Simon’s boat and asks him to push him out into the water away from the people so he is not bombarded.
First, He teaches the crowd of people and after that decides to tell these fishermen they need to go fishing again…they had a long, hard night the night before and caught nothing and yet Jesus tells them, to go out and fish again, right now. They obey, reluctantly, and what do you know? They catch such a HUGE net full of fish that their nets were breaking.
Here’s the story I heard behind the story:
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 struggled all night and caught nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” (v. 4-5)
Sometimes we have to learn to trust God by doing exactly what we have been doing every day, over and over again. These fishermen had been fishing every day for probably years, and then all of the sudden Jesus comes along and makes their job new again.
He tells us to trust Him, leave the bank and cast out into the deep (direct parallel to whatever you feel he has called you to do) even if you might have been there before and found nothing.
I am at this season of my life where often I feel overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, but through this scripture I felt like Jesus made something clear: Even if you have tried something before, sometimes God calls us to do it over again, maybe numerous times. But the difference comes when you ask yourself: are you doing it with him, or ignorantly trying to control and perform with your own abilities? How often we think we know everything and think we have control of our jobs and lives. I do, all the time, only to be blown away by things going completely another direction.
“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.” (v. 7)
When the fishermen trusted the Lord and did as He asked, they pulled in exactly what they had been striving after for so long. So much so, they could not even contain the amount…what they found exceeded every expectation and broke their worldly limitations.
Whatever place you are in right now, sometimes it’s a really heavy load to try and pull in all God has given you. Which is why, I think God was trying to remind me how I am not alone in this place of my life. “They signaled to their partners…to come and help them.” How often, in the midst of the heavy loads and hard times do we ask for help?
Even the Godhead Himself is 3 in 1 and over and over he reminds us how it is not good for man to be alone: ex. Genesis 2:18, Ecc 4:10
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken… (v. 8-9)
Peter’s response to this was not excitement of how much worldly wealth he had acquired with his friends, but instead his response was to stop what he was doing and fall at the feet of Jesus, declaring his sinfulness. He fell before God recognizing his own sinfulness and becoming aware of how Jesus is enough.
And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to the land, they left everything and followed him.” (v. 10-11)
Jesus patiently and humbly never throws his divinity and sovereignty in our faces when we realize our sinfulness, but lovingly calls us to remember the Truth of who we are in the midst of our lives every day. No matter what we do from day to day, we are called to love others because He first loved us. As simple as that sounds, its not a formula and it looks different for all of us.
For me, I cannot be reminded enough to stop getting distracted by the things I cannot control. Instead I need to remember to approach my day to day life with joyful uncertainty, completely trusting God things will happen as they should.
ABIDE in Him as He ABIDES in you. That word just gets me every time…
