On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2
and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3
Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4
And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5
And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6
And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7
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. 8
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9
For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10
and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11
And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
The Bible gives us accounts of Jesus’ calling and training his disciples so that we might know the true nature of being His. The followers of Christ were early on
simply called His disciples, and then later, as we learn in Acts 11 in Antioch called Christians. The term Christian was formed as a word that indicates a follower of a certain person and given to Christ’s followers by those outside the group. We read of the
Herodians who were followers of the house of Herod and now we read of Christians who were followers, disciples of Jesus who is the Christ.
When Jesus died what did he leave behind? He had not established the “Jesus of Nazareth Study Center”, nor a weekly publication speaking to the Kingdom’s coming and
no one put up a statue of Jesus outside the Temple square so as to remember Him and his movement. What did he leave behind? He left disciples, he left 12 men. He left the church, small, but prepared by the Master to see to it that His work would be done in
the world and to be done in HIS name. The work of redemption, of the Son of God coming to earth as a man, to live for, to die for, to resurrect and ascend for sinners, that we might not suffer the wrath of God due us for our sins, but so that we might live,
and live forever…
…This glorious plan of redemption, announced in the Garden that we watch unfold as we read our Old Testament, the hope that we hear in the words of the prophets of
the coming of God for His people, to do for them what they could not do for themselves…This message, this work, this reality, this hope, the only hope for mankind…is left in the hands of 12 men…12 very ordinary, and if truth be told, unimpressive men. If
you were God’s counselor you might have thought to caution Him on such a plan. “I mean 12 men…12 sinful men…and Jesus is going to give all of that to them? Lord, don’t you think You should have a back-up plan?”
And yet because of what they did, because of what they wrote, because of what they preached, because of what they suffered because of what they bore, Jesus Christ
has been preached all over the world for more than 2000 years. Christ has been lived in and by His disciples and the earth has been and continues to be blessed because it is so. Through these disciples, the name of Christ has become known to the world; the
message of hope is seen, heard and felt throughout the entire world.
As hard as it is to imagine, to fathom, the perfect, all knowing God of heaven and earth, who never errs, never makes mistakes, never lacks wisdom, has seen to it
that the kingdom, the church and her eternal destiny rests in the hands of sinful, but redeem, disciples. “It rested on them in their day and it rests on the existence of true disciples still today…and although these 12 were certainly unique, at heart, what
was true of them is true of us.
The twelve give us a good picture of the church, of the differences among those who are called to follow. We have here a microcosm of the church. We have Peter who
will, in a crucial moment, deny three times that he even knows Jesus, let alone is a follower of Jesus. We have Matthew who is hated by virtually everyone because of the fact that his job, a tax collector, causes him to be despised by both his employer,
Rome, and those whom he extorts money from, the Jews. Not a popular guy. There are two brothers, James and John, who seem to have an eye to what is in it for them, will they get the place of honor, I mean someone has to, why not us after all? And
then the gall, when Jesus asks them, “Are you able to drink the cup from which I will drink?” They answer, “Yes, we are”, having no idea what they are saying!!!
But then again, neither do we. Where will our life, lived for Jesus sake, take us? What bends and turns will be had, do you have any idea? Of course, there is Thomas who
will forever be known as the doubter, the one who has to have everything proved to him. Personally, Thomas does not stand out so much as a doubter, they were ALL doubters! Rather, Thomas stands out as “Thomas is the church skipper”. The one who was not with
the others on the Sabbath Day when he should have been. Oh, I am sure he had a good excuse for not being able to make it, but don’t we all! And of course, the sad reality of Judas being in the 12 sends a warning that will echo as long as there is time;
that amidst those who claim to follow Jesus, in the midst of the church, there have been and will always be, devils.
When we look at the disciples, we see sinners. We see that they had faults…glaring faults. They were simple people, just like us. They had problems, struggles and
difficulties, again, similar to our own.
In our text the miraculous catch of fish there illustrates a very important aspect of being a follower of Christ Jesus. The fishermen had worked throughout the night,
which was the best time to fish, the time when the catch would be the most rewarding. They knew what they were doing, after all, this was their trade. They had worked alongside their fathers since they could remember, and could do this work with their eyes
closed. Jesus, after using the boat as a pulpit to speak to the throngs of people that were pressing in upon Him, tells them to let down their nets. Peter makes his objection known. I personally don’t think he was being respectful, but simply couldn’t do
it without telling Jesus that this is not the normal way things are done, Jesus is no fisherman, he could build you a table, but we are talking about fishing. “We know what we are doing, and it won’t work. BUT if you say so we will do it.”
Peter had no reason to think this would produce anything at all! But the Lord who created all things and rules, even creation itself, because it is His, filled the
nets to overflowing. Being a disciple, understanding the kingdom that He brings, is not about what is seen, it is not about, what works in the eyes of man, it is not about, what WE think we know, or what we are so certain of. It is about faith, it is about
trust, it is about obedience to Him in the face of circumstances that yell at us to do the very opposite of what He is calling us to believe. It is about learning from Him what is the real reality, so that we are not caught up with ourselves and our
own way of thinking and doing things.
What is Peter being asked to do? He is being asked to set aside what he thinks he knows, a way of understanding that he has gained on his own, even a way of life,
not that any of those things were necessarily sinful or wrong. However, even those things, even what he thinks he knows of this world, must nonetheless fall under Christ’s authority, under His word, if Peter is to be a follower of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, our thoughts, our feelings, our expertise, our talents, abilities, our minds and intellect, everything gives way to the command of Christ and
is brought into the service of Jesus. We are even called to bring our thoughts captive to the obedience of Jesus, EVERY thought! (2 Cor. 10:5) That is what it means to follow Jesus. There is nothing in your life, nothing that Jesus does not touch and say, “This
is mine.”
Jesus says to Peter you will be a fisherman, a great fisherman, but from now on, it will not be for fish, rather it will be for men. In Jeremiah 16:16 the Lord speaks
of fishing for men, but He is fishing for them, catching them so that God might judge them and destroy them. But now these men are to follow Jesus and to fish for men so that men might be spared from that judgment, that men might not be caught in the net of
wrath but in the net of God’s grace and mercy that comes in the person and the work of the Savior.
Peter’s response is fascinating. He is overwhelmed, realizing who this Jesus truly is. This is the same response of Isaiah’s when in the presence of the Lord. (Is.
6) He is terrified, knowing the holiness of his God and the sinfulness of his own life. This is not “light-hearted” or “casual”. This is not “God is rad, He’s my dad”. This shakes Peter to his core. Does Christ’s calling and presence do this to you and me?
Or do we just nod and yawn?
The call to being a disciple, is one that forces us to see our own unworthiness that we might never, not for even one day, or one minute of one day, trust in ourselves
to fulfill this call. It is a call to leave everything and make Jesus our bread and drink, our very life, not knowing what will happen and what earthly circumstances it might or might not bring. Being a disciple involves sacrifice, it disrupts one’s life,
relationships and even one’s plans for the future. Of course, following Jesus is a delight and a joy, so much so that to try and describe it is literally an impossible task. And so, we joyfully, but with full awareness that our lives do not belong to us…leave
our nets and follow Him!
Prayer: Father, following Jesus is not simply my calling, it is my life. Give me grace to do so well, to stay close by His side that I would not wander into foolishness
and fear. Use me for whatever purpose, wherever that might take me, whatever that might mean, so that Christ would be formed in me and that I would be a vessel for His glory and honor. Do this my God, for I want for nothing else! Through Jesus Christ my Lord,
Amen.
Hymn: Well, again, not a hymn, but a gospel song. Still…enjoy!
Jesus I My Cross Have Taken
