Fishing with Jesus...

This week we are looking at an encounter that Jesus had with a man named Peter that is recorded for us in an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. Yesterday, we looked on as Jesus as swelling crowds pressed closer and closer to Jesus in an attempt to hear what Jesus was saying.

However, as the large crowd pressed closer and closer to Jesus, two things happened. First, as the large crowd pressed closer and closer to Jesus, the crowd muffled the message that Jesus was proclaiming to the crowd. Second, as the large crowd pressed closer and closer to Jesus, Jesus found Himself being pushed closer and closer to the very edge of the Sea of Galilee. Soon Jesus was going to run out of dry land and be run into the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus responded to what was happening by getting in Peter's boat, and asked him to take Him out so that He can give a sermon. Peter who had already heard Jesus preach before in a synagogue in Capernaum and had watched Jesus demonstrate His power as He healed his mother-in-law, felt that the least he could do to respond to Jesus activity in his life was to allow Jesus to use his boat as a platform.

At some level, Peter felt like he needed to pay Jesus back for what Jesus had done for his family. So Peter let Jesus use his boat and tried not to fall asleep as Jesus talked to the crowd. However, Peter was not prepared for what Jesus would want him to do next, as we see in verse 4:

 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets."

Luke tells us that Jesus, after finishing His sermon, turned to Peter and commanded Peter to “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." However, to fully understand what Jesus has commanded here, we first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we need to understand is that the “your nets” here is plural.

So Jesus command to Peter, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Peter, take the boat out to deeper water and call all your fishing partners off of the shore to join us as we go fishing. Call your partners to start casting their nets in the deeper water for a catch”.

Now that leads us to the second thing which we need to understand, which is how Peter and his fellow fishermen would have fished in the first century. In the first century, just like today, fishermen would fish at night because that was the time when the fish would come near the surface to feed. So Peter and his partner fishermen would cast their nets over and over again into the water to catch fish that had come up to the surface. Fishing was back breaking and exhaustive work.

But it is not night. Instead, by now, it is the middle of the day in the heat of the desert. And as a result, the fish have retreated to the deeper waters. In addition, your nets are designed for shallow night fishing and not deep sea day fishing.

Now imagine yourself as Peter. You have been up all night and have stayed up past your bedtime to help out Jesus, because He had helped you out earlier. And if that was not enough, now Jesus wants you to call your fishing buddies back out into the deep water after they had already cleaned their nets to go deep sea fishing with shallow water nets. Then you are going to have to re-clean the nets that you have just cleaned.

Now you are Peter. What would you be thinking at this point? How would you respond? You would probably respond like Peter did in verse 5: "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." In other words, Peter is like “I am a fisherman and you are a preacher who used to be a carpenter. I know the way I am supposed to fish. I am the expert and you are just along for the ride. I have already helped You out a lot today. But I will do what You have asked even though it is a total waste of time”.

Now here is a question to consider: How often can we find ourselves acting just like Peter? How often do we react this way to the way of Jesus? I mean let’s be honest. Isn’t that how we can react to the way of Jesus? “Jesus, I know the way I am supposed to live my life. I am the expert and You are just along for the ride. My way is better; I am comfortable with my way, my way seems to be working alright for me.” How often can we find ourselves acting just like Peter? However, what Peter was not prepared for is what would happen next, as we see in verse 6:

 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.

Now can you imagine what this would have looked like? Can you imagine the look on Peter and his fellow fishermen’s faces when they skeptically first began to throw their nets into the water? Can you imagine how the look on Peter and his fellow fishermen’s faces changed as they began to bring in their nets?

Can you imagine the look on the faces of the fishermen in the other boat as they rushed over to help Peter as his nets began to break? Can you imagine the look of joy that turned to concern as their boats began to sink due to the large catch of fish? Can you imagine what thoughts were running through their mind as they tried to explain what defied explanation?

After all, these are expert fishermen; this is what they do for a living. And now they are left with boat full of fish that were caught with nets that should not have reached where the fish should have been at? I mean, how would you respond if you had been Peter? We see how Peter responded in verse 8:

 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Luke tells us that Peter, James and John responded to what had happened by being seized with amazement. You see, these three men were overcome with awe in what they had experienced. These three men were astonished by the unexplainable event that they had witnessed. The fish that had been taken hold of by their nets had left them in a place where they had been taken hold by a state of amazement.

And as Peter attempted to wrap his mind around what had happened Luke tells us that he fell down at Jesus feet and uttered an amazing statement: "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" You see, Peter recognized that he was a witness to the miraculous power of God that had been displayed through Jesus. As Peter stood before Jesus, Peter saw the stark contrast between his selfish and rebellious activity and Jesus miraculous activity.

And Peter recognized that he did not deserve to be in the presence of Jesus. Peter responded to being in the presence of someone who could only do what God could do by responding in astonishment and awe at the acknowledgment of his unwillingness to do what God had called him to do.

Friday, we will discover how Jesus responded to Peter...