Chapter five of Luke is an exciting reflection on the qualities of Jesus' ministry. There are a couple of healing stories, two calling disciples to follow, some confrontations with Pharisees and a miraculous catch of fish to help us to pay more attention to Jesus and to become more committed to following the Master.
Jesus approaches the fishermen who are cleaning their nets after not catching anything, he asks if he can use one of their boats for a pulpit to teach from for the crowds have come to the beach. He teaches the crowd for a while, then he asks Simon to go out into the deep for a catch. I love the irony here, the professional carpenter, is telling the professional fishermen, where the catch is going to be. And besides that, the fishing is usually better closer to shore, their weighted nets can settle to the bottom and trap the fish between the bottom and the net that descends upon them, then they pull the ends of the net together into a bag, and bring the net up to the boat.
Going out into the deep defeats some of the purpose of shallow fishing nets. But here is the way we might gain some spiritual insights, Jesus asks us to follow him, and not just follow him, like yeah, You are my guy, but follow his instructions, including how to do you job, and do your life. And there are going to be times when this does not make much sense. We often have come to our ideas by hard work or experiences, or by common sense. Then being told something else, just unnerves us. But Jesus asks Simon to go out deeper. Like we do, Simon, complained first, explained why this wouldn't work, but then goes ahead. They get a huge catch of fish. So full, that it's tearing their nets. So full that it requires more help, from the other boat. So full, that it begins to weigh the boat down.
Another little message from God, being obedient and faithful to the instructions, will yield a miracle, not as we expect, but God sent. Their boats were on the verge of sinking because the catch was so plentiful. Maybe we can learn from this, and be more willing to be obedient and faithful to what God asks of us. Maybe we need to be more willing to trust that God sees and understands parts of life we don't. Maybe we can learn that trusting God's leadership is really worth the effort and the commitment, and like in this case, leaving behind the familiar in order to really follow Jesus.
I hope you are reading the whole chapter with me. Jesus invites Simon and Andrew, James and John to leave everything and follow him. They are going to become fishers of men and women. Bringing people into the network of God.
We sometimes ask Jesus to come into our lives, but it's for our benefit. We want to have the rescue available should we need him in times of trouble. But he asks us to follow him. He asks us to do all things his way. He asks us to leave behind our ways for his ways. We are going to need to make a decision, to accept his call for following him, and let his directions and his desires and his expectations become the primary source of life. Sometimes we stay in our current lives and responsibilities but we gain a new perspective of following Jesus.
This could mean we treat others, not as we are used to treating them, based on what we get out of the relationship, but as Jesus would relate to them. We treat our boss as Jesus would show respect. We treat our families as gifts from God and do the right thing for them. It is something to think about. And we won't know what that all will look like, unless we read the rest of the story. Join me as we read Ch. 6 leading up to the sixth Sunday of the year. I'll write more about ch. 5 in a day or two.
Blessings on you all in your spiritual journey, come and follow Jesus.
Pastor Jeff
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