Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 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, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
In this passage we see yet another of Luke’s themes: the word of God. Luke uses the phrase 5 times in his Gospel and 11 times in the book of Acts. To give you a sense of proportion, the phrase is used 50 times in the Bible as a whole. 43 of those times are in the New Testament. So that means over a third of the uses of this phrase in the New Testament come from Luke.
Luke has already told us that the word of God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness (Luke 3:2). Now Luke shows us Jesus preaching the word of God by the seaside.
And here is the key question: how are we to respond to the word of God? I believe Luke indicates four responses in this story. First, we need to listen to the word of God. We read that “the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God.”
I wonder: do we ever press in to hear the word of God? Do we make an effort to hear it?
Think of it. If there really is a word of God, if our creator is really speaking to us, how can we go blithely on our merry way not paying attention to it? Perhaps we should take a moment and think about how the word of God comes to us, in order that we might better listen to it.
Luke does not explain how the word of God came to John the Baptist in the wilderness. Presumably it came to him as words in his own mind. And that may be one way that the word of God comes to us.
But over and over again in Luke’s Gospel and in the book of Acts, the word of God is something spoken by a human person. Here, in this story, we see Jesus speaking the word of God. We saw Jesus doing the same thing last week, only then it was in the synagogue. And it was a word that Jesus applied to himself. The word of God finds its center in Jesus. The Gospel of John calls Jesus: the word. So, I think we must always be mindful that the word of God will point us to Jesus.
Now of course today we have the words of Jesus and the words of others who spoke the word of God enshrined in Scripture. We can always come to this book, whether we listen in church, or by the seaside, or wherever, and if we ask God to speak to us through this book, he will.
As it says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Are we listening to the word of God? Do we make room for it in our daily lives?
One way I try to do that every day is by using an app on my phone called Pray as You Go. It is a resource put together by the Irish Jesuits. It is a guided prayer time that offers music, Scripture, and things to think about as I go through my day with God. I commend it to your use. It has been a great blessing to me for a number of years now…
Secondly, we need to obey the word of God.
I know obedience is not a popular word in our day, but there are times when we just need to do it, whether it is popular or not. Sometimes we even need to obey the word of God whether it makes sense to us or not.
After all, Jesus’ command to Simon didn’t make much sense humanly speaking. “Simon, put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch.”
Simon must have thought to himself, “Jesus, you don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m a fisherman. You’re a preacher and preachers don’t know that you can’t catch fish during the day in the deep water on the Sea of Galilee.” That’s what Simon must have thought, but what he said was, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
Because you say so, I will do it. Simon had been won over by Jesus, either by his words that day in the boat, or by seeing Jesus in action before. Perhaps he remembered Jesus saying, “All things are possible to him who believes.” Whatever it was that changed Simon’s mind that day, it meant that the course of his whole life was about to take a radical and unexpected turn.
For whatever reason, Simon and his men followed Jesus’ directions. They took the boat out from shore and let down the nets.
What a feeling, when moments later the pull on the nets was so great, he and his men could not lift it! They signaled to Simon’s partners James and John who were still standing on the shore. But the catch was so great that the two boats together could barely haul it back to land. The nets were tearing. The boats were sinking. And Jesus must have been smiling…
Do you know how much we remember of what we hear? Only about 10%.
But I guarantee you will remember 100% of what you obey, what you put into action. Peter may not have remembered much of what Jesus said that day, but he certainly remembered obeying Jesus’ word and the result that brought.
Many years ago, my mother gave me the best lesson in Bible study. She said that when we read Scripture we should ask and answer at least three questions:
- What does it say?
- What does it mean?
- What am I going to do about it?
A third response to the word of God could be summed up with the single word: confess.
Back on shore when Simon Peter realized what had just happened with the miraculous catch of fish, he was overcome with wonder and fear, along with all the other men. They had never seen anything like it, and that’s an understatement. How can Simon’s reaction be explained, except to say that he suddenly realized he was in the presence of more than just a man. That’s why he fell before Jesus. That’s why he called him “Lord”.
In the light of Jesus’ power, Simon was painfully aware of his own weakness. So, he said, “Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man.”
Paul Wilkes, in his book, The Art of Confession, writes,
In the wake of numerous public confessions by fallen politicians, sports figures, and business executives, in her book The Art of the Public Grovel, Susan Wise Bauer offers a helpful distinction: “An apology is an expression of regret: I am sorry. A confession is an admission of fault: I am sorry because I did wrong. I sinned.”
Apology addresses an audience. Confession implies an inner change … that will be manifested in outward action.
If Simon had only known the heart of Jesus, he might have said, “Stay with me forever Lord, for I am a weak man in need of the power of your love.” But in that moment as Simon stood so near to one so holy, so perfect, he was overcome by a sense of his own imperfection.
And the most amazing thing happens next... Jesus says to Simon, “Do not fear.” This is a statement that is often spoken in the Bible by divine or angelic figures to human beings who are encountering the divine, maybe for the first time. This phrase appears some 68 times in the Bible.
But what loving words these are coming from Jesus! Jesus knows Simon’s heart. He knows that Simon feels a true and deep sense of sin. He knows that Simon feels the meaninglessness of his life, the lack of purpose in living for material things, material wealth and success. Jesus knows that Simon is afraid that he might be left alone in his hopelessness. Jesus reads Simon’s true desire and so he says to him, “Do not fear.”
Perhaps your reaction to God in Christ is somewhat like that of Simon Peter. If that is your reaction, then don’t worry, you are in good company. Most people, when they are in the presence of God, sense his holiness, and along with that comes a sense of our own inadequacy.
Isaiah had the same response that Simon Peter did. Listen to the story of Isaiah’s encounter with the Lord from Isaiah 6…
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”Did you notice? The thing that struck Isaiah about God was the same thing that struck Simon Peter about Jesus… holiness. And both of their responses to that holiness were the same…confession of sin.
But thankfully, God does not leave us in our sin. To both Isaiah and to Simon Peter and to us, forgiveness is offered.
And after we receive that forgiveness comes a commissioning… for Isaiah… for Simon Peter… and for us.
“Do not fear. From now on you will be catching men alive.”
What does this mean? It means that Jesus has a purpose for Simon, a job for him to do that will give his life meaning. It means that Jesus is claiming ownership of Simon’s life to use him for his purpose, the purpose of catching other people and giving them life.
What was Simon Peter’s response? It was instant and decisive. He, along with James and John and all the men with them, pulled their boats up on to the land and left everything to follow Jesus and share the word of God with others…
Wherever you are at today, Jesus is speaking to you there, just as he spoke to the crowd by the seaside, just as he spoke to Simon in his place of business.
Where are you in spirit today? Are you tired of laboring in a job or in a relationship that offers you no sense of purpose? Jesus is speaking to you there.
Are you feeling like God is absent right now? Jesus is speaking to you there.
He is stepping into your boat. He is offering to change things around and give your life more meaning than ever before.
The Bible teaches that the godly person’s life is exciting. (Proverbs 14:14, Living Paraphrase) Do you know the excitement of living for God?
G. Campbell Morgan once said, “The talent you have is the one God wants to use.”
In reality, the disciples never got out of the fishing business. Jesus just changed the bait and the catch they were after.
Wherever we live, whatever kind of work we do, Jesus can use us where we are to share the word of God and to catch other people alive for him. All we have to do is surrender our lives to Jesus as Simon Peter did.
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