Faith in Action

Luke 5:1-11

At the writing of this paper, I’ve been asked by my pastor, along with about 3000 others in our church family, to read “A Resilient Life” by Gordon MacDonald.  Today we will be looking at some fishermen who had been fishing all night without catching anything, now that is resiliency.  I enjoy catching fish, and my friend Joe Whitehouse has often said, “Bob it is called fishing not catching,” Joe is a resilient fisherman much like these men, and Jesus is going to ask them to try once more after they had cleaned their nets. 

Doctor Luke is giving us insight into the first disciples Jesus called to be His followers; they were fishermen and they were partners.  We know they had two boats and the partnership consisted of three men, Simon, James and John.  Doctor Luke tells us how Jesus was teaching by the lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God.  I’m not a preacher but I have no doubt that gets the blood moving when a preacher sees his audience not wanting to miss out on what God has to say to them.

We are told Jesus saw two boats by the lake and the fishermen were out of them, washing their nets.  Now picture this, you have been in that boat all night long, you’ve caught nothing worth bringing to shore and maybe you are listening to this Rabbi while cleaning your net, with one goal, clean the net, get some grub and go to bed.  And Jesus gets into one of the boats, it is Simon’s and this is where it gets interesting, for Simon has many options. 

Option number one, sure Jesus steps into my boat these people are going to push you into the lake.  Option two; I let you into the boat, but I’m not about to push away from the dock.  Option three; you’re asking me to let down these clean nets after fishing all night with nothing to show for it.  But Simon chose to obey the request, and Doctor Luke tells us about Jesus’ request; “And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”  (Luke 5:4 ESV)  I’m not sure I’ve ever really seen that, Jesus was not fishing His goal has always been catching.  This was Simon’s reply, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”  (Luke 5:5 ESV)

What a world changer that kind of response is when the LORD speaks to us, can you grasp what is happening, it’s not about clean nets, or catching fish, it was Simon’s job interview, and Jesus often comes to us with the same offer, will you let me in your life, will you do what I ask, will you follow Simon’s example?  And this is the report of what took place; “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. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 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, 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.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.  (Luke 5:6-11 ESV)  Now that is faith in action, or you might say it’s a resilient life.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice