Sunday, February 3, 2019
From
the baptism to the desert to the synagogue, we’ve tried to catch up to Jesus so
we could walk in His light. Seeking Him, obeying God as He obeyed God,
submitting our lives to Him and living under His lordship, and caring about
what he cares about: it all leads to this. “‘Do not be afraid; from now
on you will be catching people.’ ... they left everything and followed him.”
Jesus said, “do not be afraid,” because the way of God
looks scary at times, and if we try to walk it apart from Jesus, it will crush
us. But he was not calling Peter and James and John to walk God’s way
apart from him with their own resources, their own knowledge, and their own
strength. They left everything and followed him. All that we have said about walking in the
light leads to this: we follow Jesus.
See Peter, his life before Jesus, and see how Jesus
changed his life. As you do, see your own life and see if it becomes
obvious how different things are with Jesus in it.
Peter had a boat and business. He worked with his
hands, he caught and sold fish. He worked outside in the sun, battling
heat, storms on the Sea of Galilee, and days like the one described in Luke 5,
where there is no catch. He probably had to contend with fluctuations in
prices, and with taxes from the Romans and from local government. Some traders were dishonest and ripped him
off. He had overhead - the cost of nets and his boat. He had men who worked for him, who expected
to be paid.
We know Peter had a family. Mark chapter 1 mentions
a mother-in-law living in his house, so he had a wife. Did Peter and his
wife have children? Most married couples
at that time did. Did Peter’s younger
brother Andrew live with them? What about Peter and Andrew’s
parents? How many people were in that
home, living off the profits Peter and Andrew made catching and selling fish?
It’s the life of a simple, hard working man. How
did this man go from unremarkable first century working peasant to the most
noted of Jesus’ 12 disciples? How do you go from the life you lead, known
or unknown as you are, accomplished or not; how do you go from that life to the
life of a person so swept up in Jesus that your life wouldn’t make any sense
apart from him? Do not be afraid. Leave everything and follow
him.
Luke 5:3 says Jesus preached at the shore and there was
such a crowd leaning in to hear him, to drink in his words, a new message, one
clearly from God, that he needed space. He got into Simon’s boat. That can’t be easy, preaching to a crowd
while sitting in a boat as it bobs in the water, but that’s what Jesus
did.
Amazingly, Peter was
fine with it. I say amazingly because, Peter was just coming in from an
all-night fishing session. That would be tiring, but satisfying if it
meant a great haul and great profit with it.
But that’s not how things went down. Peter, exhausted from fishing
all night, had nothing to show for his efforts.
Would all those mouths in his household go hungry because he came to
shore empty? Tired, feeling his failure, he had to face the people who
counted on him and sadly shake his head “no.”
No money for bread today.
Now this teacher, who
wasn’t out fishing all night wants to sit in his boat. Simon Peter just
goes along with it. Maybe he sensed
holiness in Jesus. Maybe he was too
tired to object. Maybe he had a sense of propriety and figured Jesus to
be of a higher station socially and thus deferred. Whether an act of faith, or
self-abasement, or resignation, Peter stood by as Jesus sat in his boat.
I wonder if that’s what following Jesus is sometimes, a combination of
faith, humility, and resignation.
Jesus met Peter in his
broken state. We see in verse 4 that the sermon is over and people mill
about just we do on Sundays after the formal time of gathering has ended.
Jesus had finished preaching but he was just getting started with
Peter. “Put your nets out in the deep
water, Jesus tells him” (5:4b).
It’s one thing for the
rabbi, the son of a carpenter, to use Peter’s boat to teach. But now, the
non-fisherman is telling the professional, the defeated professional, how it is
done? Simon Peter answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but
have caught nothing.” Hear the fatigue
and exasperation in his voice? “Yet,” he continues, “if you say so, I
will let down the nets.” He has no
expectation that this will go any differently, but he goes through the work of
getting the nets back into the boat, taking the boat out, and letting the nets
down into the depths.
They caught so many fish
that their nets were beginning to break! With this sale, they can buy five new, better nets.
The family is going to eat tonight.
Can you hear the whoops and the hollers of the men on Simon Peter’s crew
as they forget their fatigue and celebrate their haul? I wonder if
that’s what following Jesus is sometimes, unbelievable joy when you absolutely
don’t expect it!
The men on both boats
worked frantically. The fish were jumping in the boats. The boats were sinking. And Peter
couldn’t take his eyes off Jesus. He had
been a fisherman for a long time. The previous night was not the first
time he came home empty. But this, he
had never seen anything like it. He rushed ashore and threw himself on the
ground before Jesus. “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” I wonder if that’s what following Jesus
is. We get just a glimpse of holiness
and we are so awed it is terrifying, to see our sinfulness in Jesus’ light.
So we ask Jesus, as Simon did, to go away. But, we cling to his knees while we’re
asking. His glory is a terrible
thing. His absence is much worse. We want nothing more than to be with
him. And we are terrified of nothing
more than being near him.
Then Jesus said to Simon
Peter, “Fear not.” And to you and I, in our darkest hour, he says fear
not. When I lay awake, 2 in the morning, 3, worrying; sometimes I am up
most of the night unable to quiet my anxieties. He whispers to my soul, “Fear
not.” In the hospital waiting room, the
voice of the Holy Spirit, “Do not be afraid.” Driving away from dropping
your son off for his freshman year, “Do not be afraid.” Life is full of things to fear, and the Bible
promises that if we give ourselves fully to Jesus, at some point, we will
suffer for doing that. So, to us, He says, “Fear not, I am with
you.” I wonder if that’s what following
Jesus is. We hear him say, “Fear not,”
and we believe him.
“Do not be afraid, Simon
Peter; from now on you will be catching people.” What does that
mean? He took the fish he caught and
sold it to people who would cut those fish up, cook them, and eat them.
He wasn’t going into the slave trade business. What did Jesus mean, “from now you will be
catching people?” I don’t think Peter
knew. I think Peter was so awed by what he had seen and what he sensed in
own spirit that he knew Jesus was from God and he had to obey him. Just as the wise men saw a star and John the
Baptist heard a voice from Heaven when he baptized Jesus, when Peter saw that
catch, something in him knew this was God. So when Jesus said to him,
“From now on,” all he could do in that moment was follow.
I know that’s what
following Jesus is. We don’t understand everything. But we see His light cast upon us and see our
own sin. Yet, we don’t feel shame. We feel love. We feel Him extending grace and
forgiveness. And then we start to change
because He begins to make us new from the inside out.
It says they left
everything and followed him. We know later in the story they are back out
on the water in a boat - Peter’s boat. So Luke’s statement that they
“left everything” doesn’t literally mean that they give it all away.
After the resurrection, they go out in the boat again. When Luke writes that they left everything to
follow Jesus, he’s talking about their center of gravity. The rhythm of fishing,
cleaning nets, selling the catch, repairing the boat: this no longer rules
Simon’s life. Those things diminish to
the background as Jesus moves to the center.
Do you teach in high
school? Or work as a dental hygienist? Or a financial planner? Or custodian? Are you a student? In 4th grade?
In graduate school? Following Jesus, you may still teach or clean
teeth or clean floors or study, but who you are fundamentally changes.
Once we step into the light, who we are is defined by Jesus. That’s true in our jobs, in our
relationships, in all the places of life. And it’s true as we go through
the seasons of life.
I hope you’ll spend this
year in spiritual disciplines that help you be observant so you can see God
daily and be obedient so you can live into holiness because God calls us to be
holy. I hope we can all submit fully to Jesus and long for the justice
and liberation he proclaimed. All of it
leads to this: we are God’s possessions, free to follow him throughout our
lives.
What is the path ahead?
Simon Peter certainly didn’t know. I don’t. Only God knows. But, we need not know everything. We
only need to follow Jesus, every step of the way. Follow Jesus and be not afraid. He is
with us in the dark times. He carries us
into blessing. And, he fills us with
unfailing, unending joy.
AMEN
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