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I Have to Wonder

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One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee,[a] great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon,[b] its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.” 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him.10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!”11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. ~Luke 5:1-11

I have to wonder ....

Peter was amazed at the catch. Surely he had had good fishing days before. Then again...

Have you ever looked at the body of work Pete and the other fishermen had when we read about them fishing? It seems to me that most of the time they were not catching anything at all. Here, in Luke 5, Pete and the boys had caught nothing all night. After Jesus rose from the dead, they caught nothing until Jesus came along with the bright idea to try the other side of the boat. 

The one time we read of Peter catching a fish was just that...a fish. One fish. Inside the mouth was money to pay for his and Jesus' temple tax. I kind of imagine that Jesus had something to do with that catch as well. 

My point is that I don't think Pete and his crew were great fishermen. We always read of them catching nothing. And when Jesus suggests the other side of the boat, they don't argue and say they had already done that. What kind of fishermen only tries one side of the boat?!? Of course it doesn't make much sense, but neither does trying the same thing over and over again with the same sad result. 

But it says in Luke 5 that Peter was amazed and knew the great catch was caused by Jesus. I wonder if he assumed catching men with Jesus would be as amazing. Did he brim with confidence at what was going to happen?

What if we were to approach evangelism in the same way? Actually, what if we were to approach everything in life this way? What if we had confidence that God was going to cause some big amazing fishing trips and that we would be in awe as we participated? 

What if we came to realize that, without Jesus helping us, we weren't really good at what we do either?

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