Leaving Your Boat Behind

Luke 5: 1-11

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 to 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.

There is not a person among us who can’t relate to the bone-weariness of Simon Peter, James and John. They had been out all night fishing, had caught nothing, had put in a lot of hard work and had nothing to show for it except extreme exhaustion which was made deeper and heavier by failure. They had families to support and perhaps they had debts they needed to repay. They probably had customers who might be tempted to go elsewhere for their fish. They needed to catch fish.

They weren’t just tired; they were stressed out and probably a bit short tempered. Then this stranger had the gall to come up to Simon Peter and ask him to put aside the necessary work of cleaning the nets in order to take him out in the boat so he could speak to the crowds. I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter didn’t feel very gracious about this request.

After Jesus finished speaking, even if Peter had been fascinated by what Jesus had preached about, he probably wasn’t prepared to have Jesus turn to him and tell him to go out deeper and let out his nets. Think about it. If Peter had heard rumors about Jesus, he would have known that Jesus was a carpenter, not a fisherman. Who did this guy think he was to tell him how to do his job? I wonder if Peter was tempted to say to Jesus, “Why don’t you just go home and build a chair or something? Maybe you should go back to Nazareth and take care of your Mother. She’s a widow. Why don’t you do your job and take care of your own responsibilities instead of trying to tell me how to do my job?  We are professional fishermen. We were out there all night. THERE ARE NO FISH!”

Even if Peter didn’t say all of this out loud, Jesus would have known exactly what he was thinking and feeling but Jesus didn’t back down. “Go deeper. Let out your nets.”

Within a short period of time Peter, James and John pulled in enough fish to support all their families, pay their debts and satisfy their customers needs abundantly, probably with enough left over to give away to the poorer families nearby. Perhaps Peter was amazed, awed and utterly ashamed over his reluctance to obey Jesus and for his mean and miserly thoughts about Jesus. It was as if the miracle of the abundant catch was Jesus’ answer to every cranky notion Peter had thought about Jesus.

‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’

What does Jesus say? “That’ll teach you to judge me! So, you think you know what I should be doing. Do you know who I am? You think you know the score better than I do? You think I don’t know your doubts about me or about your reluctance to follow my instructions? I know the thoughts of your heart and you’d better shape up or (excuse the pun) ship out!”

No, he does not say anything like that. Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.” He may have added, “Weariness and discouragement makes you fearful and fear makes you tight and tightness makes it hard to open up and go beyond what you think you know. Do not be afraid. Don’t be afraid of a future defined by your past experiences. Stay with me in the present moment. Don’t be afraid of your natural broken limitations. I am calling you beyond that and above that. Stay with me, listen to me speak your True Name. From now on you will be Fisher of People.”

When you think about the Lord calling you by name, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of what God might ask of you? Are you afraid of getting in too deep? Are you afraid of acting bigger or more capable than you really are? Are you afraid of your weakness, your failures or your lack of faith? Are you afraid of God?

Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”

Like Peter, all of us need to accept that we don’t often feel completely prepared for or capable of doing whatever the Lord calls us to be. ‘The Lord doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called,’ but always, there is first a call from him to take a risk, move our boat out deeper, away from what we think we know and push out into unknown waters, even though it seems like a waste of time.

After Jesus filled their nets, Peter was afraid. Peter told the Lord to go away. Peter thought he was too ordinary, too sinful, too messed up and probably too ignorant to be in the presence of someone so amazing and so powerful. But, when Peter said, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,’ do you know what Jesus heard? He heard a tiny grain of faith, even though it was weak, anguished and filled with uncertainty. Peter had called him, “Lord”. For Jesus, that was more than enough. Nothing else mattered.

Notice that Jesus began his relationship with Simon Peter by getting into Peter’s boat and allowing Peter to use his natural skills and abilities to serve him. It was his request to get into Peter’s boat and he generously rewarded Peter and the others by blessing them with great abundance for their service to him. But also notice the last words in this Gospel passage: “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him”. Though they had served the Lord well and the Lord had blessed them for it, the time had come for them to leave behind their own little boats, their own natural knowledge, skills and abilities – all that was their security and all that they realistically had to offer God – hear their Names and follow Jesus with absolutely nothing of their own to fall back on.

Just like Peter, we are weary broken people living in a tired and broken world. We are often afraid, discouraged, wounded, toiling in the night and waiting for the dawn so we can just wash our nets and go home. But just as there was someone waiting for Peter, there is someone waiting for you to leave behind your own little boat of self-definition and go with him begin to find out who you really are: the Name he calls you by.

“Do not be afraid.”