Breaking Nets and Sinking Boats
Breaking nets and sinking boats could mean giving up something good for something great. We need to choose to fish or to follow.
Simon was a common man. He was not a pillar of society. He was not a wealthy man. Simon was a fisherman like his father and his brother. Fishing was an unpredictable way to make a living. As a man caught up with the stress of everyday life was not convinced that the Messiah promised for centuries had arrived. Jesus was pursuing Simon but out of his understanding.
But Jesus met Simon where he was and called him in a way that could not be denied as anything but an incredible miracle. He filled his boat with fish in the middle of the day when they had fished all night and in deep water when fishing was best in shallow water. The nets were breaking and the boat was sinking.
This miracle could have saved Simon financially for some time. Jesus didn’t leave Simon with this blessing. He called him to give up a good thing for something great. Jesus told him to not fearful of the calling to follow Him that now he would fish for men. This would give him blessings that can not be counted and an eternal promise that can not be equaled.
The greatest miracle can be receiving the strength and faith to step out and follow rather than staying to fish.
Luke 5:1-11
One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.
2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.
3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken,
10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.