Introduction:
Last Summer I read Ernest Hemmingway’s The Old Man & the Sea while I was at the beach on vacation.
The story follows Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman, who hasn’t caught a fish in 84 days. He’s deemed “salao” (unlucky) by his community. He’s wrestling with his age, his weakness, his recent failure. And he says, “If I can go out to the deep water one more time and catch a giant Marlin that will remind everyone of who I am.” He goes out into the Gulf Stream all alone, hooks into a Marlin and fights him for three days. He pulls the fish towards him, and the fish swims away pulling the twine, cutting his hands, but finally he lands the fish and lashes him to the boat and heads for home. But the sharks sense blood on the water. They swarm the boat and bite and chew the Marlin apart so that when Santiago reaches home all that’s left is a giant skeleton tied to the boat. He collapses in exhaustion. No one marvels at his catch. He doesn’t prove his community wrong about calling him unlucky. In fact the last scene in the book is a woman at the dockside cafe looking at Santiago’s boat… and Hemmingway writes… “What’s that?” she asked a waiter and pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was now just garbage waiting to go out with the tide.”
What’s the moral of the story?
All of life is a struggle against age and weakness, and you’re only as good as your latest catch, and even if you catch the great Marlin, even that will turn to garbage waiting to go out with the tide.
And, let me tell you, that if you read this book while on vacation, it will depress you so much that you question whether it’s even worth returning to work.
Raise the Need, State the Destination, Give Signposts:
Today, in Luke’s gospel, we read about another fisherman who had been unlucky. He’s just come off a long night of fishing having caught nothing, and he’s listening to Jesus teach a large crowd by the lake. But, rather than being a depressing story of existential angst (like Hemmingway’s), this story, if we’ll listen, shakes up all our preconceived notions about our life. And reveals to us the meaning of all of existence.
Now, that’s a bold claim. But here’s what we see. This is the calling of Peter to leave his fishing nets and follow Jesus. It’s a living breathing example of someone who thinks he has his life figured out, Jesus knocks him off balance and calls him into a life of greater meaning and purpose than he could possibly imagine.
Before Peter met Jesus, he had things to live for. But after he met Jesus, Peter found a reason worth dying for. And you can too.
What happened in Peter to effect this change? We need to look at Peter’s:
- Skeptical Obedience
- Terrified Admission
- Unexpected Invitation
The Text
The Scripture for today’s sermon is Luke 5:1-11. It can be found on page ____ of the Bible under the chairs.
On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 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. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 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.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
- Peter’s Skeptical Obedience
Jesus is preaching by the Sea of Galilee. Technically, it’s not a sea, and Luke, using the proper term calls it a lake. Gennesaret was a fertile area near Capernaum where Jesus had based his ministry and a huge crowd has gathered around to listen to him teach.
Understand how popular Jesus has become. He isn’t preaching in the synagogue on a Sabbath. This isn’t in a Roman coliseum. The crowds have gathered outdoors by the lake; and so many have come, they’re pressing closer and Jesus is backed up to the water’s edge.
And just there on the shore are the boats of Simon Peter’s commercial fishing business. Jesus commandeers the boat and tells Peter to pushout into the lake. This would have accomplished two goals. It would give Jesus room and the water would act as a sounding board so that he could be heard by the crowd on shore.
So Peter is there, listening to a sermon while he works on his nets and at the end of the sermon, Jesus does not ask to go back to shore. Instead, we get the sense that the entire reason for the sermon is so that Jesus can arrange this encounter with Peter.
He turns and says, “Ok, now let’s go to the deep water and you’re going to let down your nets to catch fish.”
Several ironies here. First, Jesus isn’t a fisherman. He’s a carpenter who also preaches in the open air. What does he know about fishing? Clearly nothing because, second, in this lake the best time to fish is at night and the best places to fish are not the deeps. Jesus is proving his own ignorance. It’s an irrational command, and Peter is skeptical.
“Master,” he says. It’s a term of honor, much like us saying, “Sir.” Peter’s trying to be polite. He’s showing hospitality, but he knows this is a bad idea. He’s tired. He doesn’t want to waste his time. He needs to clean his nets. He needs to get some sleep. He has to go back out tomorrow night and try again.
“We toiled all night and took nothing.” We labored. Do you know how many times we dropped the nets and pulled them back up? Do you see our hands? Can’t you smell out clothes? We need baths and a bed. Besides, you’re not a fisherman.
Notice. Peter has no issue with Jesus using his boat to teach the crowds. There’s no problem with Jesus so long as Jesus stays in his lane. Sure, you can use my boat to do spiritual work. But the moment Jesus begins commanding Peter’s area of expertise, well that’s a different story.
And yet, through the skepticism, Peter obeys. Master, we’ve toiled all night… but at your word, I will let down the nets. It’s not trusting obedience. It’s not faith-filled obedience. But it is obedience, nonetheless.
I wonder how many of us are like Peter. We’re glad to have Jesus give us spiritual advice. We are glad to hear sermons about him. But are there subjects we’d rather he not address? Which commands of his are we glad to hear? Which do we ignore, substituting our own wisdom and understanding?
If your life was a house… which rooms is Jesus allowed to enter? And which are sealed off with a sign that says “No Trespassing.”
Friends, the Jesus of the Bible doesn’t just claim the right to teach you a few spiritual things. He claims the right even to tell you where to fish.
- Peter’s Terrified Admission
- 6 – “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.”
Peter obeys the command of Jesus, and here comes one of the oddest miracles Jesus ever performs. In fact, we aren’t even sure exactly what the miracle is. Is this a miracle of knowledge? Did Jesus know the exact coordinates of this school of fish? Or is it a miracle of power? Did he, simply command all the fish in Galilee to swim into the net? The text doesn’t tell us.
Even more odd, this miracle doesn’t seem to meet a pressing need. We can understand Jesus Christ using his divine power to heal the sick or multiply bread to feed the hungry. Those seem like good reasons to perform miracles… but what’s the need here? He’s blessing the fishing trip. Some of you think, “I need Jesus in my boat.”
These boats are probably 20-30’ long, and though we aren’t told how many fish they caught, we’re told that it was enough to weight the boats down so much that water began to lap over the sides, and the fishermen thought they could sink.
It’s at this point in the story that Peter does the most unexpected thing. If you had never read this passage and didn’t know what was coming next. Say that you had the rest of the story covered up and I asked you, “What comes next,” you’d never guess it correctly.
Surely Peter says, “Someone take a picture. No one will ever believe we caught this many fish, and I want to prove we did. I want people to know I was here when it happened.”
Or surely Peter is going to ask Jesus to join the fishing operation. He can be the head guide on the boats. “Jesus, you’re good for business. We’ll put out flyers. We’ll even rename it Peter and Jesus Fishing Charters. PJ Charters for short.
But you would never expect the response that Peter gave… you’d never expect him to say, “Get away from me.”
- 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
What’s going on? Why is he terrified? Why, after seeing a miraculous catch of fish is Peter breaking into a confession of sin?
Keep in mind what Peter has already witnessed here in Capernaum: Jesus has already healed his mother-in-law who was sick with a fever. If he didn’t witness the exorcism of a demon in the synagogue, he must have heard about it. And in neither of those cases, did Peter have so violent a reaction.
But here, the penny drops. Why now? Why this miracle? What’s going on? Several things.
First. Peter’s reaction shows us the normal human response to the divine presence. In other words, the entire Bible teaches us that to get near God as a sinful person is a very very unpleasant experience.
This flies in the face of popular common sense. If you go into any Hallmark store and look at the cards and you go to the religious section. What do those cards look like?
At the top it says, “Near to God.” And the card is soft pastel colors. There’s a stained glass window with a sunbeam coming through it. In other words, popular common sense says, God’s presence is warm, toasty, and very goopy feeling.
But all throughout the Bible people meet God and their world is shattered, and they’re in deep trouble.
If you go back to Jacob… in Genesis 35, he’s facing a difficult time… he has to go back to face his brother who he cheated. And as he’s praying a man jumps him in the dark. And he wrestles with Jacob. This man has tremendous power. And Jacob is too. Jacob wrestles and refuses to let go. And the day begins to dawn and the wrestler says, “I’ve got to go.” And Jacob starts to figure out that this is not just a man, and he says, “I’m not going to let you go.” And the power of this figure is so great, we see that he’s not really put forth his power against Jacob, he’s just been playing with him. And he reaches out and just touches Jacob’s hip and absolutely shatters his hip. Jacob never walks right again. Jacob is in absolute agony, yet he realizes, it’s the Lord. And the reason the Lord had to leave before the Sun came up is because for Jacob to see his face, would be to die.
And when it’s all over Jacob names the place Peniel which means, “The face of God.” And he called it that because he said, “I saw the face of God and lived.” Which is only partly true because he only came close to seeing the face of God and was permanently wounded and he felt like he got away with murder.
In the Old Testament, Moses says, “God show me your glory.” And God tells him, “Moses, I’ll pass before you, but you can’t look directly into the face of my glory, you’ll die.”
When Isaiah the prophet is given a vision of heaven, and he sees the glory of God in the temple, what does he say? “Woe is me, for I am undone.”
When Job encountered God how did he respond? “I despise myself.”
People think there would be nothing better than to get into God’s presence. Peter shows us that as a sinner, you’d want nothing more than to get out of God’s presence.
Here’s what I think Peter realized… I think Peter said to himself, “If Jesus knows the hidden location of every fish in the sea, then he surely knows every hidden sin in my heart.”
And he shows us that God’s presence must first be painful before it can ever become pleasant. Not because God himself is unpleasant… but because we are.
Because God’s presence in our life is like flipping the light switch on a cockroach filled basement. The presence of his holiness reveals what we truly are.
Not only did Peter recognize his sinfulness… he also recognized his utter dependence. If you read about Peter you know he’s a pretty independent guy. He takes action and asks questions later.
It’s pretty clear that, up to this point, Peter’s identity was built on his ability to pull fish into a boat. This is what he’s good at. His identity is, “I put fish in the boat.” And yes, I may need Jesus to help me learn a few spiritual lessons… but I’m a competent person. I can handle my life.”
But now Peter realizes… I’m not in control of anything. I can’t control my identity. I can’t control my future, I can’t even take credit for putting fish into a net.
You see, the miracle isn’t just giving an object lesson on Jesus’ power. He’s taking Peter’s world apart piece by piece. He’s dismantling Peter’s assumptions about how the world works.
It’s no longer a question of asking Jesus to join me… I’m no longer in control.
And it’s in this moment that Peter becomes more of a disciple than he realizes.
Because a true disciple is not someone who thinks “If I get Jesus, I could do a little bit more.” Rather a disciple is someone who says, “Without him I can do nothing. And my life is no longer about asking him to help me get where I am going, I have to follow him where he’s taking me.”
- Jesus’ Unexpected Invitation
You know this passage is full of irony. Jesus, the carpenter, is a better fisherman than Peter. Peter, after a giant catch, asks Jesus to leave. And perhaps the irony of ironies is this:
Rather than Peter inviting Jesus to join his fishing crew, Jesus invites the sinful stupid Peter to join his. In fact, it’s not even an invitation. It’s not even really a command.
- 10 “…And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
It’s just a statement of fact. How ironic. How unexpected.
Notice what doesn’t happen here. When Peter confesses how awful a person he is, Jesus does not step in and contradict his confession. Jesus doesn’t say, “Whoa Peter, don’t talk like that. You aren’t all that bad. There’s a lot of good in you.”
And this is crucial to understand: Peter is not an ideal representative for Jesus because he’s better than his confession. Giftedness in no way qualifies anyone to be a disciple. Rather, confession of sin… humility, brokenness over one’s own shortcomings… these are the essentials for being a disciple. Peter’s self-evaluation is that he is too sinful to be in Christ’s presence. Jesus says this makes him a perfect candidate to join Christ’s mission.
Peter is going to join a new kind of fishing operation. Instead of fishing for fish he will work with Jesus, preaching the good news, and catching men. Another irony of the passage presents itself here…The goal of fishing for fish is to pull fish out of safety and throw them into the fire. The goal of fishing for men is pulling them out of the fire and into safety.
One last thought for the day. You may not know this, but this miracle is actually a bookend. There’s another miraculous catch of fish. It’s found at the end of John’s gospel in John 21, and it’s eerie how similar the stories are.
After the death of Christ, Simon Peter tells the disciples, “I’m going fishing.” They fish all night long. And they caught nothing. Same characters. Peter, James, John. Same story. Fished all night and no fish.
And just as day is breaking, there’s a man standing on the shore who calls out to them. “Cast the net on the right side of the boat and you’ll find fish.” They cast it out, and John says there were so many fish they could barely pull the net into the boat.
And John looks at Peter and says, “It’s the Lord.” And when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord… he throws himself into the sea and swims to shore.
It’s the same story. Fished all night, with no catch. Jesus tells them where to fish, and they haul in a load of fish. In the first story, Peter tells Jesus to get away from him. In this second, he nearly kills himself to get to Jesus.
What’s the difference? The first story occurred before the cross and resurrection. In the first story, all Peter sensed was Jesus’ power, omniscience, and holiness… and it made him run and hide.
The second story occurred, not just after the cross, but even after Peter’s denial. In Luke 2, Peter realized that Jesus knew he was a sinner. But in John 21 Peter realized that Jesus had seen Peter at his very worst and still loved him. He still came for him.