Following Jesus is a walk of faith. As a walk of faith, it happens in steps.
Those steps are revealed in this familiar story told in both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke.
The first step is to listen and learn.
The second step is to loan your boat.
That leads to the third step which is to go fishing with Jesus.
“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4
A couple things are going on here. First, I
think Jesus wanted to repay Peter for letting Him use the boat. But more
importantly, He wanted to reveal more of Himself to Peter. So, He asked Peter
to do something he had done thousands of times but to do it in a little
different way – HIS WAY!
Here’s Peter’s challenges with it, he had just
finished cleaning his nets which is no small task after an entire night for fishing.
To make things worse he had
fished all night when you are supposed to fish and caught NOTHING – so now this
Rabbi wants him to go during the day?
"Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything." Luke 5:5a
Peter was feeling like a failure because he just
got ten shut out and here Jesus has drawn a large crowd so everyone would
be watching this fishing boat going out
to fish during the day – they would think he’s crazy. And then when he came back in with wet nets and no fish
it would ruin his reputation.
THIS WAS PRETTY HUGE BECAUSE WHAT WAS HANGING IN THE
BALANCE WAS WHETHER PETER WAS WILLING TO TRUST JESUS IN THIS ONE THING! WAS
PETER WILLING TO DO THIS ONE THING HE HAD DONE A THOUSAND TIMES BUT DO IT A
LITTLE DIFFERENTLY BECAUSE JESUS SAID SO?
But Peter
had listened to the sermon and had loaned out his boat so why not trust this
Jesus in this one thing just one time?
"But because you say so, I will let down the nets." Luke 5:5b
Peter decided he would take a chance this one
time and risk looking foolish just to see what would happen.
Again, think about what hung in the balance as Peter made this decision. We only know who Peter is today because he decided to trust Jesus this one time by doing something he always done but doing it Jesus' way because Jesus asked him.
Just as this was crucial for Peter it is also huge for you because maybe this is where you find yourself this morning as you consider your next step in following Jesus. Maybe He is calling you to trust Him to do something in a new way - His way.
Peter went fishing with Jesus.
What will you do?