Following
Jesus
Luke 5: 1-11
February 4,
2007
1 - 11Once
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 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.
I have a friend who loves to hunt quail. I think part of his love of that
sport is that he enjoys watching the dogs that he has had over the years.
He will spend hours researching the bloodline of a dog before he buys one.
He will talk to people and discover if the parents, grandparents and great
grandparents of that puppy were excellent field dogs. After a lot of
research, he then will purchase the puppy and bring it home. He
immediately starts working with the puppy to train it in the basic
commands. He eventually sends the puppy off to a professional handler for
more detailed hunting. My friend loves to see his dog or dogs point with
great style. There are some dogs that paint a picture when they go on
point and then there are some dogs that just point.
Seventeen or eighteen years ago, I was hunting with my friend on a cool
Saturday morning. The day was a beautiful day. The conditions were right
for walking up and down hills and through the woods in search of that
illusive Mr. Bob White. His dog had gone on a stylish point early that
morning and when we walked in to flush the birds, we discovered that the
birds had already left that place. We continued our search for Mr. Bob
White. We had just walked out of a section of woods and into a field or
briars. It was a briar patch like I had never seen before. I am sure those
briar could have penetrated a solid steel armored car. They hurt every
time we attempted to move forward. After about forty-five minutes of
walking in those briars, we started looking for the dog to see if he had
found the quail. A bird dog is always out in front of the hunter. The dog
is always circling the field and then cutting the field up to find the
quail. The dog is always in the front. We looked and we looked for the dog
and we could not see him. I soon realized that something was behind me and
I turned and discovered the dog was walking on the path that I had just
created in that briar patch. Now some will say that was a smart dog. He
gave me the privilege of breaking the briars off into my legs and my body
and not into his. His job was to be out front not in the back.
As followers of Jesus, our
job is to be out front. We are not called to find the safe or easy
pathways in this world as we witness for Christ.
Luke paints a marvelous picture of witnessing discipleship this morning
with his words. We find Jesus around the lake and people pressing toward
him. We can see in our mind’s eye Jesus
standing on the shoreline. We see the people crowding
Jesus. In their desire to be near him they
are about to push him out into the water. They have crowded the shoreline.
There truly was no room for him to stand on that shore and teach them.
Jesus was a quick thinker on his feet. He saw
two boats – probably about the size of a Jon boat – and asked one of the
men – Simon Peter – to take him out in the boat. Peter did as
Jesus asked him to do.
Jesus sat down in the boat and began to teach the people the word
of God. His voice proclaimed to all who had
crowded that shoreline that day the Good News of redemption and salvation.
After Jesus finished teaching and blessing
the people he turned and said to Simon: “Put out
into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Now Simon
had been fishing all night and had not caught one fish. His first response
to Jesus was to explain to him that he had
fished all night without any luck. His second response was: “Yet if you
say so, I will let down the nets.” He immediately became pro active in
response to the words of Jesus. He balked for
a second and then he did as Jesus directed
him to do. He did it knowing that he had fished those waters all night
long and had not caught a fish. He did it because there was something very
special about that man called Jesus who was
in his boat and Peter’s heart wanted to respond to him in a positive way.
Peter and his crew had a day of fishing that one only dreams about. They
not only filled one boat but they filled both boats to the point that they
were so heavy that the feared they might sink. That is a great day of
fishing.
Immediately, Peter knew in his heart of hearts that the man called
Jesus is more than just a special man. He
knew that there was more to Jesus than just a good teacher. He knew that
he was in the midst of someone who was holy. He might not have understood
it but he knew it in his heart and soul. Listen one more time to the words
of Peter after he fell down to his knees. He said: “Go away from me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man!” Immediately Peter knew that he was in the presence
of more than a mere man. He knew that God was
in this man called Jesus. He knew that the
light of the living and creating God was
beaming from Jesus. He knew that he was
standing in the presence of one who was and is Holy.
Jesus did not hesitate for a second. He
immediately said to Peter: “Do not be afraid; from
now on you will be catching people.” Jesus
responded to Peter’s confession with a direction for Peter’s life. He told
Peter that at that point in his life that he was changing jobs. Peter was
no longer going to be one who attempted to catch fish with nets. He was
going to be one who went out into the world and paved the way for others
so that they could and would receive the gospel story.
Luke informs the reader that after they all got back to shore that they
stood up and walked away from their lives that they had always known and
moved forward into the world to proclaim the good news of
Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, they followed
Jesus from that place and yes they sat at his
feet and listened to his words as he taught them and others. Yes, they
followed Jesus throughout Israel. They also
did something else, they stepped forward and with Jesus in the background
they began to share the good news with others. They walked out front and
they surveyed the communities and they stopped and proclaimed the greatest
truth ever known to humanity. They witnessed to all who would hear that
God had sent his Son into the world to
release the captives of the world and to return everyone back to a right
relationship with God the creator.
Today, we are called by Jesus to leave those
areas of comfort and go out into the world and share the Good News. We are
called to be active in the world revealing to all the awesome power and
love of our creator God. We are to be in the
world but not of the world. We do have a responsibility to others to share
the gospel story to and with as many folks as we can during this walk of
life. Through Jesus of Nazareth,
God has called all that has proclaimed a
faith in His Son to follow his Son and step out into the world and share
the awesome redeeming power of Christ.
A lot of the time, our first response is that we do not know how to do it
or we have tried it and it did not work. That is almost like Peter’s first
response on that boat. We should learn from Peter. He immediately followed
that response with “Lord, I’ll do it because you told me to do it.” We
might have fallen flat on our faces when we tried to witness for
Christ the first time but that is okay
because his power and love will provide a way for all of us to step out
front and witness for Him.
At the first of this story, Luke reveals to the reader that the crowd was
pushing in on Jesus. He was not seeking them!
They were seeking him. Some had heard his words; some had experienced his
healing power and others felt for the first time in their lives the love
of God in a powerful way.
God’s love was being radiated from
Jesus. It left him and reached out to others.
Have you ever known a person who never met a stranger? That person could
just walk up to someone and in a second be in a conversation with that
other person as if they had been friends for many years. It is something
that radiates from their very being that helps to make the stranger fill
comfortable. The love of God can and does
radiate from those who have committed their lives to
God. It radiates to a point where others will ask: “where is it
coming from?” The radiate beam that comes from us will opens doors so that
we can move forward in this world witnessing for Jesus.
When we follow Jesus, we do not stand behind
him. We step out and we move forward into His world and offer the good
news to others.
I think it was last year or the year before when I was in the midst of my
consultation session with my superintendent when she asked: “Johnny, do
you know folks outside of the church? Do you have friends who are not
related to any Church?” I first thought: “what kind of question are
those?” I then realized that she was asking had I surrounded my life with
like-minded folks and had I forgotten that we are called by
Jesus to go into the world and proclaim the
good news and make disciples. My response was that I have many friends
and acquaintances that have not committed their lives to
Christ. With that response, I was once again
reminded what the church is to be about in this world. We are called to be
followers of Jesus and take the lead and go
into the world teaching the gospel story with our voices and with our
actions in the world. We are to cast the nets and bring
God’s created children into the kingdom of
God. That is an active follower of
Jesus!
In the name of the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
Amen
