February 4, 2007

It doesn’t sound too challenging to those of us in the 21st century but to fisherman of the first century who had fished all night and caught nothing, hearing a challenge to “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4), could have been a real challenge, especially when the one putting out the challenge was a carpenter, not a fisherman. Still, the fishermen listened to Jesus, did what He challenged them to do and, wouldn’t you know it, “They enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boats for them to come and help them. And they came and filled the boats, so that they began to sink” (Luke 4:6-7).

What an interesting story, but it gets better. Peter, the fishless fisherman to whom Jesus had given the challenge, seeing what was unfolding before his very eyes, falls at Jesus’ feet and says to him, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Luke 5:8). Isn’t that interesting? How do you get from what finally becomes a great day business to “I am a sinful man, O Lord”?

I suppose we would have to talk to Peter to get a sense of what He was really experiencing in that moment but Luke tells us the reason Peter did it was because, “amazement had seized him” (Luke 5:9). There was something about the moment and the Man that captivated Peter and, in a heartbeat, he moves beyond a-great-day-at-work to self-awareness that leads him to confession and a heightened sense of himself.

Moments and events like these are dangerous because they connect people with God. Moments and events like these are wonderful because they connect people with God.
God is at work in Jesus Christ, and we do well to listen to this Carpenter.