Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Jesus Lands a Keeper

by Dave Wilkinson

Luke 5:1-11

May 6, 2001

When I was a child in Sunday School, one of the songs we sang was about Jesus call to His first disciple, Peter, James and John.

"I will make you fishers of men, fishers of men, fishers of men.

I will make you fishers of men if you follow me."

That's a great song. It's right up there with "Climb, Climb up Sunshine Mountain", "Deep and Wide" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam."

We also got the story through flannelgraphs and filmstrips. Jesus is walking along the beach and calls some fishermen to be His disciples. The message I got was that these fishermen don't know Jesus but they see His authority. They immediately drop everything and follow Him.

I was always impressed by that story even though I suspected that I wouldn't have done what they did. Before I gave away my life and livelihood, I would want just a little more certainty than a magnetic voice and personality. I admired their faith but I didn't expect to duplicate it in my life. It made me feel pretty faith-deficient. I knew with my attitude that I'd never get to become a character in song or a figure on a flannelgraph -- which was about close as we came to action figures when I was a kid.

All this is one reason why I was shocked to discover that the first disciples were a lot more like me than the Sunday School version let on. The fact is that the first disciples went though the kind of processes we go through as we seek to assess the meaning if Jesus Christ for our own lives. And as we perhaps wrestle with Jesus' call to us, it may well be helpful for us to reflect what the first disciples saw in Jesus that caused them to follow Him.

Look at the call of Simon Peter. As we combine the information from all of the gospels we learn that when Jesus calls Peter to become a "fisher of men" it was far from being their first encounter. John tells us that Peter first meets Jesus after Jesus is baptized. Peter is introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew who was a disciple of John the Baptist. Peter travels with Jesus to the wedding at Cana where he witnesses Jesus' first miracle and probably enjoyed the wine Jesus made.

Now what is interesting is that this miracle is apparently not impressive enough for Peter to come to a wholehearted commitment to Jesus. For later, up in Galilee, Luke tells us that Peter is still checking Jesus out. Peter is still evaluating.

Luke 4:31 tells us that "Jesus went to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And He was teaching on the Sabbath; and they were astonished at his teaching, for His word was with authority. And in the synagogue there was a man with a demon. The demon cried out with a loud voice, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

Jesus rejects this witness from a demon. He tells the demon to be quiet. And yet the people hear: "and they were all amazed and said to one another, 'what is this word? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.'"

Peter is in that synagogue and sees and hears all of this.

How do we know this? The next verse: "and Jesus arose and left the Synagogue, and entered Peter's house. And Peter's mother-in-law was ill. (This is the passage that shows us that Peter was married). And Jesus stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her."

If you go to Israel sometime, go to the excavations at Capernaum. You will see both the site of the synagogue and the site of Peter's house. They have even found and restored the remains of a first century fishing boat that was sunk in the Sea of Galilee. If it didn't belong to Peter, James or John, it certainly belonged to someone they knew. It's pretty neat.

Enough travelogue. Back to the text.

Look at the sequence of events. Peter and the other disciples hear about Jesus from John the Baptist. They hear Jesus Himself announce the gospel. They see the power of Jesus in changing water into wine, casting out demons and healing people. But this doesn't create the faith to rise up and follow. What does create the faith, at least for Peter, is something we don't expect,

Luke 5 tells how Jesus was teaching the people by the lakeshore. The crowd presses in on Jesus so hard that He needs some space. He sees two boats by the lake. He gets into the boats that belongs to Peter and asks Peter to put out a little from the land. Then Jesus sits down and teaches the people from the boat. When Jesus finishes speaking to the crowd He says to Peter, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

Peter answers, 'Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word, I will let down the net.'"

Some interpreters use this as a wonderful sign of Peter's great faith. That's one interpretation. It makes Peter look very devout. But that interpretation doesn't explain how Peter responds at the end of the encounter. I think what actually happens is that Jesus watches Peter during his speech to the people. And Jesus knows He is not getting through to Peter.

Earl Palmer comments: "We realize that up to now Jesus has not really gotten through to Peter. Peter has not really decided to follow Him all the way. Peter has seen many things happen, but still he is not fully convinced. He hears John the Baptist's speech. He maybe sees that amazing baptismal scene where the dove came down. His own mother-in-law is healed. But all this evidently did not impress him enough to convince his mind and heart completely. He watches a great crowd of people coming with all kinds of diseases, and that evidently does not impress him. He hears demons scream out, "You are the King. You are the Son of God," and that does not get to him.

"But something does get through to Peter. That's the event that is about to occur.

It's not recorded as a miracle. It is just recorded that Jesus is a better fisherman than Peter. That's all! All Jesus does is help the disciples catch fish in the middle of the afternoon. Peter could not catch them at night. Jesus catches them in the middle of the afternoon."

Try to enter the text and Peter's feelings: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. In other words, we fished at the right time. You are a carpenter. You live up in Nazareth. You may not know when expert fishermen are supposed to fish. We fish at night around here. It is now two in the afternoon. You are going to fish now? Then we have to roll these nets up again for tonight? Is that what you want? All right! If that's what you want, we will do it. Then that will end all this discussion about fishing between us. You can use my boat for teaching, but let me use it for fishing."

I think that's the way Peter's internal dialogue may have gone, but Luke shortens it. "But at your word I will let the nets down." I don't think that was necessarily said in a pious tone of voice. It probably had overtones of resignation and sarcasm. He only does it because he owes Jesus for healing his mother and law -- and she is worth at least one pointless fishing trip.

"And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come, and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so they began to sink."

Now notice what happens. "When Peter sees this, he falls down at Jesus' knees and says: 'depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!'"

Peter did not say that when his mother-in-law was healed. He didn't say it when Jesus turned water into wine. He did not say that when he saw the demons coming out of other people. He did not say it when John the Baptist talked about Jesus. He said it when Jesus out fished him.

Luke wants us to know that this fishing incident played a major part in convincing Peter and these other disciples to follow Christ. The event was aimed and directed at them. Jesus said to Peter, 'do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.' When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him."

What happens in this event is that Jesus makes contact with Peter where Peter really is. It is a less than cosmic event that finally gets through to Peter.

This makes sense. Peter doesn't know much about medicine. He does not know much about demons. He does not know much about wine on the production side. But he does know fishing so fishing is where Jesus proves His Lordship.

There is only one way to win Peter, and that is to take him out in that boat. Peter hears Jesus talk and it goes right through him. He hears about three weeks of speeches and it does not make a deep mark upon him. But Jesus goes out and catches one catch of fish, and Peter falls down on his face and says, "depart from me for I am an unclean man."

Now why am I talking about this? Chances are you are not going to have an incident where Jesus comes into your office and shows that he is a better computer whiz than you. He's not going to give you a tip on a stock that then goes through the roof. You may not have a fishing incident in which Jesus shows you concretely that He knows your name and your life's calling -- so that you will know that His authority, His truth, and His love are for you. But you can still know that His authority, His truth, and His love are for you. That is part of the message of the Lord's Table.

Here at the table we discover how Jesus cares enough about us to seek us out just as persistently as He sought Peter. Here at the table, we feel the touch of the Holy Spirit of Christ upon our lives. And we discover that Jesus Christ knows our names -- every one of us. And when you know enough that you realize that His love and call are meant for you, that's all it takes to be a Christian.

That's what Peter finally learned, and the other disciples too.