Simon Peter has already seen what Jesus can do. After preaching in the synagogue in Capernaum and throwing out a demon, Jesus had gone to stay with Simon Peter. Maybe they already knew each other or had a friend in common. Maybe Simon had been in synagogue after hearing what Jesus could do, and then after witnessing Jesus and the man with an unclean spirit, Simon asked Jesus to come home with him and heal his mother-in-law, who was sick with a fever. As we heard last week, Jesus heals her. Her high fever would have been a bad sign in those days. So once healed, she responds out of gratitude and serves.
And then we come to this morning’s text. I think my favorite part is how Simon Peter responds to everything. Simon has witnessed what Jesus can do. And, I think Simon is grateful Jesus healed his mother-in-law.
When Jesus commandeers Simon’s boat and says to put off from the shore so he can teach, they do, even though they’ve been fishing all night and must be exhausted. They help spread the message that Jesus is sharing by bringing Him to the place where He could best teach. And while they’re helping, they’re listening.
We can also help spread Christ’s message indirectly like the disciples did- helping behind the scenes in all of the ways that we help make sure events, missions, and worship run smoothly, everything else you do for the church, and sharing the message with those outside. Everything that we do with our gifts to help share Christ’s love.
We again see Peter respond to Christ when Jesus tells them to put out the nets. Peter explains “we’ve been doing this all night and haven’t found anything.” And this wouldn't have been easy. The fishermen had already cleaned the nets and put them away. There was a lot of work involved to get them back out, set them up, and then clean them again. Keep in mind, Simon and his partners are the professional fishermen. Not Jesus. They are the ones who know the Lake at Gennesaret. They are the ones who have been fishing all night, which they know is the best time to fish. Jesus is a carpenter. He’s from land-locked Nazareth. He doesn’t exactly know about fishing. But Peter trusts enough to do as Jesus says even though he didn’t understand it, but he did it. He had seen what Jesus could do, and so he trusted Him.
And when we realize that God indeed has a plan for us, that God indeed has a purpose… when we fully internalize that it is God who is calling, we might react like Simon and realize that we are sinners. How is it that God is calling us, of all people? But when Simon Peter falls to his knees and says “I am a sinner”, unable to imagine that such a holy man could want anything to do with him, Jesus responds with grace and mercy, saying “Do not be afraid.” Rev. Dr. David Lose notes, “This isn’t judgment, it’s mercy.” In a different commentary, Lose notes, “each time we experience sheer grace, we are simultaneously joyful and a little afraid, struck by how much more we’ve received than we deserve or even imagined. Wondering how such blessings came our way and realizing we are caught up in something so much bigger than ourselves.”
Because Jesus knows us, intimately. And Jesus isn’t trying to redefine us, but enlarge that identity. See, when he tells Peter, “‘From now on you will be catching people’ Jesus doesn’t deny what Peter is – a fisherman; he enlarges it, meeting Peter where he is… and, rather than condemning him, expanding his vision, drawing him into God’s kingdom vision of who and what Peter might be.”
“And Jesus is doing the same with us.” Maybe “you also have missed the mark. But rather than hear that as a word of condemnation, hear it instead as a word of love and invitation: Do not be afraid. From now on you will be drawn into a mission and purpose larger than you can imagine.”
Jesus offers “comfort and encouragement, [then] moves on to give Peter something to do, something bigger and larger than anything he’d ever imagined: catching people up in the unimaginable and life-changing grace of God.” Jesus tells him that he is being called, and so he leaves everything and joins Jesus on the journey ahead.
Specifically, Peter and his partners who had been fishing all night and caught nothing, and then (with Jesus) hauled in their biggest catch ever, leave it all behind. Instead of gathering up the catch to prepare for market, they leave it. Having heard Jesus teach, and witnessed this miraculous catch, which they participate in, they leave the nets. They leave the boats. They leave the catch of a lifetime. And they follow.
All of these responses add up to one: we are called to follow as Christ’s disciples- like the twelve, the women mentioned later, and many others who chose Jesus when he came through and changed their lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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