The First Catch – Jesus Changes Everything

Pro­fes­sio­nal fisher­men are washing their dir­ty nets on the shore. Despi­te their expe­ri­ence and skill, they have caught not­hing. Then Jesus arri­ves. He gives them an impos­si­ble task, which leads to an unex­pec­ted suc­cess. In doing so, Jesus rai­ses the ques­ti­on of what real­ly mat­ters in our lives, what tru­ly brings ful­film­ent, and what real­ly makes sense.

Part 1. Background

«Now it came to pass that, as the crowd was pres­sing in on him to hear the word of God, he stood by the Sea of Gali­lee and saw two boats moo­red at the shore; the fisher­men had got out and were washing their nets» (Luke 5:1–2 LUT). Peo­p­le were crow­ding round to hear Jesus. Times were hard, but here was someone who had come pro­mi­sing sal­va­ti­on, for­gi­ve­ness and heal­ing, eter­nal life and abun­dance. That was what they wan­ted to hear. At the same time, two boats were moo­red on the beach; the fisher­men had got out and were washing their nets (appar­ent­ly they had got dir­ty). They had caught not­hing all night…

That was the case back then, and it’s still the case today. 

Peo­p­le need the good news, the Gos­pel. In an age of incre­asing dis­ori­en­ta­ti­on, they need an expl­ana­ti­on of whe­re their iden­ti­ty lies, that life wit­hout God is not tru­ly life, that for­gi­ve­ness is pos­si­ble, and that a return to our true home is open to us – to God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, and thus to eter­nal life and true fulfilment.

Peo­p­le today are just like the fisher­men of yesteryear

The boats repre­sent human lives. In our life­boats, we jour­ney from shore to shore, from birth to death. We wea­ther storms; some of us go under. On the­se tre­ache­rous waters, we seek fish – exis­ten­ti­al secu­ri­ty, ful­film­ent, joy. The search takes place at night – in the dark. With litt­le gui­dance, the nets of our endea­vours beco­me soi­led, and ulti­m­ate­ly we run aground, dis­em­bark and try to find new oppor­tu­ni­ties and free our­sel­ves from the grime of the night.

Dark des­pair. Then Jesus enters the scene.

Part 2: Jesus wants to speak to people through the boat of our lives

«Then he got into one of the boats belon­ging to Simon and asked him to put out a litt­le way from the shore. And he sat down and taught the crowd from the boat» (Luke 5:3 LUT). Jesus has a mes­sa­ge for tho­se who are sear­ching! How does he intend to con­vey it? He wants to step into the boats of our lives. He wants to teach the crowds from the boats of our lives – from your boat. Jesus within me, within my life, is to be the mes­sa­ge to peo­p­le! That is his aim. 

In order to ful­fil this mis­si­on, we nee­ded to distance our­sel­ves from the coun­try and the tar­get group. We need to distance our­sel­ves from the hust­le and bust­le of life so that we can lis­ten for our­sel­ves to what God wants to say and do to us and through us.

Part 3: Who brings true abundance?

«And when he had finis­hed spea­king, he said to Simon, »Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch!” Simon repli­ed, ‘Mas­ter, we have work­ed all night and caught not­hing; but at your word I will let down the nets’” (Luke 5:4–5 LUT). Jesus – a car­pen­ter – ins­tructs a pro­fes­sio­nal fisher­man to go fishing again during the day, in the deepest part of the lake. From a pro­fes­sio­nal fisherman’s point of view, this is a com­ple­te­ly unre­asonable sug­ges­ti­on: during the day, the fish swim deeper, and if you fish in the deep waters, you won’t catch any fish anyway.

But on your word… I will obey you

Simon had not known Jesus befo­re. But he, too, heard Jesus« mes­sa­ge to the crowd from his boat. He is given an unre­asonable sug­ges­ti­on to go out fishing again. He does not lis­ten to a car­pen­ter – he sen­ses that someone grea­ter than that was spea­king here. Becau­se he has encoun­te­red the Son of God, he obeys. »At your word’, becau­se you are spea­king to me. That is what moves me too. The­re are so many voices and opi­ni­ons in this world. But I want to lis­ten to the voice of Jesus Christ. He is the Word. His Word is found in the Bible. That is why I read it every day. 

«And when they had done so, they caught a gre­at num­ber of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they signal­led to their com­pa­n­ions in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and fil­led both boats to the brim, so that they were near­ly sin­king» (Luke 5:6–7 LUT). «And when they did that…» They went out and caught more fish than ever befo­re; all the boats were fil­led to the brim – over­flowing. The­re is life in abun­dance – not just for him, but for ever­yo­ne else too. That is what the Son of God is like. He gives life in abun­dance, not just for me, but for ever­yo­ne else as well.

That is what has defi­ned Heidi’s and my life for over 45 years. We are not spe­cial, but we have acted just as Simon did. At your word… we do it. And we expe­ri­ence the same as Simon and his companions.

Part 4: Recognition of one’s guilt as a prerequisite for discipleship

«When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus» feet and said, “Lord, go away from me! I am a sin­ful man.” For he was over­co­me with fear’ (Luke 5:8–9 LUT). Expe­ri­en­cing, at the Creator’s behest, how life springs forth in the face of impos­si­bi­li­ty con­vin­ces Simon of his sin and guilt, and that he does not belong with this God of abundance.

What does this sin con­sist of:

He tried to find ful­film­ent in life on his own terms: Sel­fi­sh­ness. But Jesus show­ed him that he wan­ted to give abun­dance as a gift. A Gift of Love. This love, this gift, frees his hands to love others. In this situa­ti­on, Simon rea­li­ses how wrong his out­look on life is. He falls to his kne­es: ‘Lord, go away; I am a sin­ful man.’ And a sen­se of dread sei­zes him: how has he pas­sed through life until now, how has he made hims­elf guil­ty, how could the Son of God con­demn him, take him to task, punish him …

Jesus does not punish, but wis­hes to save us and lead us into true life

«And Jesus said to Simon, »Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch peo­p­le.” So they brought the boats ashore, left ever­y­thing behind and fol­lo­wed him’ (Luke 5:10–11 LUT). Jesus will one day judge the who­le world. But befo­re that, he offers recon­ci­lia­ti­on and peace. «Do not be afraid; fol­low me.».

You will fish for peo­p­le: it is not the search for fish in the dark­ness that brings us a full life, but hel­ping peo­p­le to find the Saviour for them­sel­ves. Simon, Andrew, James and John unders­tood this. They left behind ever­y­thing asso­cia­ted with their old search for ful­film­ent and fol­lo­wed Jesus. Imme­dia­te­ly, wit­hout com­pro­mi­se. What are you doing? What am I doing?

Concluding thoughts

The sto­ry is like a les­son in real life

Step 1: Lis­ten to Jesus, allow him to speak into my boat, into my life – take a step back
                        from the dis­trac­tions and hust­le and bust­le of our times.
Step 2: Reco­g­ni­se the pur­po­se of life: God wants to speak to others through my life.
Step 3: Expe­ri­en­cing God in the impossible.
Step 4: Reco­g­ni­se your sin, fall down befo­re God, and accept forgiveness.
Step 5: Give up ever­y­thing and fol­low Christ to find true life.

Possible questions for the small group

Read the Bible text: Luke 5:1–11

1. Do you think that many peo­p­le today still flock to hear God’s Word or the mes­sa­ge it contains?
2. How, and to what ext­ent, can Jesus pro­cla­im his Word through the boat of your life?
3. In what are­as are you held back or unable to suc­ceed becau­se of your own «pro­fes­sio­na­lism», your own abili­ties, or your per­cep­ti­on of your own potential?
4. Why does Simon feel guil­ty after see­ing what hap­pens fol­lo­wing his obe­dience to Jesus Christ’s command?
5. Are you rea­dy, like the fisher­men who rea­li­sed that Jesus can do any­thing and gives true abun­dance in abun­dance, to drop ever­y­thing and fol­low him?