1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11)

Every problem in this world can be traced back to Genesis 3 and Adam and Eve’s sin.  That’s especially true of our work.  The picture of Peter and his crew sitting on the shore after a long and fruitless night of fishing, fixing/mending their nets for the next night’s work is so descriptive of the Genesis 3 frustration that we experience in work.  We work hard, do all the right things at the right time, but we often come up empty.  That’s frustrating.  No, it’s maddening.  

And then comes Jesus who “rents” Peter’s boat for a pulpit and then after he’s done preaching, he asks Peter to take him on a fishing excursion on his day off to fish at the worst possible time of day.  But as Luke tells us, the unexpected happened.  Jesus filled their nets with fish, so many fish that they needed a second boat to haul in the catch.  

What do we take from this?  I think for one, Jesus gives them a picture of the kingdom fullness he came to bring.  Where there is brokenness and emptiness, frustration and heartache Jesus comes to fill us with himself.  

But there is something more that I’ve missed until now.  It would have been one thing for Jesus to call the disciples to come follow him and become fishers of men prior to their amazing catch…when they were probably hating their job and wondering why they kept at it. To be sure, Jesus calls many who are at rock bottom, who have nowhere else to turn. But he calls Peter at the pinnacle of his success.  He had a once-in-a-lifetime catch that would have made all those fruitless nights of fishing worth it.  Before this catch, he had nothing to lose, but now it seems that he has everything to lose.  Why on earth would he walk away from that life?

Quite simply, because he wasn’t called to it.  It’s not that fishing for fish was beneath him or anyone else for that matter.  But if Jesus has called you for more, than to do less will leave you feeling as empty as those fishing nets were.  Jesus gives Peter a glimpse of what it would mean for him to fish for, catch and release men, women and children whose lives had been changed by the gospel…just as his had been.  

Jesus still calls men, women and children to become fishers of men.  He calls some of us to do that as pastors and others as paralegals.  Some of us will do that as missionaries and others as mid-wives.  Some of us will do that as evangelists and others as engineers.  But we are all called into the family business no matter where God puts us.  Are you running away from the family fishing business?  Do your nets look full but are really empty?  Maybe like Peter, it’s time to drop your nets and follow Jesus.