Go Ahead, Throw Your Line In The Water
Scripture of The Week: Luke 5: 1-11
Do you like to go fishing? I do. I have been fishing since I was a very little girl. My family had a camp and I would fish every day. The very first fish I caught was a little sunfish. I kept it in a pail for the day and then put it back in the lake.
When you put your line in the water, you never know what you might catch. Sometimes it’s a small fish, sometimes it’s a big fish, sometimes it’s an old boot, and sometimes you don’t catch anything at all.
My family and I went fishing in SC for the whole day and my son-in-law caught the only fish. It was about 4” long and he is still bragging about it!
Today’s scripture tells us about a time when Jesus was at the shore trying to teach a crowd about the kingdom of God. So many people came to hear him that he had to get on a fisherman’s boat and teach from the water. Simon Peter was on that boat had been out fishing all night but had not caught anything and was very tired.
When Jesus had stopped speaking to the people, he told Simon Peter to take the boat out to deeper water and throw out their nets. Even though they were tired and knew they had not caught any fish earlier, the fishermen obeyed Jesus and started to fish. They couldn’t believe their eyes when their nets became so full of fish that the boat almost sank! They had to yell over to James and John in another boat to come help them bring in all the fish. They did not expect to catch anything. Jesus blesses us in many ways when we least expect it. When they got to the shore, they were so overwhelmed that they fell to their knees in front of Jesus. They told him they did not deserve to receive his grace. Jesus didn't reject them, but told them that they would no longer be fishing from their boats and they would now be with him and become fishers of people instead. Do you know what Jesus meant?
This is how Simon Peter, James and John became disciples of Jesus. They would go out and find people and tell them about Jesus and the kingdom of God and make them believers. We can all be fishers of people by being helpful and kind and sharing our love with each other.