Gone Fishin'

Simon Peter may have been a fisherman by trade, but I'm convinced he wasn't very good at it. Every time you see him doing it, he's been out all night and hasn't caught a thing (I've been fishing with guys like that). Take Luke 5 for instance.

Bleary eyed and tired from pulling an all nighter, Peter squats in the shallows of the Galilee as a crowd gathers on the shore around a teacher Peter has met a couple of times. Suddenly, that teacher steps into Peter's boat and says, "Hey, Pete. Why don't you push out a little ways." Without questioning, Peter launches his boat back into the water, climbing on board with the teacher who sits down and proceeds to teach the crowd. I can imagine his voice carried clearly across the waves to the shore, and in the warmth of the springtime sun, perhaps resting with his hand dipping into the cool waters, Peter closes his eyes for just a moment (I've pastored guys like that).

Then the teacher isn't teaching any more. The sermon over, the teacher touches the snoozing Peter on the shoulder and says, "Hey, Pete. Why don't we row out to the deep water and catch a few fish." Now this is where the story takes on a slightly humorous bent. The nail pounder from Nazareth is telling the professional fisherman how to fish.

As every fisherman knows, the worst time to fish is the heat of the day. That's why so many of them fish at night. And the best place to cast a net is not in the deep water, but in the shallows where the fish have schooled to feed on smaller fish and other little critters.

Peter replies, "OK, Lord, I'll do what you ask, as long as you know I've been doing this all my life, and I'm telling you now. I've been out all night fishing and didn't catch anything." But as the net leaves his hands, it surges with the splash of a few hundred fish. Suddenly what seemed unlikely is now happening to Peter's amazement, and as he and Andrew struggle with the weight of the catch, the net begins to break. Now they're calling for help from their partners James and John, and as the team of fisherman sweep basketsful of fish out of the nets and into the boats, the tonnage of fish begins to sink the boats. This is when Peter realizes he is in the presence of a very holy man and begs Jesus to go away, "Because I am a sinner."

And Jesus just smiled and said, "That's alright, Pete. From now you will catch people."

What amazes me is that this happened again three years later, following the resurrection of Jesus. Discouraged by his failure on the night of Jesus' arrest, Peter abandons the call to save people and goes back to his nets. After fishing all night with six of his fellow disciples, Peter was probably in a very ugly mood when an all-too familiar voice calls to him from shore. "Hey, Pete. Throw your net on the other side of the boat!" And there is a great catch again. This is the last time you see Peter fishing.

One time, Jesus even sent Peter out with a hook and no bait to catch a fish with a coin in its mouth. Peter just tosses the line in, and immediately there's a fish swallowing the empty hook, line and sinker! It seems Peter could only catch fish when Jesus told him how, when and where to do the deed. But then again, Peter wasn't put on this earth to catch fish. His destiny was to catch men, and what a job he did at that!