“Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.'” Luke 5:10b
Yesterday, our Sunday school lesson for our middle school class, was on Jesus calling Peter, James and John to be fishers of men. I remember this story well from my own Sunday school days. I feel like there were felt board cut outs for it. I know there was a song.
As I recall, these guys were cleaning their nets and Jesus strolled by and said, “Follow me,” and they dropped everything and walked off into the sunset.
But, as I read Luke 5:1-11, for our lesson, verse eight, really spoke to me. I don’t ever remember discussing it as a child in Sunday school.
The men had fished all night and had caught nothing. It was now daylight. They had cleaned their nets and were probably ready to head home. Jesus told them to go out and try again. Peter reluctantly agreed. When he cast his net this time, there were so many fish, that the net was breaking; his companions, and James and John, brought their boat over to assist and they had so many fish in both boats that they began to sink.
Peter, a seasoned fisherman, knew he was in the presence of the Lord. Do you think he embraced him and thanked him for the huge bounty?
Nope. “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, ‘Go away from me Lord; I am a sinful man.'” Luke 5:8
There Peter stood in the presence of Jesus, and instead of reaching for Him and trying to lean into His goodness, his first instinct was to push Him away.
As I attempted to ask the kids in our class if they had ever done anything that they felt was unforgivable or that made them unworthy of Jesus’ love, I was met with blank stares.
Youth is such a beautiful thing; isn’t it? I suppose that’s why the Bible says we all need to have the faith of a child. Children tend to believe in God’s unconditional love. They haven’t done much living, yet.
But, as we grow up and tender hearts get broken and toughened and bad choices get made and we fall, over and over, we can come to believe that grace and forgiveness are for everyone, except for us. We can believe that we are too far gone or have committed just one too many sins to ever be forgiven or redeemed.
In fact, as adults, that’s often our go to. Look at Peter. “Get away from me Jesus, I’m a sinner.” (my paraphrase)
But, Jesus knew that He was here to save sinners. Peter was just one of the many. Jesus certainly wasn’t shocked by any of Peter’s shortcomings or yours or mine, for that matter.
Do you know what Jesus said to Peter?
“Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.”
Don’t be afraid. Ever notice how often that phrase turns up in the Bible? Jesus wanted us to know that we have nothing to fear when we follow Him, not our pasts, our present, or our broken hearts, or our sins, or our doubts, or even our lack of faith.
He simply wants us to take His hand and follow Him and when we do, He will take care of all of our baggage. That’s the beauty of grace.
And grace, well it’s amazing and undeserved, yet ours to have, if we choose. Our lives are no different than Peter’s, while we are all sinners, Jesus loves us and calls us anyway. He wants to use us too.
Peter believed what Jesus said and he left everything and followed Him, and got to be on the front row of the greatest love story ever told.
Jesus is still calling. What is our answer?
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂