Tuesday, November 23rd, 2021

Some days, things don’t go our way at work. We lose a deal, we have a bad performance, we feel like things didn’t turn out as we had thought they would. How many of us check out for the day afterwards, discouraged by failure? This week we go back to the same passage as last week, Luke chapter 5. It says, “One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” The fishermen were cleaning their nets for the day — they were done. They were also discouraged by failure, having not caught any fish all day. They were packing it in and going home. But Jesus had something bigger than just a successful day at work to give them. True, he gave them a catch that surpassed anything they had hoped for, but the story doesn’t end with them making lots of money selling their fish at the market. It ends with the fishermen following Jesus. There is so much to learn here, in staying open to Jesus’ purpose even when we feel discouraged (I.e. the fisherman heading back out to fish one more time at Jesus’ command), in recognizing Jesus’ hand in our success (I.e. the supernaturally huge haul of fish), and in understanding the importance of what Jesus is doing when we are blessed with wealth or some kind of success (I.e. using our blessings to follow Jesus rather than cash in on it for ourselves). Today, if you are feeling discouraged by work or responsibilities in your life, pray for the strength to keep going, the vision to see Jesus in the midst of your struggles, and the understanding of what he is trying to show us through them.

“One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.

Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. ” — Luke 5:1-11