Luke 5:1-11
1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all who were with him were astounded 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. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
Reflection
“Go away from me,
Lord…” (Luke 5:8).
I have been fixated on Peter’s reaction to Jesus’ amazing and grace-filled miracle. “Go away from me, Lord…” (Luke 5:8). I cannot stop thinking about it. I have thought about it while driving. I have thought about it while cooking. I have thought about it while searching through the cupboards for a new bar of soap. I have thought about how Jesus graciously fills two boats full of fish after Peter and the others with him spend the night fishing and catching nothing. Jesus is doing something so wonderful for Peter, and Peter’s first reaction is to tell Jesus to “Go away.”
Of course, there are plenty of people who just want Jesus to “Go away.” Usually, we see this response when Jesus has helped or healed the “wrong type of people.”
When Jesus allows his hungry disciples to gather grain on the Sabbath, the religious leaders chastise him, which begins this desire in them that he go away (Luke 6:1-5).
When Jesus heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath, asking the people: “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?” the Bible says that the religious leaders, “discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus” (Luke 6:9-11).
They want Jesus to go away. His love is disrupting their lives and his values are not their values. Jesus helps the outcast and forgives the sinner. He talks about loving and forgiving enemies. Jesus constantly loves the wrong people at the wrong times. This always goes bad. The powerful and influential people of Jesus’ day make accusations against him, and they make certain that he and his love eventually get nailed to a cross.
You can expect that love will eventually get you a cross. You can expect that love will cause some people to want you to “Go away.”
But, Peter’s request that Jesus “Go away” is different than that of the rich and powerful. Peter does not hate Jesus’ call for mercy, grace, and generosity. Instead, that grace causes a completely different reaction all together.
After Jesus provides Peter and his fellow fisherman with weeks and weeks worth of wages from all of the fish they catch, Peter’s response is not, “Thank you, thank you, you are truly great and generous.” Rather, his full response is, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). He is shown goodness, and he immediately rejects it because he feels unworthy.
I have seen this before. A woman once mentioned to me that she had broken up with her boyfriend.
“Oh, things just didn’t work out? You weren’t good for one another?”
“Actually, he was perfect,” she responded.
“I don’t understand.”
She resumed, “He was so good to me. He was so kind. When I was on the rebound from another relationship, he listened to me and gave me the space to heal. When I got angry and crazy, he forgave me. When my head was messed up, he held me. He was perfect.”
“So, what went wrong?” I asked.
“I don’t deserve to be treated like that,” she said.
“Sure you do. Everyone deserves someone to treat them well.”
“I don’t. Look at my life. I ruin good things. He is so good, I would ruin him. So, I pushed him away,” she said with a sense of finality in her tone. And, the conversation was over. She did not want to talk about it any further.
I have seen, time and time again, people choosing to push away when given a gift. This is more than, “Oh, you shouldn’t have” when given something of great value. This is an intentional distancing that someone engages in when something goes well. It is the perception that they are somehow worse than everyone else around them, and that they deserve worse than everyone else around them. Maybe, they have been told that at some point in their lives. Maybe, they too look up at Jesus and say, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful [human being]!” (Luke 5:8).
“Go away.”
How Jesus approaches all of this is so amazing to me. If I were Jesus, I would try to convince them that they are not that bad. I would talk about all of the good that they have done, and remind them that they are good. I would plead for them to believe in themselves. I would tell them that they are forgiven and that they can just try again. I would do all of that and more, and I would fail.
They would not believe my assessment of their character. They would not trust my promises of forgiveness. They would push away from others even further than before.
But, what Jesus says is: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people” (Luke 5:10).
Jesus does not try to convince someone like Peter that his old life is not all that bad. Instead, Jesus simply gives him a new life. In today’s words Jesus says, “Don’t worry, you now have a purpose. You will be gathering people together.”
You who were once lost has now been found. Your withered hand has been healed. You who were dead have been raised. Your old life is behind you. You were wandering, but now you have a purpose. You once were lost, but now you are found.
And, do you know what happens when the lost have been given a purpose? The Bible says, “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11). Peter and the other disciples followed the one who had first given them a gift (the fish), then given them reassurance (“Do not be afraid”), and then given them a new life and a new purpose (“From now on you will be catching people”).
Gift, reassurance, and purpose. Gift, reassurance, and purpose. Gift, reassurance, and purpose.
And, for Jesus it is always in that order.
It always starts with gift. It always starts with mercy. It always starts with grace.
We do not sing, “Amazing accusations, how sweet the sound.” Starting with accusations saved no wretches, including me. But, how many times do we live that way? How many times do we look out into the world and see how wrong someone is? How many times do we seek to first chastise and push away so that those wretches do not mess with our blessed life? We push them out of the boat so that they do not ruin our lives in the boat, but Jesus is not like that. Jesus fills the boat with fish and it is all for them.
It always starts with gift. It always starts with mercy. It always starts with grace.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see.”
And, I know what the objection is. “Listen Pastor Jira. I’ve tried that. I’ve tried starting with love and they just stomped all over it. They stomped all over me!”
And, I get it. It has happened to me too. It also happened to Jesus! He got nailed to a cross because he just kept giving the gift first. And, even on the cross he keeps giving the gift first as he prays for those putting him to death, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). He prays this even as the soldiers cast lots to take his clothing and mock him to his face below his feet. All the way to inhaling his last breath, Jesus believes that it always starts with gift; it always starts with mercy; and it always starts with grace.
And, maybe, just maybe, as he breathes out that final breath and hangs there, dead, one of those soldiers’ eyes will be opened and he will say, “Certainly this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47). Maybe, one of those soldiers will see the gift for what it is, and find grace, and reassurance, and purpose.
Jesus’ first disciples did after-all. After the gift of the overflowing fish, and after the reassurance that they do not need to fear their past, and after being given a new life, a new purpose, the Bible says that, “they left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11).
Gift, reassurance, and purpose. Gift, reassurance, and purpose. Gift, reassurance, and purpose.
That is the way of life. That is the way of grace. That is the way of Jesus, whom we follow, and in whom we find our purpose.
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