Into the Deep

Luke 5:1-11:

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Blog:

Jesus is never shy with us when it comes to telling us what we need to do to be a part of His Eternal Family.  We are to pick-up our Crosses and follow Him and “put out into deep water” to “lower [our] nets” in order to be “catching men”.  Our Family spends its Summers in Northern Michigan and it’s amazing to see the change in the Lake Michigan bay near us from “shallow” to “deep” water.  You don’t need a drone to be able to tell that the aqua-colored water is shallow enough to wade in, but the dark blue-colored water is too deep to stand in.  When I kayak that bay, I’m often amazed and frightened at the same time of what lies below the dark blue water surface, because I can’t see below the surface.  Jesus is asking us, like He did with St. Peter, to Listen to Him, put out into the deep waters of this world, and Trust that He has everything under control – while He uses our nets of “evangelism” to “catch” more Saints for Him.  It’s an amazing Call from the Lord, but it can also be frightening at times.  We just can’t see what Jesus sees totally – our “best Spiritual vision” in this world is promised to only be a partial one.  But Jesus Promises us that if we Obey Him and do as we’re told by Him, He will do the rest and we will spend Eternity with Jesus and the Heavenly Hosts in Heaven.  So, regardless of what we can or cannot see “in the deep” of this world, let’s be sure to do our best to set out “into the deep” and cast our nets for the Lord again and again Trusting that He will do the rest – remembering always that Jesus never breaks a Promise to His Children.