Oct 06 2008
Want to be Used? Keep Busy!
Two sets of brothers learned this, as recorded in Luke 5:1-11:
Four fishermen (Andrew, Peter, James, and John) had toiled all night without catching one single fish. However, at Jesus’ command, Peter rowed out into the deep waters of the Galilean Sea and let down his nets. Immediately they caught so many fish that their nets began to break due to the huge catch, which fish soon filled their boats.
SIGNIFICANCE
● This is the first of 4 miracles done upon the Sea of Galilee.
● It is the first of two miracles resulting in a supernatural catch of fish. Note the contrasts and comparisons however:
1. The comparisons
a. On both occasions they had unsuccessfully fished all night (Luke 5:5; John 21:3).
b. On both occasions they obeyed Jesus’ command and were successful (Luke 5:5, 6; John 21:6).
c. On both occasions Simon Peter was the key figure (Luke 5:3-8; John 21:7-11).
2. The contrasts
a. On the first occasion the fishing net broke. On the second it did not (Luke 5:6; John 21:11).
b. On the first occasion Jesus instructed Peter to “catch fish,” while on the second He would command him to “feed sheep” (Luke 5:10; John 21:15-17).
SPIRITUAL TRUTHS
● Peter would later fulfill Jesus’ two-fold command to catch fish and feed sheep. Thus:
1. He caught fish!
“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
2. He fed sheep!
“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious” (1 Peter 2:2-3).
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind” (1 Peter 5:1-2).
● It should be noted most of Jesus’ apostles were busy at work when He called them, as were the God-called Old Testament men. Note:
1. Moses and David were tending sheep (Exod. 3:1-2; 1 Sam. 16:11).
2. Gideon was threshing wheat (Judges 6:11-12).
3. Elisha was plowing a field (1 Kings 19:19-21).
4. Amos was herding cattle and picking fruit (Amos 1:1; 7:14-15).
5. Matthew was collecting taxes (Matt. 9:9).
6. Andrew, Peter, James, and John were fishing (Luke 5:1-11).
7. Saul of Tarsus was arresting Christians in his misguided zeal as a Pharisee (Acts 9:1-6).
The intended lesson here seems obvious—God’s call upon a person is rarely (if ever) dependent upon his (or her) brain capacity, brawn, blue blooded history, or banking achievements, but rather just how busy that individual is at the time!
Abraham’s faithful servant had once given an eloquent testimony to this:
“And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master’s brethren” (Gen. 24:27).
● Finally, it should be noted that these experienced fishermen did exactly what Jesus told them to do, even though it must have seemed unreasonable at the time. King Solomon once wrote:
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Also Read . . .