Unexpected

Luke 5:1-11

           There is a term in the theater called a dramaturge. It's a fresh face that comes in to a show in production to give hints, ask questions and make suggestions. While I think the qualifications to be a dramaturge are not set in stone I think it's safe to assume you wouldn't ask a plumber or bank teller.

           In this passage Jesus is in a fishing boat with professional fisherman, men who will soon become his disciples. As we know,  Jesus is a carpenter by trade.  By today's standards, not qualified to preach and certainly not one to be giving advice to fisherman. Yet here is Jesus, after being told that these men have fished all night to no avail, telling the men to cast off their nets to try just one more time. For the life of me I can't understand why they even threw their nets overboard on the advice of a carpenter but they do. What happens? They catch so much the boats are to the point of sinking.

            Besides a historical lesson on how the Apostles were picked by Jesus, there is a truly great lesson here for everyone. Our thoughts go in a general pattern. Getting a different viewpoint is a common experience. This is why consultants abound (and get rich) and why there is such a thing as a dramaturge. Sometime however the answer to your question comes from the most unlikely of sources.

            Last evening at an LGBTQ spirituality group, we discussed that we all wanted to grow as a person and together as group. It was noted that we come for one thing, a question, a problem , a concern, a desire. Very often you get a totally unexpected answer and quite possibly the thing you really needed, even if you didn't know to ask for it. Unexpected.

          Today the fisherman got something unexpected. Good fishing advice from a carpenter and a saviour when all they were looking for was to get their work done. They had no thoughts of meeting the messiah.

          For those that have ears and hear and those that have eyes and see, the unexpected is out there waiting, answers to your questions, fears, hopes and dreams.

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 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. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 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.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.