Surely, you must be joking

Luke 5:4-11

         I was at the Friary not too long ago and one of the Priests gave a sermon about God's vision and our vision. While we have such limited vision, God sees oh so much more. Scripture is filled with stories of men and women who are called and they basically say to God, "who, me?" surely, you must be joking.  God picks the must unexpected servants. God sees talent and faith when others do not see it in themselves and certainly dismiss it in others. Today the church remembers holy woman, Florence Nightingale. Not only did she doubt God's call but her family was appalled and did not think much of God's plans for her. Today her name is synonymous with nursing and being a faithful servant

          Todays' case in point from scripture is Simon (Peter) who is a fisherman by trade. The poor man had been at it all night with little success. Jesus suggests they put their nets out one more time. Any reasonable person would say surely, you must be joking. Simon was after all a professional fisherman and Jesus was a freaking carpenter. But God wants us to listen and the results will always be greater than we can imagine.  Simon listens. The result is the mother of all catches. So many fish, the boat is overflowing and the boat almost sinks. 

          What are we to make of this? Answers from unexpected places? Accepting a vision we may not see but that God assures us is so. Basically, put your trust in God. Let your vision and horizons expand to see what God sees. With God, all things are possible.

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.