Who will God send?

Luke 5:1-11

            After so many years I still get a kick out of this passage. The professional fisherman who has been at it all night trying to catch fish without any luck, and along comes a carpenter of all people (Jesus) who says, 'try one more time'. That might seem the definition of chutzpah, a carpenter telling a fisherman what to do.  Of course the catch was enormous.  The easy read here is never to assume your answers to problems and prayers will come from a source you expect. I think I've written about that before. It's a good point if I do say so.

           Sometimes we try our hardest to accomplish what we need to do.  I think God wants us to do so and also pray for the things we cannot change. Most often we do look for the obvious answers in the expected places.  Sometimes though, in letting go we can find miraculous answers in unseen places, places and people we never knew existed.

          Sometimes our solutions are out of our hands and we should welcome help from God. But who will God send?

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.