The Miracles Of Jesus: Catching Fish! Series

Well here we are again, and today we are going to continue to talk about those miracles that Jesus was known so well for. The particular miracle we are going to look at today is an important one. This specific miracle got caught Jesus four disciples! Now that had to be some good bait He was using! If you haven’t figured it out yet, this miracle had to do with fishing. And fishing done right! But this day isn’t so much about fishing as it is about having faith. Let’s see exactly what happened.

Well by now people have heard about Him and his miracles. So as He is walking along the Sea of Galilee the people begun to surround Him, and like any good teacher, He begins to share with them the Word of God. But more and more people come and the next thing you know, He is up against the edge of the lake and people are pushing up against Him more and more trying to hear what He has to say. So, He looks around and sees 2 small boats setting there and the fishermen cleaning their nets on the shore. So He asks one of them to sue his boat for a bit. That fisherman happens to be Simon Peter. Jesus gets in the boat and pushes it out away from shore and stands up and begins teaching the people again, without being crowded. Now this miracle wasn’t so much for the crowd or the sick as it was for his disciples. At this point Christ has decided it is time to begin his ministry. So, he asks Simon Peter to throw out his nets. Now the fishermen had just fished all night and got nothing. They knew there were no fish this close by the shore and told Jesus so. But by faith Simon did as he was asked. Well it wasn’t a few minutes and as he began to pull up the net he realized it was so full of fish it began to break. He calls to his friends with the second boat, James and John. They bring out their other boat and they all try to pull in the full net. Well it is still so full, as they dump the fish into the boat, the boats get so full they began to sink.

What would you think? Well being a recreational fisherman, I would think its pretty cool to catch more fish in an hour than I did in most of my life, but remember these guys did this for a living! Two boats full of large fish was probably a months worth of wages for these guys. That is am important thing to remember. But it doesn’t take Simon long to realize the most important thing. That is, they fished all night long in the same spot and caught nothing. This man comes along and asks them to throw out a net and bang, so many fish they can’t keep the boat above water! And then Simon has the moment. The moment in his life where he realizes he is in the presence of God. He doesn’t thank him for showing him the new method of fishing or the better place to fish, He realizes that these fish were not here a minute ago and only God can command nature to do things. Simon does as we all should do, he immediately falls to his knees and admits he is a sinful man. He doesn’t look for more bait, he doesn’t try to empty the nets for another try, he realizes there is a reason this happened and only Jesus knows the reason.

Remember earlier I said this miracle isn’t so much about fishing, it is more about faith. Well here are three fishermen and their helpers and they all just witnessed a miracle. And Jesus has a reason. He looks at them and in verses 10 and 11 it reads, “Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him”. There is that faith I was talking about. You see there is always a reason for a miracle. Yes they help people out, they heal people bodies, they feed people or in some cases they raise someone from the dead. But in every case they show God’s power. In this case Simon Peter, James and John needed some help giving up everything they had to follow a teacher. Or as they quickly realized, to follow the only person that could save them.

Let’s back up a few verses. Back in verse 6 it says, “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" Why do you think Simon did that? I think he realized two things. First he realized he was in the presence of His Savior, His God. And that alone is enough, or should be enough to drop us to our knees pleading for forgiveness, just like Simon did. But I also think Simon realized that His Savior was going to ask more from him than just to use his boat for a few minutes.