Are You Ready For A Miracle?

Are You Ready for a Miracle?

by Pastor James May

Luke 5:1-11, "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him."

It had been a long, hard night in the “garden of the prince”, for such was the name of the lake where these men had labored. The “garden of the prince”, better known as the Lake of Gennesaret, or the Sea of Galilee, had always been a rich source of fish. For many years three professional fishermen, Simon Peter and, James and John, the sons of Zebedee had supported their families from their daily catch of fish.

But this night had been disappointing. Though they had cast their nets time and time again, the nets would only be empty when they reeled them in. The darkness of the night added to their gloom and it seemed that this night would never end.

Have you ever heard that saying, “the darkest hour is just before dawn”? Well, these fishermen were in that darkest hour, worn out, discouraged and hungry. They welcomed the twilight of day and as the sun began to rise in the east, they finally brought their empty boats to shore.

Then began the daily task of cleaning their nets. Professional fishermen know that if they don’t clean the nets, the rope or cords used to make it will begin to decay. Nets were expensive and they certainly could not buy another with the catch of fish that they had.

Working through their fatigue to clean their nets, the fishermen didn’t see the crowds that were approaching at first, then the noise grew nearer and they looked up to see a man walking toward them with a throng following him as though they were waiting for him to give them a great gift.

They were accustomed to priests and members of the Sanhedrin Council coming by with a crowd following them. They really didn’t pay much attention, but continued to clean their nets.

Then a strange thing happened. This time the priest just didn’t pass by. As the crowds pressed upon him to receive something of him, the priest stepped into the boat of Simon Peter to get away from the crowd and asked Peter to pull away from the shore just a little distance.

Of course Peter didn’t know who this priest was, but it didn’t matter, he was a teacher in Israel and Peter was just too tired to argue, so he pushed away from the shore and anchored there while the priest spoke to the crowd from his boat.

I don’t know what Jesus spoke about that day. The breeze blowing to shore from the sea and the water at his back was a natural amplifier so that all who stood nearby could hear him easily.

Peter, James and John had finished washing their nets now and they were just waiting for the teacher to finish his speech, then they would finally get a chance to rest from their labors.

They didn’t know who this priest was. They didn’t know that Jesus had stepped into their boat and into their lives, and that from this day on, their lives would be eternally changed. They didn’t know that Jesus had already chosen them to be his disciples. They didn’t know that a miracle had already begun to happen in their lives. The miracle was there; they just hadn’t seen it yet!