Followers Of Jesus

For the last several weeks we’ve followed the course of just 24 hours in Jesus’ life. It was an amazing time. It started on the Sabbath day. He preached in the synagogue at Capernaum, cast a demon out of a heckler there, went home to Peter’s house and healed Peter’s mother-in-law in the afternoon. In the evening quite a crowd gathered, asking him to heal them, and he healed them all. But in the morning, when they came looking for him again, he was gone. He had gone out to someplace where he could be alone and pray. And, even though they urged him to stay and be there to solve all their problems for them, he said he had to move on, he couldn’t be tied to just one town. Every town and village in Galilee needed to hear the good news of what God was doing.

Then there’s a gap where we don’t know what happened, but we assume he went on a preaching tour through Galilee, announcing the new things God was doing, healing the sick, and then moving on. I want you to hear that it was very important for everyone to hear the good news. If we let the church get into a club-house vision, just take care of us and our friends, we are not faithful to Jesus. His vision is always wider than just me and my friends.

Today we move ahead to the next passage. It doesn’t specify where it is, except that it’s on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. And most of us have probably never heard of the Lake of Gennesaret, but it’s just another name for the Sea of Galilee. As Lil comes to read the text for us and we hear of a new phase in Jesus’ ministry, see if you can make a good guess where this is.

Our scripture for this morning is Luke 5:1-11. You can find it on page 62 of the New Testament section of your pew Bible. Please stand for the reading of God’s word.

1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 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. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, `Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.' 5 Simon answered, `Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.' 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, `Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!' 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 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.' 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him"

Luke doesn’t tell us the name of this town, but can anybody guess? It sure sounds like he’s right back in Capernaum. What makes you think that?

I love seashores, so I picture a really beautiful scene here. It’s morning time. Two boats of fishermen had been out all night. Now they have pulled their boats up on the beach. The waves must be small since Jesus could sit in the boat and be heard. What else do you see or hear or feel in this scene?

I picture sea gulls who knew there would be some throwaways in the nets for them.

When the scene opens the fishermen are cleaning out their nets. Fishing nets get all gunked up with sea weed that has to come off before it dries and hardens. Thankfully they didn’t have to clean out plastic bags, beer cans or those plastic rings that hold a six-pack together. Once the nets are clean they needed to be spread out on drying racks so they could dry thoroughly and not rot or mildew.

And people had heard that Jesus was back in town. He was really mobbed. And these people weren’t there just to be served. They were there hungry to hear the word of God. They wanted to understand and to obey. And it was too many people for everyone to hear him well, so Jesus asked Peter to let him sit in his boat, and then pushed it off a bit from shore, threw down the anchor. Peter was good with boats and glad to use his fisherman skills to help. And there everybody could see him. Voices travel really well across the water, so people could hear him. They’d be facing east, where the sun was coming up, so there might be some glare in their eyes. But these people were used to that. And they really wanted to hear what God had for them.