Unity between churches will be necessary when the big catch comes. Let’s look at a benefit of intra-church unity from Luke 5 – the first miraculous catch of fish.
The day was done. Jesus was done teaching. Peter and partners had fished all night. The nets were clean – time to call it a day.
Not that it was a successful day, mind you. It was one of those days when you “got nuthin to show for it”. The kind of day when comments from the amateurs, the peanut gallery and armchair quarterbacks can really get on your nerves. That, of course, is when Jesus says, “Try fishing in the deep. One more time.” “What do teachers know about fishing?” may have crossed Peter’s mind.
Now Peter had just enjoyed a front row seat, so maybe he felt a kinship with his teaching passenger. I don’t buy that either. Maybe he sensed Jesus’ authority as a teacher – that’s more likely. Possibly it was things Jesus said – like “Your Father in Heaven knows what you need. He sees your hardship. You are of much greater value than the birds of the air – and he feeds them.” We don’t know. But we do know that Peter relented. We can’t hear his inflection, but I imagine that it was a bit snarky, maybe accompanied by a sideways head tilt, a lip pout and with a hint of sarcasm “If YOU say so.”
And when the weight of the net was wrong, the wiggling mass of fish crested the surface – Peter knew he had trouble, more than he and Andrew could handle. “James, John! Quick! Come help.” And come they did. But help as they might, the net was large and both boats – filled to the gunnels – began to sink.
As a side note – Peter may have been a man of exuberant bravado, but he was a man of occasionally great faith. He bought a net big enough for a huge catch. It was just that his boat wasn’t big enough.
Let’s tell the story again looking over Jesus’ shoulder and see what he saw. See if it is instructive for the church to today. Let’s let the boat be the church, as was a common metaphor in early church days. Let’s let Jesus’ redirection of Peter’s future define fish as people being brought into the kingdom.
As Jesus taught he called all his listeners toward the kingdom (including the fish). As Jesus finished speaking he saw not only the empty boats and nets. His advantage? – he could see under the water. Jesus saw a huge school of fish waiting for a boat.
And when the Creator of Heaven and Earth, Master of the Sea, Caller of Fish gave the signal, “let down your nets”, it didn’t matter whose boat a fish got in. What mattered was the partnership Peter and Andrew had with James and John.
Today the partnership we have established between churches matters to the Lord who sees the fish waiting for a boat. And the partnership needs to be as big as Peter’s net. I am reminded of Malachi 3:10, “Test the Lord in this… and you will not be able to contain the blessing.” I think that when the Lord gathers the fish, none of the boats are going to be big enough.
We might find ourselves a bit snarky these days. The tried-and-true methods of growing the kingdom may lost their luster, especially post-pandemic. The nets may seem empty more frequently. And we are tempted to hold tightly the fish that wander into our nets. Our challenge is to live into the coming great catch, pray to the Lord of the Harvest, build trusting relationships with other churches and keep letting down that big net.
By: Brian Farris, Compassion Connect Clinics Coordinator