Going into the Deep
Luke 5:1-11; Isaiah 6:1-13 (February 7, 2010)
Uzziah. King Uzziah became king in the southern kingdom of Israel and ruled the country for 52 years (783 – 742 BC). In the beginning he led the nation according to the Word of God and was praised by God and his people. But after his success, he became so arrogant to incense on the altar that only priests were permitted and he was struck with leprosy by God. He had to give up the government to his son Jotham and stayed in a separate house and died lonely there.
In the year King Uzziah died, God’s vision was revealed to Isaiah. In the vision, he saw God sitting on a lofty throne and the train of his robe filling the temple. Moreover, he saw mighty seraphim (angels) attending God and each of them having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” (vs 3)
When he saw the glorious scene, he was caught by great fear and started crying, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” (vs 5) He was well aware of the old teaching that a man shall die when he sees God.
However, he didn’t die after he had seen God. Rather God sent a seraphim to him who was still in great fear. The seraphim flew to him with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs and touched his lips with it and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” (vs 7) I don’t know what Isaiah felt when his lips were touched by the burning coal. Did he feel it so hot? Was he scared? Didn’t he think, “Now I am dying this way”? One thing for sure to me is that he was out of his senses at that moment.
After that happening, Isaiah heard God’s voice, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And immediately he replied, “Here am I. Send me!”
The above story is recorded in Isaiah 6:1-8 and it is about God’s call for Isaiah to deliver God’s Word to His people. In addition, another text that is suggested by the Lectionary comes from Luke 5:1-11, and it goes as follows:
One day Jesus came out to the Lake of Galilee by himself but as usual great crowds came to listen to him. Personally I envy the strong zeal of the crowds for the Word of God. I think we have to learn from their hunger for the Word of God, don’t you think so?
When Jesus saw great crowds approaching, he tried to find a proper location for his preaching. Looking around, he found two empty boats at the Lake’s edge, for the fishermen had worked so hard that night and were washing their nets. Their faces were gloomy for they didn’t catch any from that night’s hard work. Jesus came to the boats and stepped into one of the boats after he was permitted by the owner. Of course, the crowds chased after him to the boat. After stepping into the boat, he asked the owner of the boat to push it out into the water. So the boat was moved into the water, and Jesus sat in the boat and began teaching the crowds from there.
Simon Peter was invited to the Word
During my meditation on today’s text, I was curious about the intention of Jesus to get in the boat and push it out into the water afterwards. “Why did he step into the boat? Why did he make a distance between him and the crowds?” Was it for him to catch the crowds at eye from a distance? Or was it to provide the crowds a better condition to listen to him? Well. We could understand that way. However, this is what I found from the meditation.
Jesus stepped into one of the boats and pushed it out into the water and preached God’s Word not for the crowds but for the owner of the boat. If he did it for the crowds, he should have come more closely to the crowds. He could have found a good location from the land for his lecture. However, he stepped into the boat and intentionally separated himself from the crowds before he began preaching. Because of the distance, he had to raise his voice up. Here we better remember that the location he preached was not a closed room but an open field. Therefore, even though he was wise enough to use the winds to carry his voice to the crowds, still he had to speak loud. I don’t know how long he preached on that day. He must have preached quite a long. Usually when he preached, his speech didn’t end in 30 minutes or one hour, but at least several hours.
Then what was Simon, the owner of the boat, doing during Jesus’ preaching? Was he concentrating only on holding the boat steady with a long stick? Of course, he was doing his best to keep the boat steady. But it was not all that he was doing during the preaching. I believe he was definitely listening to it. He heard from Jesus louder and clearer than any others on that beach. The long preaching time was more than enough for him to be caught by the Word. It means he was well salted in the Word.
Simon Peter was invited into the deep water
When Jesus finished speaking, he directly told Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” (vs 4) What did he say? Did he tell Simon to go back to the water and let his nets down into the deep water? It was nonsense! Who was Simon? He was one of the best fishermen in Galilee. He knew the Lake better than anyone else for he had lived there as a fisherman since his birth. Therefore, he knew when and where to go fishing through his life experiences. In conclusion, his experience said it was not a best time to fish. However, Jesus was telling him to take the boat into the deep water and let his nets down for a catch. His experience was challenged by Jesus at that very moment.
But strangely enough Simon replied to Jesus this way, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (vs 5) Wow! What made him so obedient to answer like that? This kind of obedience is only possible when we are well salted in the Word. It is only possible when we are fully convinced with the Word. When we listen to the Word of God, the Word challenges us, convinces us and finally makes us obey immediately. The deeper we jump into the Word, the more we are convinced with it and obey it. When we hear the Word but say “No, it is wrong. It is irrational, illogical and had no basis on reality,” it means that we don’t still jump into the deep mystery of the Word yet. God’s Word surpasses our emotion, reason, logic, knowledge and experience. The Word created the world. It means it is the source of you and me. Therefore, we have to put the Word prior to our emotion, reason, logic, knowledge and experience.
“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Dear brothers and sisters, let us go into the deep! Let us go into the deep water! Let us go into the deep water and cast our nets down because the Word of God says so! Let us react immediately after we hear! So let us be able to shout as Simon did, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
The 6th verse of today’s text records as follows: “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.” “When they had done so.” When they had done this according to the Word of Jesus, they enclosed a great quantity of fish and their nets were about to break. Hallelujah! Simon signaled to his partners in the other boat to come and help. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that the two boats were almost about to sink.
Imagine the surprise and joy of the fishermen who caught a great quantity of fish! Brothers and sisters, are you envious of them? Are you envious of their gains of lots of fish? Don’t be envious of them or their gains, rather we go into the deep and cast our nets down with an obedient heart to God. Many people envy the success of others but they overlook the secrets of their success. If we want to succeed as they did, we have to learn from their secret and apply it in our action.
Simon Peter was called into a new life adventure
After Simon came up with a huge quantity of fish, he realized who Jesus truly was, so he knelt down at his feet and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (vs 8) Do you still remember what Isaiah said after he saw the glory of God in a vision? He said, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.” If anyone experiences God, if anyone experiences Jesus, he immediately recognizes how sinful he is. He falls down for he knows he is not worthy to stand before God, the most holy one. By the way, have you experienced it ever before?
Jesus slapped Simon on the back and said, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” (vs 10) He invited Simon to the Word first, to the deep water and finally to a new life journey to catch men.
I believe the best dream I can ever dream of is to become a person to catch men, not gain wealth or fame. If you want to measure how successful your lives are, don’t count how much you saved in the bank or how much lands or how many houses you bought but how many lives have been influenced by you. The number of lives we have helped for their life transformation is the measure of our success.
God invited Isaiah to this great dream. Jesus invited Simon Peter and his coworkers to this great dream. In the same way, he is inviting us to this great dream as well. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” Then what shall we respond to his invitation? As Isaiah did, don’t you think we shall say, “Here am I. Send me!” As Simon and his friends did, don’t you think we shall leave our boats and everything and follow Jesus?
To join in that great adventure, first of all, we have to embrace the call into our hearts. We have to agree that we are called by God. And then we shall be willing to trade what values to us for this great adventure. “So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.” (vs 11) We can’t be a part of this great call until we sacrifice what we want to stay with, what makes us comfortable and what we are dreaming until now. The more we sacrifice, the deeper we can experience. No sacrifice, no gain.
Simon Peter and his friends sacrifices all – their fish and boats, fisherman’s lives, friends and even families to follow Jesus and answer their call. But we know their sacrifices were not in vain. Later how many people were saved and experienced life transformation after they had heard the Gospel from them? And two thousand years later, we still remember their names not as mere fishermen in Galilee but great Apostles who saved a great quantity of souls and transformed their lives. There is an Asian proverb, “A tiger leaves leather behind, but a man his name.” I think it is the difference between humans and animals.
Our life is just like business. We can earn as much as we invest. Of course, investment requires a risk, but the businessman who invests, he can succeed. In the same manner, the one who takes a risk, he can enjoy a fruitful life later. Therefore, we must trade what values to us now for a cause, for a good cause, for the best cause. And don’t forget the best investment we can ever make is to be a part of the great dream that saves and transforms others. Dear brothers and sisters, from this moment, aren’t you going to jump into this great life adventure?
