Luke 5:1 – One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there.

4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.”

5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.

8 When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m too much of a sinner to be around you.”9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. 10 His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed.

Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” 11 And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. (NLT)

I love this story!  I love the interaction between Jesus and Simon Peter.  Let’s consider Simon Peter, often just ‘Peter’ in the New Testament.  Peter was a fisherman.  He was a hard-working man, a ‘salt of the earth’ kind of guy.  He most likely hung out with some pretty salty folk, as well.  Up to this point, he had probably seen a bit of Jesus as Jesus taught and healed around Peter’s hometown of Capernaum.  Jesus even went to Peter’s home and healed Peter’s mother-in-law.  At this time, however, Peter was not yet called into Jesus’ inner circle, and I believe it would have been beyond Peter’s wildest dreams to even consider that Jesus would call him to be Jesus’ disciple.

Jesus does, however, call Peter, and Peter answers the call!  As a disciple, did Peter always ‘get it’?  Of course not!  We read in the gospels of a number of accounts where Peter doesn’t quite understand what Jesus is about, but Peter hangs in there.  Peter would even end up denying he even knew Jesus, but Jesus never gave up on Peter, and Peter goes on to be one of the great founders of the Christian faith.  Peter even preached a sermon that was so powerful that thousands become believers in one day! (Acts 2).  We even read that Peter went on to have a ministry of healing and even raises a woman from the dead! (Acts 9)  All of this from the humble beginnings of a salty fisherman! 

I’ve had people tell me that they believed in Jesus but were not ready to be baptized because they were not yet good enough.  Friends, left on our own, who is?  In the passage above, Peter leaves his old life behind and follows Jesus.  Jesus asks the same of us.  Are we good enough on our own?  No, and we never will be, but Jesus calls us and never gives up on us.  That’s the Good in the Good News! 

Today, let us strive to leave behind what we need to leave behind.  Let us strive to follow Jesus, knowing that when our actions deny Jesus, Jesus offers to us the same grace that he offered to Peter.  As with Peter, Jesus will never give up on us.  That’s Good Stuff! 

Posted by Ramón Torres