Catching People (Luke 5:1-11) -- 2 of 4

This post is the second of four posts about Jesus calling six disciples.

Luke 5:1-11 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.

When you signed up to follow Jesus, did you understand that you would have a new profession?  No longer would fishing, or writing software, or nursing, or engineering, or building, or marketing be who you were.  Sure, you might still do those things.  They might still provide a living for you.  But they are no longer who you are.  You have a new profession: "to catch people". 

Now... most "followers of Jesus" live as though when we signed up to follow Jesus, our assignement was to:

• follow a list of rules (go to church on Sunday, don't dance, don't smoke, don't drink, give 10% of your money),
• believe a set of theology (the King James Bible is 100% accurate down to the unicorns, creation took place in exactly 7 days, and hell is a physical place),
• and do a set of good works (give to the poor, take care of creation, and sign an organ donor's card). 

But in this moment of calling the disciples to follow him,  Jesus doesn't levy all these things on these disciples.  Being moral, having sound theology, and doing good works are all important out croppings of the Christian's life.  And if they don't happen something is clearly wrong.  But they are not our new profession.  Our new profession is "to catch people."  To demonstrate and to speak Jesus' message - to go out and find others to invite to come on this journey with us. 

So if our job evaluation for this new profession was to happen today... how would we be doing?  Look at the people around you - how can you demonstrate Jesus' love to them today?  Both with actions and words?  Ask God to show you and to give you power and courage.  You can do it!