On Nets And Fishes...
I’ve always had a soft corner for the apostle Peter. He seems so vulnerable and human, prone to mood swings and grand gestures. In spite of the mistakes and blunders he makes, one thing that I appreciate is his sincerity. Also the fact that, several times, he puts into words, exactly what everyone else is thinking but is too afraid to say!
In the fifth chapter of Luke, when Jesus told Peter to go back to sea and let down his nets again, he must have experienced several emotions – irritation (because they had already spent a fruitless night and had just finished washing their nets!); doubt (as this Man seemed to know more about expounding Scripture rather than being an authority on fishing!), and a lack of hope, but, underlining it all, a sense that he ought to obey Him. His reply is typically Peteresque – “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.”
I wonder if he believed at all that they would catch anything. I wouldn’t have, had I been in his place. Yet, his heart is in the right place, in that, he obeyed.
His plea – “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” – bears witness to the fact that he was aware of his shortcomings. Is a lack of hope, equal to a lack of trust and faith? Peter apparently thought so. He knew that he didn’t have the faith, trust (and hope?) to be Jesus’ disciple and he was afraid.
But Jesus reassures him in the tenth verse – “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” And between verse ten and eleven, I think something very special happened on that boat! Peter and his friends, suddenly found themselves standing straight – fearless and full of faith and trust. They not only obeyed Jesus, they believed Him (otherwise their disassociation from their old life wouldn’t have been so final and thorough!).
I find myself at the Peteresque stage. Obedience, yes, but hope…hmm…not so much. Would that be unbelief? My mind seems to be bursting with doubts, fear, questions, and, I guess, a lack of faith as well (somewhere in the general confusion that reigns!).
Yet, above the clamour of my wayward thoughts, the phrase that Jesus spoke to Peter, makes itself heard – “Do not be afraid.”
In the fifth chapter of Luke, when Jesus told Peter to go back to sea and let down his nets again, he must have experienced several emotions – irritation (because they had already spent a fruitless night and had just finished washing their nets!); doubt (as this Man seemed to know more about expounding Scripture rather than being an authority on fishing!), and a lack of hope, but, underlining it all, a sense that he ought to obey Him. His reply is typically Peteresque – “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.”
I wonder if he believed at all that they would catch anything. I wouldn’t have, had I been in his place. Yet, his heart is in the right place, in that, he obeyed.
His plea – “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” – bears witness to the fact that he was aware of his shortcomings. Is a lack of hope, equal to a lack of trust and faith? Peter apparently thought so. He knew that he didn’t have the faith, trust (and hope?) to be Jesus’ disciple and he was afraid.
But Jesus reassures him in the tenth verse – “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” And between verse ten and eleven, I think something very special happened on that boat! Peter and his friends, suddenly found themselves standing straight – fearless and full of faith and trust. They not only obeyed Jesus, they believed Him (otherwise their disassociation from their old life wouldn’t have been so final and thorough!).
I find myself at the Peteresque stage. Obedience, yes, but hope…hmm…not so much. Would that be unbelief? My mind seems to be bursting with doubts, fear, questions, and, I guess, a lack of faith as well (somewhere in the general confusion that reigns!).
Yet, above the clamour of my wayward thoughts, the phrase that Jesus spoke to Peter, makes itself heard – “Do not be afraid.”
Say not the struggle naught availeth,
The labour and the wounds are vain;
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright!
- Arthur Hugh Clough
The labour and the wounds are vain;
The enemy faints not, nor faileth,
And as things have been they remain.
If hopes were dupes, fears may be liars;
For while the tired waves, vainly breaking,
Seem here no painful inch to gain,
Far back, through creeks and inlets making,
Comes silent, flooding in, the main.
In front the sun climbs slow, how slowly!
But westward, look, the land is bright!
- Arthur Hugh Clough
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