THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever gone fishing? Did you enjoy it?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 5:1-11. 1On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
If you’ve ever been fishing it was probably very different than the way Jesus went fishing. Likely you used a fishing pole and some bait and you were probably happy with catching one single fish. But in Jesus day fishing was much more difficult. Big men in a big boat would lower heavy nets into the water and then fight to get those nets back into the boat, hopefully with lots of fish in them. It was all very hard work.
That’s why when Jesus tells Peter, James, and John to go back out into the sea and try one more time to catch fish after catching no fish all night, well, let’s just say they don’t really want to do it. But they did it anyway. They listened to Jesus. And what happened? They caught more fish than they ever had in their entire lives. So many fish that they almost sunk the boat. So many fish that clearly this was a miracle. Not skill or luck, but the power of God!
How did Peter respond to this miracle? Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
How did Jesus respond to Peter? Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.
Jesus wants us to have this same experience. No, not with fishing. He wants us all to see how good and powerful he is and that we can trust him even when he asks us to do something that seems to make no sense (like be kind to your little brother or sister). He wants us all to be humble, like Peter. Do you know what humble means? It means that you know that you are not the most important person in the world, Jesus is!
Jesus also wants you to become someone who catches men like Peter. What does that mean? It means telling others about Jesus so that they can believe in him too and be with him forever in Heaven. But what if we mess up? That’s OK. Peter messed up too, but Jesus used him anyway. And he will use you too!
Because of Jesus even when we fail to fully trust God he can use us anyway.
With Jesus we can catch men with the good news.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Have fun acting out the great catch of fish together. Maybe the couch is the boat, a blanket the net, your stuffed animals can be the fish. Who will play Jesus? Peter? James and John?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me to trust you even when it doesn’t make sense so that I can catch men too. Amen.
TLICfamily 