| Summary
Most of us would be reluctant to leave everything behind, including our job or our profession, to follow someone we hardly knew. However, that is exactly what three professional fishermen did when Jesus came along. Simon, James and John followed him into the deep and then left everything to follow him to an unknown life. We may not be fishermen, but Jesus beckons us nonetheless.
Measuring Our Trust Level
Let your imagination run for a moment. Suppose that you are a professional plumber. You have been at your trade for a number of years. Now suppose that you have been trying to solder a pipe that has been leaking but the solder simply will not hold and the pipe continues to leak. And then someone you hardly know comes along and tells you to re-solder the pipe using the same solder, the same pipe, the same soldering paste and the same soldering iron at the same temperature that you have been using. You are the master plumber and this uninvited advisor is not. You could be polite and thank him for his advice but not follow it. You could be a bit uppity and remind him that you are a master plumber and you know what you are doing and what does he know anyway?! You could rely on your own experience, or you could trust this self-appointed advisor. What would you do?
More than a fisherman
This is somewhat akin to the situation in which Simon found himself in today’s reading. He was not simply a sports fisherman. Fishing was not his recreation; it was his living. He was a professional fisherman and he knew how to do his work. He had let down and hauled up more fishing nets than most of us will ever see. Given what we know from this story, it is safe to assume that Simon was also tired and perhaps somewhat discouraged. He had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Not one fish had found its way into his net. He had had little sleep, if any. Probably none of this put him in a mood to be receptive to unsolicited advice from someone who was not even part of the fishing industry. Not only was the one who gave the advice not a fisherman; he had presumed to sit down in Simon’s boat uninvited. And now he was telling Simon to do exactly what he had been doing all night long. It would seem that this would be enough to drive Simon up a wall, but listen to what he says: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. |
