Talking back and walking away

Luke 5:1-11 NASB

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;  and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.  And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and  began  teaching the people from the boat.  When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."  Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say  and  let down the nets."  When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets  began  to break;  so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.  But when Simon Peter saw  that,  he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!"  For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;  and so also  were  James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men."  When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

My thoughts -

What was the first thing that Simon Peter did when he met Jesus? He talked back and walked away.

Now that sounds harsh. And in truth it is phrased to sound like it means the opposite of what it does. Well, I guess the talking back part is pretty accurate.

Simon Peter experiences the same kind of incredulity that Zacharias did upon meeting Gabriel and hearing news that sounds impossible. Our God likes to exceed our expectations.

The crew had been fishing all night. They caught nothing. This is what they do for a living. And now some dude who's been teaching on the boat (how did that happen?) tells these experienced professional fishermen to just head out a little deeper and drop their net. That's crazy. Why should that work? Doesn't this teacher know they're the experts here?

But Simon Peter, though he questions Jesus, does what he says. They drop the net and they find the catch of a lifetime. This is where Simon Peter, along with James and John, walk away.

This is the kind of catch that leaves these professional fishermen in amazement. Not just in how it happened, but the quantity too is overwhelming. There so man fish they can't haul the net in without help. There's so many fish that the boat very nearly sinks. They have struck gold. This is the biggest catch they'll likely ever see. And they just walk away from it.

They walk away from the catch, their boats, their profession, and everything in their lives up to that point. They leave it all to follow Jesus. Simon Peter was incredulous when Jesus told him to drop the net. But when that catch came he knew this Jesus fellow was something else. Something different. He fell to his knees and begged Jesus to leave. Simon Peter couldn't stand to be in his presence. Simon Peter had to confess spontaneously that he was a sinner and unworthy to be in the presence of Jesus.

Did Simon Peter know Jesus was the Christ then? Could he tell? I don't know. But he had to know there was something different about Jesus. Something better. Something holy.

These fishermen see the catch. They see the pinnacle of their careers. It doesn't get any better than this kind of catch for these men. And somehow following a strange teacher they hardly know becomes as more appealing option.

Do they see the emptiness of life, even at its "best" without Christ? Have they, when presented with the catch of a lifetime, realized that unless something changes this is as good as it gets?

I don't know. I can't explain what they are thinking. But I do know that they walked away from what would have been the biggest payday of their lives to follow Jesus. And not very many of us would do the same.

They dropped everything to follow Jesus. Are we willing to? If asked could we leave everything behind? If asked could we sell all we have and give to the poor? If asked could we follow?

Simon Peter talked back. But when push came to shove he followed, no questions asked. Can we do the same?