We saw last week that Jesus’ teaching and ministry is characterised by ‘authority’.  But what does He use that authority for?  To build the Church.  And even though I imagine it is uncontroversial to suggest that He could do that more effectively Himself, He delights to include us in that Divine project of restoration.  As – by His grace at work within us – we are made more like Him, we become part of the solution, rather than part of the problem.  And being part of the solution involves us in fishing for people (Lk.5:11).

It’s an evocative image, and one we can easily mistake.  Jesus isn’t simply enacting this parable because Peter (and James and John, and those working with them) were fishermen, and so they could relate to the imagery.  He is reaching back into the prophecy of Jeremiah.  In Chapter 16, the Lord is explaining how bringing the Church back from Exile will be a new Exodus.  And then he develops this image to picture His work in bringing His people back from exile: But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them... (Jer.16:16).  The Church’s job description is beautifully captured as Jesus calls us to ‘fishers of men’.  We are committed to the task of ‘catching’ those exiled from the Lord.  And that task is committed to us.

It’s an idea the Lord Jesus returns to repeatedly, and that in both parable form (Matt.13:47-50), and again in enacted parable form.  On a morning reminiscent of Luke 5:1-11, Jesus again teaches fishermen how to fish!  And again there is a miraculous catch of fish (all kinds of fish ... good...and bad, Matt.13:47-48).  To be ‘caught’ up into this incredible privilege is to be drawn into a project that cannot be conducted or explained in human categories.  Its success or failure is not explained by human technique or earthly methods.  The fundamentally miraculous (and therefore Divine) dynamics of evangelism are laid bare by Jesus. 

And so it was that three years later (more or less), Peter stood up and preached on the Day of Pentecost.  ‘With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day’ (Acts 2:40-41).  I wonder if he thought of the day his nets almost broke on the Lake of Gennesaret?

Questions:

How do you feel about the energy and effort and emphasis there is at MIE this term on running seven Alpha courses?   Are you excited? ...resentful?  ...fearful?  ...inspired?  ...ashamed?  ...happy to let them happen so long as they don’t affect you?  If you have been involved, can you explain why? ... and maybe share your experience?   If you haven’t been involved, can you explain why?

Can you spend some time now praying for the Alpha courses, and those on them?

What do you make of Simon’s willingness to obey Jesus, even when it makes no sense to him to do so (Lk.5:5)?  Do you have anything in your own experience that corresponds to this?  can you share that with the group?  

‘...they caught such a large number of fish, that their nets began to break’ (v.6).  Is Jesus teaching that we should expect significant positive response as normative when we preach the Gospel faithfully? 

How has your experience of ‘fishing for people’ changed as you have grown more like Jesus, the great ‘Fisherman’? 

What is happening that Peter is able to ignore the life-threatening situation that is developing around him, to focus so exclusively on Jesus (v.8)?  Why does Peter want Jesus to ‘go away’ from him?  What is appropriate in this response?  ...and what isn’t?

Why does a miraculous catch of fish produce this response in Peter?  What has a net full of fish got to do with Peter’s sense of sin?    

Look at Peter’s reaction in Lk.5:8 (at the start of his ‘training’) and in John 21:7 (at the end of his apprenticeship!).  What’s different?  How do you account for the change you see in him?  How can we capture that in our own experience of following Jesus? 

What have you had to leave behind to follow Jesus into His mission of fishing for people (v.11)?  DO you regret it?