The Deep

Getting 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.  And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”  And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”  And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.  — Luke 5:3-6

Simon engaged in an act of faith.  It is clear from his response that he, the professional fisherman, was not about to believe that he was actually going to catch any fish.  No, Simon was merely humoring a celebrity — for that is what this itinerant rabbi called Jesus was at this point.  Jesus was an engaging teacher associated with some healings and, possibly, a prophet.  But no one much considered Him to be the only-begotten Son of God.  We have seen that His family was not supportive.  His kinfolk in Nazareth had tried to kill Him.  Despite His popularity, or notoriety, Jesus was creating enthusiasm and interest but not much devotion.  Simon, Andrew, James, and John don't know it yet, but they are about to be in on the calling of Christ's first disciples.

Simon Peter demonstrates that faith is not a matter of mental acquiescence.  It is not a matter of reasoning or logic or anything we can grasp in the conscious mind.  Fishing as these men did it was not a sport.  It was a long-practiced and perfected craft.  They fished at night when those denizens of the lake came into the shallows to feed.  They did not put down their nets in deep water but used the net to sweep through the shoals catching the fish between the nets and the shore.  Letting down a net in deep water was a waste of effort.  All you got was a wet net.  

We sometimes fail to give people of biblical times credit for any knowledge or what we think of as modern thought processes.  For example, I can assure you that people in those days knew where babies came from.  They may have told some fantastic stories, legends, and myths, but so do we. 

Abraham and Sarah knew that ninety-year-old women do not get pregnant.  The very idea was laughable to them.  They may not have known all the cellular and molecular biology behind it, but they did breed and tend livestock.  Like the saying goes, "We may be from the country, but we know how the cows come home."  No one who has ever pulled a calf or assisted in lambing or foaling has any illusions about storks.  They also butchered their own meat.  Odds are Abraham knew a lot more about anatomy and which parts do what than the average urban-dwelling 21st Century Schizoid Man.  So, too, in the days of Christ, no one believed in virgin births — not even Mary as evidenced by her stating of the obvious -- "I don't see how that's gonna happen" -- in response to the angelic announcement of her impending conception.  Sexual knowledge did not begin with Dr. Freud or Dr. Ruth or Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show.   

If there is a difference between us and people like Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and the Apostles, it is that they were a little less willing to think that they already knew it all, that they somehow had access to all the secrets, that technology made them all geniuses.  These days people who cannot make change from a dollar think they understand Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity because they have heard "E-equals-M-C-squared", or because they have watched "The Big Bang Theory" on television.  Knowing how to use a smart phone does not make one smart.   

As Hebrews 11:1 famously says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."  When we read that chapter in the book of Hebrews, we are struck by how those heroes of faith consistently transcended the limitations of their human understanding in response to His word.  God does not call us to stop thinking logically or reasoning or learning or acquiring material knowledge.  He calls us to go beyond the shallow, conscious mind and plumb the depths.  The "things not seen" refers not just to heaven but to all the treasures and resources of our life that lie below the surface.  Like Simon, if we are going to transcend our current state, we are occasionally going to have to move out of what we know from experience, from what we are taught by the world. 

Interestingly, this is not the only time this same group had this experience with Jesus.  From John 21:1-7, we read: 

After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.  Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.  Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.  

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”  He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.  That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”  

I have heard people say that if they had lived in the days of Christ's Incarnation and seen Him raised from the dead, they would "have more faith".  It does not work that way.  Seeing is a function of faith.  Certainly seeing the positive outcome of an act of faith can make us more willing, perhaps, to risk ourselves again.  But an act of faith is an act of faith.  There is just no getting around it.  Without faith it is impossible to please God. 

For three years, Peter and the rest had left their boats and followed Christ.  They had seen Him do all the miracles.  They were witnesses of His death, burial and resurrection.  So Peter says, "Well, I reckon we need to go back to fishin', boys."  I am no different.  I have been transformed by the power of the Blood.  But, after all, a man's got to live.  Jesus reminds them and me and you that "once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia".  It's not that we can't fish any more, it's that we will never fish quite the same way again.  We will always be eying that deep water.  And listening.