From the SALT Project for Feb. 9, 2025
1) How best to discern God’s call? “Taking this story as a model, we can draw out at least three primary themes. First, God works with and through questionable characters like us. No sooner has Simon confessed he’s a sinner than Jesus asks him to join his team! Our feelings of unworthiness or ineptitude or fear, while understandable, are precisely what God wants to dispel. God believes in us, and so we should, too! “
2) “Second, at first the call may seem impractical, if not downright impossible (We just were out there, working all night, and look, our nets are empty!). Boldness and perseverance will no doubt be required; it takes some audacity to venture out into “deep water” (Luke 5:4).”
3) “And third, God’s call is toward abundance amidst apparent scarcity — particularly abundance for the most vulnerable. Think of those two boatloads of fish on the shore, and the region’s families enjoying an unexpected feast. God’s call is always a call into Jubilee!”
4) Jesus recuiting is a model for the future. “The perfect reversal of expected punishment isn’t simply the absence of condemnation; it’s the presence of communion, friendship, trust, companionship along the way. It’s saying to someone who’s done you wrong, Come, let’s work together. I trust you. Follow me.”
5) Simon Peter doesn’t say “yes” immediately to becoming Jesus disciples. It takes place over a period of time. “Jesus and Simon know each other already: Jesus has stayed in Simon’s house and even healed his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39), and Simon respects Jesus as a compelling teacher (thus he calls him, “Master”). “
6) Peter’s reaction to the call is a combination of emotions- amazement, possibly repelled by it and certainly afraid. He overcame it. “Simon Peter and the others “left everything and followed him” (Luke 5:11). “And part of what they leave behind, please note, is this extraordinary catch of fish on the shore (two boatloads worth!). “..”But even more, we can take it as yet another glimpse of Jubilee, the Sabbath of Sabbaths, when all crops were to be left alone “so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat” (Exodus 23:11). Rather than cash in on their miraculous haul, the new disciples leave it behind for those who need it most (think of all those others along the shore who worked all night and came back empty-handed). It’s a tangible sign of the abundant realm of God — now at hand!”