Sunday, April 21, 2013

Go Fish


from Luke 5:1-11, Jesus teaches the people from Peter's boat, there is a miraculous catch of fish, Jesus calls Peter to be a "fisher of people"

You know the card game Go Fish? You’re looking for cards to build sets in your hand. You ask other players if they have something, if they do, they give to you, if they don’t, you “go fish”. (talk strategy... You can't just ask the same question again and again, but you also can't say "I asked that question once and it didn't work")

Jesus is looking to build a good hand. People crowd around to listen to him, and he wants to build his team up. Imagine Jesus playing Go Fish…

“Do you have any with college degrees?” (No, Jesus. Go Fish…)
“Do you have any that know the Bible backward and forward?” (
No, Jesus. Go Fish…)
“…with great teeth?” (
No, Jesus. Go Fish…)
“…that don’t smell like fish?” (No, Jesus. Go Fish…)

(from Ray Vander Laan's In the Dust of the Rabbi) Being a rabbi’s disciple was a big deal… and Peter, Andrew, James, John… they hadn’t made any other rabbi’s cut. They weren’t first draft picks, or second draft picks… for anybody. But Jesus chooses them from the leftovers.

You can walk away from Jesus saying “I won’t be a disciple” but you can’t walk away from Jesus saying “I CAN’T be a disciple… because Jesus is saying I believe in you. I choose you. Follow me.

• By the way, what’s astounding about this passage? The catch of fish… And do you notice when it occurs? When Peter does something he’s already been doing… after listening to Jesus’ teaching. “We tried that before and it didn’t work” doesn’t work. What works is listening to Jesus and then doing.

• What’s this passage say about Jesus?

- People want to listen to him. (verse 1, crowd pressed around)
- People DO listen to him. (verse 5, Peter says okay, even though they’ve already tried that)… (Jesus’ teaching is powerful)
- Jesus has long-range vision for people – sees beyond the current circumstances.

• What’s this passage say about people? About us?

- Jesus works with what we have (we don’t have to come to Jesus as scholars and as all already put together)
- Jesus wants to be in relationship, even if we’re broken. (imagine what it took for Peter to make his confession before Jesus and others)… Come to think of it, Peter demonstrates a kind of humility here that may indeed be very necessary… Paul tells us in 2Cor12:9 that God’s power is made perfect in [our] weakness… when we move ourselves out of the center, God can do God’s best in us.

• Jesus wants you to be involved in discipleship… in learning from the master, with the goal of teaching for the master.

Jesus can use you.
What will you let stop you?

• Hymn insert Go Make of All Disciples

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