“Peter on the Pond”
Sermon by Matt Heckel, PhD
8-31-13
Read Luke 5:1-11 and John 21:1-8
(Attention) Ever wonder what it would be like to be Peter? Crazy, right? Peter lived a crazy life of ups and downs, but he also lived a full life. A life that we are normally scared to live.
(Textual Analysis) Let’s try and relive this story from the vantage point of Peter. Peter is cleaning his nets after a miserable night of fishing. If he could’ve known how it would go, he surely would’ve spent it at home in bed. So Peter is experiencing a sense of loss. He is frustrated. Then he sees a probably most unwelcome sight. A huge crowd following Jesus comes into view. But that will be tolerable if they mind their own business.
But then Jesus just steps in it. Yep, he steps into Peter’s boat and right into his business. Here’s a good word of advise, “Don’t step into a fisherman’s boat uninvited.” Peter must be thinking, “Who does Jesus think he is.” Then Jesus imposes himself on Peter. “Peter, could you push me out a little into the lake so the people can hear me better.” Can you picture yourself as Peter throwing your nets down, walking over to your boat and pushing this preacher out into the lake. You might think, “If he wants a floating pulpit I’ll play along, but he better not get long-winded. I need to get home and crash.”
So the sermon is finally over but we don’t have any record of what Jesus said. Why? Because the most important part of the sermon is about to be lived out. Hearts are going to be revealed and a soul is going to be saved.
(Illustration) I was watching a baseball documentary about a famous baseball coach with my son. I don’t remember the coach’s name although I’m sure my son does. But I’ll never forget one thing he said. He said that there is some baseball manual that says baseball builds character. But he said, “That isn’t true. Baseball doesn’t build character. It reveals character.”
Look at Jasiel Puig of the Dodgers. Everyone who’s following baseball knows of his unbelievable season. But they also know something about Puig as a person. Puig is treating the baseball park as an altar for people to come and worship him. He hasn’t been trained by the history of the game to hustle even at every moment or to praise your teammates even when you’re the star of the game. It’s all about Puig right now, and while he’s energized his team and propelled the Dodgers to first place, his teammates are wondering if he’s going to share his glory or gobble all the glory for himself. It’s a character issue. Baseball veterans know what happens when a player gobbles glory. They end up with an inflated ego that eventually pops and makes a mess everywhere. They can see it coming because baseball reveals character and their will be consequences for poor character. Jesus is about to reveal Peter’s character, but in order to save his soul.
So the sermon is finally done and Peter must be thinking, “Well, I’m glad that’s over.” What do you think is Peter’s attitude when Jesus then says to Peter, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter must think, “You mean the nets I just cleaned and put away?” Notice that Peter had been busy while Jesus was preaching. He was not yet a follower of Jesus. He was a busy guy. He wasn’t ready to drop what he was doing for something more important. Jesus was a nuisance to him.
(Cultural analysis) Does our culture encourage us to be more like Peter at the beginning or the end of this event? Does our culture encourage us to be detached or passionate? Many would argue that we have a consumer culture which encourages detachment. Be a cool consumer. Keep your options open. Don’t get too excited. You may look foolish if you buy something that goes out of fashion while your sleeping. Don’t commit, don’t settle down, keep moving, and keep everything revolving around you. Don’t start revolving around someone or something else. That’s for suckers and suckers get ripped off.
(Textual Analysis) Notice that Peter doesn’t respond to Jesus’ command with a resounding, “Yes, Lord.” Peter is probably thinking, “Ummmm, Jesus who do you think you are. Who knows more about fishing, you or me? What do you do for a living. Oh! That’s right you’re a preacher. And what were you before that? Oh, that’s right, you were a carpenter.” But he doesn’t want to be disrespectful to Jesus, so this is what comes out of his mouth, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Do you think Peter takes Jesus’ word seriously at this point. Notice that he says we “toiled all night” and got nothing. Jesus may be a great preacher and a wonderful carpenter, but he doesn’t know who he’s talking too. Peter must be swelling with pride, “I’m a professional fishermen. I know when you catch fish and when to go home. You catch fish in the cool of the night and early morning when they’re feeding in the shallows. During the heat of the day they plummet to the bottom where nets can’t reach. But if you say so we’ll go ahead. We’ll show you a thing or two about fishing.” Peter knows that if they couldn’t catch anything at the right time they don’t have a chance catching anything at the wrong time.
(Illustration) I know exactly how Peter feels. I have jugged fished all my life. You set your jugs with bate in the late evening. I usually run them about midnight and at 6 am because that’s when they feed. If somebody started using my boat as a floating pulpit to preach to a crowd, that would be bad enough. But then to tell me to get my jugs back out, unwind, and re-bait them, I’m afraid I would react worse than Peter did. So we mustn’t think that we’re any better than Peter. We must put ourselves in the same boat with him. We’re now on a fool’s errand back to the middle of the lake, but we’re going to teach the preacher a lesson.
(Textual Analysis) Now imagine this. You go against everything you know. You drop your nets. You can’t wait to pull them back up and hold them up for Jesus and everybody to see. Look! empty nets. But you can’t pull the nets up. So you pull harder. Then, out of the corner of your eye, you see a swirl in the water. You look as you pull harder. You don’t even know what your looking at. It can’t be. But there it is. The water is swirling everywhere now. Fish are coming to the surface as you pull harder. There are more than you’ve ever seen. Suddenly you hear someone call out for more boats and your surprised by the sound of your own voice. Did I really say, I needed help? Is this really happening? Are the nets really breaking? Are the boats really starting to sink.
If this is true, then I’m not the center of the universe. If this is really happening there is a carpenter/preacher who knows more about fishing than I do. He must actually control the fish. He must have made the fish and the lake and everything else including me. There’s no way this is possible unless he’s someone beyond anything I’ve ever known. Peter and James and John and all who are there are “astonished.”
But Peter is also ashamed of himself. He must now say to himself, “I’m an arrogant, self-centered man in the presence of the holy. How am I going to face this man, this carpenter-preacher? I’m undone. I’m a sinner who has come into the presence of the holy.” Events from the Bible fill his mind. Images of Isaiah when he saw the Lord high and lifted up, Moses at the burning bush, and the call of Gideon. When these men encountered the Lord they unraveled. Some of them fell on their face.
As Peter, you realize that’s me now. I’m at the end of myself. I can’t face Jesus as a self-sufficient person anymore. There is no room for pride in his presence. When Peter turns around he can’t hold up empty nets between him and Jesus. There’s nothing to hide behind. So when he turns he falls to his knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Jesus is no longer just a rabbi-preacher. He’s more than a carpenter. He’s Lord, and Peter knows he’s a sinner. He knows he can’t do anything to save the situation, so he asks Jesus to depart. But Jesus didn’t conduct this sermon to leave Peter in his sin.
Jesus looks at Peter, probably with a smile on his face, and says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Notice that Jesus saw real fear in Peter. “The fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom” is no longer just a verse from Proverbs. Jesus then says to Peter don’t worry about fixing this situation. I will fix you. I will make you “catch men.” You have a new life and a new career. He’s saying, “Follow me.”
(Application) When Jesus says I’m going to lead and you’re going to follow, you know it’s all going to be ok. No matter what happens, it’s going to be ok. The guy who makes the fish do what he wants is in control of it all. You know you can’t be detached anymore. You can’t busy yourself while Jesus preaches in your boat. Your committed, passionate, and settled. You don’t care about cool. You care about Christ. Everything you know has suddenly dropped into your heart and made your pulse quicken.
(Illustration) Peter didn’t try to hire Jesus as a fishing guide. He left it all behind. I can only imagine what I would do in Peter’s place. If every jug I threw into the pond immediately started bobbing with huge catfish, I would have to leave the fish behind. I would have to follow the man who made the fish and made me. I would have to do whatever he said.
(Illustration) I remember a beekeeper who was trained by an older man who had kept bees all his life. The old man had taught him everything he knew about bee keeping. And I’ll never forget him saying that if the old man told him to go sit naked on his beehives in the middle of the night he would do it. Have we reached the same place with Jesus? Through Peter’s life, Christ is inviting us not into a life of cool detachment but into a life of total abandonment to him. A life where we are ready at any moment to be Christ’s fool, because we know that’s where wisdom begins.
(Conclusion) Let’s jump to the last time Peter sees Jesus in person in this life. Peter has done the unthinkable. He has denied Christ under pressure from the very men Jesus had called him to catch. Jesus has since died and risen again. Peter’s once again ashamed and embarrassed. He betrayed Christ and he thinks his new life is over, so he goes back to his old life. He goes fishing, and they caught nothing. Sound familiar?
Someone on the shore says, “Children, do you have any fish.” They must of thought that it was curious that he called them “Children.” Then the stranger says cast your nets on the other side. Then it happens again.
Jesus is going to reinstate Peter through the thing he knows the best on earth. They pull at the nets but can’t lift them. John immediately recognizes what’s happening and says, “It is the Lord.” Peter drops the net and jumps in. He does what any boatman would normally be ashamed to do. He abandons his boat and swims. He does what any fisherman would normally be ashamed to do. He abandons his fish. He’s a fool in the eyes of the world of cool-detachment. What could make a man do such a thing? Jesus is reminding Peter who he is. He’s no longer just a professional fisherman. He’s Jesus’ fisherman who catches men. At the end of this passage, Jesus tells Peter “Follow Me.”
(Application) Where do we find our identity this morning? Is it in what we do? Is it in our failure? Is it in our cool-consumer detachment? Is it in ourselves and the world we make revolve around us? Or is it in the one who made our work, who forgives us of our failures, who cures us of our self-centeredness, and calls us to catch others for Christ? The reason God takes us through what happened to Peter is so that we will identify with Peter on the Pond and throw it all away for Him. Let’s surrender to his words “Follow me” and know that no matter what happens, it’s all going to be ok and more than ok. And that’s because he is the Lord.
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