Life takes off when the CATCH sets in.

In luke 5:1-11 a remarkable scene unfolds. Because we have heard the story so many times, and because we tend to minimize the details upon rehearing, we have missed just how much is really here. Let’s take a close look, a new close look, at some of the magical implications which unfold in this dramatic scene. What we may find, as we look deeper, is that the real miracles unfold, in the lives of those involved, not in the boat, but in the lives which are walked out after the fish bust open the nets and the boats nearly sink. Its the magic of life that is really to be seen here.

After “one of those days” on the water, an empty “catch”, and readying themselves for the off time, those dedicated professional fishermen received the gift of a lifetime. A gift for a lifetime. Therein lies the problem. Look again at the text.

The market for fishing, no doubt, had to be quite competitive in their little neck of the woods. The one thing that could change their lives forever would be a lock on the market. Imagine what must have gone on in the minds of those on the boats that day when the catch of a lifetime came their way. This is it! We hit the lottery! This guy is gonna take us to the top! People will be coming to us from now on! Our lives have now changed! We are gonna be rich, rich, rich! I can see the Jewish screenwriters pounding out the drama now. They may have called it, “The Kosherest Catch!”

Put yourself in their hip boots. You’ve been just one of the many grinding out a living, providing for your family and for your community. You go home dog tired every day. You wonder, at times, what life would be like if you hit the mother load. And then, all of the sudden, out of the blue, BAM…luck strikes. Any of us, in all likelihood, would be tempted to think about the new boats, the new house, the new clothes, the new reputation, … And I cannot help but think these guys had the same urge, at least initially. Simon (Peter), James, and John, had to be licking their chops

And this is where the magnitude of the miracle really unfolds. Again, place yourself there in the scene. Jesus has your back. You ride in with him with more fish than the entire village has ever seen before. Everyone is looking at you like you are some sort of fishing god. Is that Peter?! Look at all those fish! He is coming to my next bar mitzvah! Someone call Larry Kingstein, he needs to be on T.V.! That guy is a fishing beast! 

In one afternoon, as if winning the lottery, life has the potential to change in amazing ways. But something different is on the mind of those impacted most intimately on this day. While many are, no doubt, standing around in amazement, and wondering just how things will unfold from here, Peter, James, John, (and I would guess many who worked for them), took thought not of the financial implications of the big score, but rather, focused on the Man behind the miracle. 

What Peter and the others clearly saw that day was the radical life-changing force behind this Jesus. The response is instructional. They did not jump up and down high-fiving each other and shouting, “We’re in the money!” Rather, they fell down in humility, and with a healthy dose of the fear of God, and asked Jesus to make them different inside. In light of who Jesus was, and in light of who they were (the ugly part), they saw not monetary gain, but the chance to move in an entirely new direction. With the promise of a big financial gain right in front of them they made it to shore and gave all they had ever known not a single additional thought! Wow. Talk about “getting it”.

The real miracle, for them, and for us, is this: an encounter with Jesus Christ can change everything. Radically. Upon encountering Him, it all changes. Life from that moment on is just different. Totally, completely, and marvelously different. This is the brilliance of the Gospel. Prior to a relationship with Christ we live, but we can’t really live by definition. As the Gospel suggests, He is life, and those who walk apart from Him walk not in life. Those who find Him, as He suggests Himself, find life, life abundantly. This is what Peter, James, John, and others found that day amidst “The Catch”. We go from daily life to living out a calling upon meeting Him. And a calling lends our life momentum, purpose, and a compelling force. In light of this force, all else which is not in keeping with the pull of the call, looses its allure. Money, fame, sex, pleasure, titles, … you name it, it cannot compete with being caught up in the net of God’s grace.

Jeremiah 29:11 affirms this truth, “I know the plans I have for you. Plans for your good. Plans for a future and a hope, declares the Lord”. 

Sometimes the plan comes into full view, as if never before, in the most unexpected of moments. Sometimes the experience seemed sidetracked or delayed. For some it happens early. For others its not till later in life when they open up their hearts and souls to the reality of this newness of life. Whatever the case may be for you, wherever you find yourself now, God is tracking you. He has cast His net wide. He has laid the trap for your capture. He longs to have you home. He has been waiting for you. He is expecting and longing to see you, to know you, to embrace you. He longs to make all things new from this moment on.

Ravi Zacharias tells the story, in many of his lectures, of a man and woman who know the meaning of finding this kind of love, longing, and aspiration for something profound. The woman and the man, who met as teenagers, and whose love was lost at an early age, literally spent their entire lives apart until the latter days of their adventure. You see, the two of them, apparently truly in love even as teenagers, were separated by parents, distance and time, but never in their hearts. They knew they were meant to be together, yet life had prevented it from coming true. Providence, in an instant changed all of this in a marvelous way. 

On a typical day, as a man was going about his day, he came upon a bill fold which had been dropped in a park. Constrained by his faith, and his desire to impact the lives of others, he set out to find the owner of the wallet. Leafing through the wallet, behind the three one dollar bills enclosed within, he noticed a tattered letter which looked as if it had been penned decades before. When he opened it he realized it was a love letter. It was addressed to the woman in the story. Determined to find the owner of the wallet, he pursued his clue. Upon knocking on the door where the letter led him, he was told that the woman had not lived there for many years. They did know a relative of the woman, however, and suggested the man contact them. Upon doing so, he was told that the woman was now living in a nursing home. 

Undaunted by the challenge of continuing his investigation, the man who found the wallet eventually had the time and ability to go to the home where the woman was now staying. Entering the nursing home, of course, he was questioned about his intentions and so he shared the story of his find with the staff, and asked if he might see this woman who may lead him to the owner of the wallet. What happened next is nothing less than God-ordained wonder.

When he entered the room of the woman he was struck by her presence. She just had a way about her. After the informal greetings he told this kind woman of his quest to find the owner of a wallet which contained only one clue, a love letter to her. As she listened to him read she began to cry. When she did he was provoked to stop and ask why. She went on to tell him that the man who wrote the letter was the only man she ever gave her heart to, and that her heart still beat for him even as her life was drawing to a close. She had never dated nor married, constrained by her love for him. “After him”, she said, “no one else was good enough”. Sadly, she had no idea what had come of him after their teen years, and she had no help to offer to him on this search.

Touched to tears, and somewhat discouraged on his quest, he left her room. As he left in tears one of the orderlies noticed he was crying and asked what happened. As he shared the story of lost love and undying devotion the orderly nearly screamed with exultation. She said, “He is here!”. Stunned, the man remarked that she must be mistaken. “NO!” she exclaimed. “He is here!” 

The orderly walked the man down to the appropriate floor and room and made the introduction. The man began to tell his story again. Explaining that he had found a wallet containing a love letter, and sharing his desire to find the rightful owner, the man’s heart began to beat out of his chest at the possibilities in front of him. He asked the elderly man if, indeed, he were the writer of the love letter, and if, indeed, the wallet were his. To his astonishment he said, “Yes.” 

As their time together went on the elderly man spoke of his undying love for his girl. Amazingly, he too, had remained alone in love his entire life. He too could settle for nothing less than his first love. He missed her and often thought of her, and this, he said, is why he kept the letter all this time. 

Fighting back the tears, and with his heart now tearing its way from his chest, the good finder suggested to the elderly lover that he may know where his lost love was. Taking him by the hand, he led him up three floors and to a room. Waiting in that room was his past, his unknown, and his future. As the re-introductions were made it was clear love was still in the air. The staff and the good samaritan, feeling as if they were now intruding upon something sacred, left the room, giving the lovers time to “catch up”. 

Three weeks later, the re-united lovers were married!

God is like that. He loves. He longs. He waits. He loves. He is, and has been waiting for you. You are the one His heart has always beat for. Yours is the heart that sparks a twinkle in His eye. Oh, how He loves you.

When we “meet” Him, what we fail to realize is that He has searched us out. He has “caught us” finally. From that moment on, as it did for Peter and the others, as it did for the re-united lovers, life changes. It changes in magical ways. It changes in ways we always hoped and dreamed and longed for but never expected. That is life abundant. 

Its found in Him. He loves you.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org