“Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
-Luke 5v5 (CSB)
Have you ever been told to do something that made zero sense to you?!
When I pondered that question, the first thing I thought of (as a child of the late 1900s) is the movie The Karate Kid.
My non-Gen Z people know where I'm going...
Daniel LaRusso, played by Ralph Macchio, moved to a new community in California and started getting picked on by the local "tough guys" who happen to be part of the local dojo. Long story short, Daniel ends up befriending Mr. Miyagi (played by Pat Morita), a local handyman.
Daniel hears that Mr. Miyagi knows karate, so he asks Mr. Miyagi to teach him.
If you've never seen the film, you might assume that Mr. Miyagi would get Daniel access to a state-of-the-art dojo and you'd see a montage of epic workouts.
Well, that's not where Mr. Miyagi begins his training...
He has Daniel wax his car.
You read that right. Car detailing. For a kid wanting to know karate. To stick up for himself against his bullies.
Now the first time I watched this movie (many decades ago), I remember scratching my head... Why would Mr. Miyagi begin teaching karate by having Daniel do his own work for him? Isn't that kind of crazy?!
And Daniel was in agreement with my assessment. He didn't agree with or see why waxing and cleaning Mr. Miyagi's car had anything to do with karate (he eventually has Daniel sand floors and paint fences, too).
If you keep watching The Karate Kid past this scene, you see why Mr. Miyagi has Daniel do this...
Eventually Daniel gets frustrated and threatens to quit; then Mr. Miyagi, knowing this was the moment, shows Daniel that the moves he's learned doing the "meaningless" chores were actually karate defense moves. And these moves were paramount in Daniel's pursuit of karate excellence and defeating the bullies from Cobra Kai!
Though Daniel didn't fully understand why Mr. Miyagi had him do what he did, he leaned in, trusted his teacher, and eventually reaped the benefit of what his teacher had him do.
...
Now let's bring this home a bit more, shall we?
We are in a season of 21 Days of Prayer + Fasting as a church family; we've forsaken meals and carved out intentional time to be with Jesus instead of scrolling on our phones, eating a juicy burger, or doing something else with our lives.
Beyond our 21 Days, God has been moving throughout His Church globally and we are in the midst of a catalytic season.
According to data release by Open Doors International, this past year we saw more than 388 million Christians experiencing active persecution, 1 in 7 Christians persecuted worldwide, 1 in 5 Christians in Africa experiencing persecution, and 2 in 5 experiencing persecution in Asia. 4,789 Christians were martyred, 4,712 Christians have been arrested, and 3,632 church buildings have been attacked.
Globally, the Church has never been this persecuted.
At the same time, Christianity has been growing over the past few years globally. Atheism is in decline, the "nones" have plateaued, and the generation that was supposed to be the "end" of Christianity in America (Gen-Z) is the generation that is most likely to be found in church!
All of this to say: the tides are turning, the spiritual temperature is through the roof, which means God is moving and ready to do something!
Going back to the verse in the beginning of this post (and bringing all this together)... In Luke 5, we see that the crowds are pressing in on Jesus because he's teaching with authority and power, and they want more; and because he wanted to teach them without being crushed, Jesus uses Peter's boat to go out into the waters so he can teach the crowds as they sit on the shore.
All the while, Peter (and James + John) were probably within ear shot and they were busy cleaning their nets from a fairly unsuccessful fishing excursion.
After Jesus taught the crowds, he approaches Peter:
"Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch." (Luke 5v4)
To be clear: Jesus was a carpenter by trade, not a fisherman. And he's giving fishing advice to a man who has made his entire livelihood on being able to catch fish!
Peter probably had already tried that spot before. And most likely to no avail.
So why did Peter (as we know from v5) take a carpenter's advice?
Maybe because he heard Jesus' teachings and thought there must be something to this guy.
Maybe because he secretly knew there were no fish there and he wanted to one-up Jesus by proving there'd be no fish there.
Or maybe (and this is my personal opinion) Peter got to a place in his life where he realized that doing something different, from a posture of desperation, was better than just doing things "as usual". I believe Peter was at the end of his rope, tired of status quo in his life, and was willing to take his newly-cleaned nets in order to possibly catch some fish.
"... but if you say so, I'll let down the nets."
The place of desperation and surrender became the launching pad for Peter to experience Jesus' provision and power.
Wouldn't you know it... the carpenter had good fishing advice after all?!
"When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink." (Luke 5v6-7)
What a catch! What a day!
And how did Peter respond?
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. (Luke 5v8-10a)
Humility.
Confession.
Surrender.
When we see Jesus rightly, we likewise see ourselves for who we truly are.
And Peter's trusting Jesus with fishing instructions was just the beginning...
“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people." Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him. (Luke 5v10a-11)
Now to be clear again: Jesus is not sending out Peter, James, and John to be human Pokemon masters or something wild like that...
To be "fishers of men" (as other translations say in Luke 5v11) was a call for Peter, James, and John to join Jesus in the expansion of His ministry; inviting, initiating, and expanding the Kingdom.
They were trained to catch fish with line and hook, but now they were being empowered and commissioned to partner with Jesus in sharing the Good News with humanity, being captured by His goodness, mercy, and salvation.
What a story! What a God!
...
So let me ask you: where in your life is Jesus asking you to "let down your nets"?
What is He asking you to do? Not to do?
Who is He asking you to share the Gospel with?
What possession of yours is he asking you to sell + give the earnings to foreign missions?
What friends are God asking you to dive deeper with + form a group for accountability and in-depth discipleship?
What things are filling your schedule that you need to remove in order to serve a local mission?
I could give more examples, but don't just pick-and-choose one of these if Jesus isn't asking you to "let down your nets" in that way! Listen to the voice of Jesus + obey what He is asking you to do!
Like Peter and Daniel: what Jesus might be asking you to do won't make any logical sense (I'd actually argue that the deeper you go in intimacy with Jesus, the more Jesus is going to ask of you!).
But let me ask you: what if Daniel didn't listen to Mr. Miyagi?
What if Peter didn't let down his nets?
And to make it more personal: what if you don't do what Jesus is asking you to do?!
I don't ask that to heap condemnation or shame on you; I simply ask to provoke us to consider what is on the other side of our obedience!
(hint... it's Jesus!)
Faith-filled risk is the fuel for the truly great men and women of God throughout history; and it's the fuel we need to do what God wants to do in this generation!
EAGLE CHURCH FAMILY: MAY THE GOD WHO ASKED PETER TO LET DOWN HIS NETS GIVE US CLARITY ON WHAT HE IS ASKING US TO DO, INDIVIDUALLY AND CORPORATELY; AND IN THAT CLARITY, MAY OUR OBEDIENCE, AND EYES FULLY-FIXED ON JESUS, PRODUCE ETERNAL FRUIT THAT BRINGS GLORY TO GOD! Amen.
Love y'all, Eagle Church! <3