WEEK 2 - REAWAKENING TO THE LIFE, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
This week, we will focus on various aspects of Christ’s Incarnation—from birth to death and Resurrection. We will turn our eyes to focus on the person of Jesus in all of His glory and continuously pray for deeper understanding of who He is.
DAY ELEVEN - THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST - ERIKA THORTON
Luke 5:1-11
5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”[a] 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
The crowd is pressing in on Jesus. They are desperate to be near Him and hear His words. Peter is content being busy around Jesus. He has his own urgent work to be done and tasks that consume his time and attention. He needs to wash out the (empty) nets. Then Jesus interrupts him.
Jesus wants to connect more deeply with this mob of listeners and forces Peter to redirect his attention to something else. Jesus climbs into Peter’s boat, and now Peter must ferry this traveling teacher out into deeper water.
Then Jesus decides to give him fishing advice! Peter has just cleaned his nets; he has spent an exhaustive amount of time maintaining a system that produced nothing. Surely Jesus can see the bags under his tired eyes and the calluses on his hands from doing the same thing every morning. He even reminds Jesus how hard he has worked and how minuscule the results have been; but Peter obeys and trusts Jesus’ words, throwing his clean nets back into the water.
And then suddenly, Peter has a great multitude of fish on his hands. His nets are breaking, and his boat is sinking. His old tools cannot keep up with this new thing Jesus is doing. He calls his friends over to try and help, but they all end up astonished. Now Peter is terrified. He even asks Jesus to leave. In that moment, Jesus’ presence and power is overwhelming. It feels like too much. Jesus responds with comfort and a promise. For Peter and every disciple since, following Jesus is just the beginning of so much more.
PRAYER POINTS:
1. Are you desperate to be closer to Jesus, or are you content merely being busy around Him? Pray that He will reveal the answer to you.
2. Ask that the Lord will reveal to you what you are simply maintaining without producing fruit.
3. Pray that God will open your eyes to what you need to leave behind so you can be ready for and obedient to Jesus’ promise of more.