The Fisherman

FISHERMAN
(Luke 5:1-12)
Who is this guy?
What kinda thing is this?
I can’t understand it!
Just about an hour ago, I was the most 
frustrated fisherman on the planet. 
I have over 25 years’ experience in this field. 
I have been catching fish all my life. 
I have the skills; I know the way fish behave. 
I know their way of life, I know what 
attracts them, 
their swimming pattern, eating pattern, 
migration time, I know when they mate, 
when they lay eggs, when these eggs hatch. 
I know which fish swim in which part of the sea. 
I know the fresh water fish and the salt water fish. 
I KNOW fishing! I may not be educated, 
but I can guarantee you there’s no professor 
of fisheries that knows more about fish than 
me- and that’s me being very modest!
But this Man just destroyed all my knowledge 
and opinion about my fishing skills…
Last night, I had gone fishing with my colleagues. 
We’re all experienced fishermen. 
None of us had less than 20 years’ experience. 
We were all in a boat, and we planned to fish 
all night. 
On a good day, we would haul in enough fish 
to make enough money to last us and our 
families a week. 
We usually fish all week and rest the following 
week, just being with our families, 
playing with our children and fixing our nets 
that usually get broken when the haul of fish 
is much. 
It had always worked for us- one week of 
work, one week off.
My brother, Andrew’s wife just had a baby, 
so we were hoping to catch enough fish to 
sell to raise enough money for the naming 
ceremony. 
He was excited! It was his 1st child, 
so I could understand his excitement. 
We were all happy and fulfilled, doing what 
we loved doing. 
We all had a very strong bond, having worked 
together for over a decade. We headed out 
around 10pm, hoping to be back by dawn. 
Fishing at night is usually more successful, 
probably because the fish cannot see much 
in the dark, so it’s easier to trap them in the nets. 
We got to the place we usually fish. 
It was serene, with the waves splashing softly. 
I know this place like the back of my hand. 
I could almost sail out here with my eyes closed! 
We threw the nets into the sea as we always do. 
After a few minutes, we pulled them back. 
Nothing caught. We threw them in again. 
After a few minutes, we pulled them in again: 
we saw a few plastic bottles and sticks, 
stuff people throw into the sea. 
Where’s the fish? Andrew looked puzzled. 
I had to laugh! “Andy, are you scared? 
I hope we catch fish for your sake oooo! 
As you have invited the entire city to the 
naming ceremony, you must make the money 
to feed them oooo!” He smiled. 
But I could see he was worried. It was already 11 pm. 
James, one of the other fishermen with us said, 
“Andy, I understand you invited that Egyptian 
musician to come perform at the naming ceremony. 
She is to come with her entire band! You’re a big boy!” 
Andrew managed to laugh. Last week, we had 
already hauled in 2 net-full of fish by now. 
But no worries, we still had 7 hours thereabouts 
to fish. 
We would definitely haul in loads of fish soon. 
So we thought…
But amazingly, by 3am we still had not caught 
anything! 
By then I was getting worried. 
What is going on? This is unprecedented. 
We had never been out fishing and caught 
nothing in 5 hours. Never. 
Andrew asked, “Should we go elsewhere? 
If there’s no fish here, they must be elsewhere!” 
I shook my head. 
“Andy, you know other fishermen would be there. 
You know we all have the fishing spots we 
all agreed to keep to. 
This is our spot; we cannot go elsewhere.” 
But I understand why he suggested this. 
He is seeing his hope diminish each minute.
By 6am, we had to head back to shore. 
With nothing. 
The disappointment was thick in the air. 
Nobody said anything on the journey back. 
What will we tell our wives? 
How do we cope? 
We will have to try again tomorrow, but what 
is the guarantee we will catch anything 
again tomorrow? 
As we sailed back, I noticed a crowd by the shore. 
What’s going on? 
The beach is always quiet this early, until the 
fishermen return and sort out the fish and the 
market folks come out to buy. 
That is usually around 9am. 
This crowd is definitely not a market crowd!
As we got to the shore, I noticed the crowd 
actually gathered to listen to some guy who 
seemed to be teaching them something new. 
And strange. 
As I was about to tie up the boat, the man 
walked up to me. 
“Good morning, Peter! How are you doing? 
My name is Jesus. 
May I use your boat for about an hour? 
I just need you to sail out a bit into the water 
so I can use your boat as a platform to talk 
to the crowd…”
I was shocked he knew my name! 
I stared at him for a few seconds. 
Is he insane or what? 
But to my own shock and surprise, 
I heard myself saying, “ok”- and I sailed out 
with him about 20 meters into the sea. 
And he spoke.
And how he spoke!
He spoke with power and authority.
He spoke with wisdom and grace.
Everybody soaked his words like a 
sponge, even me!
And when he was done teaching, 
he turned to me: 
“Thank you, Peter. I really appreciate this. 
Let me reward you in the little way I can: 
cast your nets in the sea for a catch!” 
Seriously? After the disappointment of 
the last 8 hours? 
“Sir, we have been trying to catch fish 
since last night, we caught nothing. 
Nothing! But no worries, I’ll do it once 
again, if you say so…”
I threw in the net. 
And the boat almost sank! 
It was as if all the fish in the sea came to 
listen to him too! We had to call the other 
fishermen who were just returning from 
the sea to help us. 
I had never seen so much fish caught once 
in my entire life! I turned to look at the Man. 
He was smiling like he just pulled a prank on us. 
I fell down at his feet. He picked me up and 
said, “Relax, Peter! Today your fishing career 
ends. From today, you will be catching men”.