The Miraculous Draught of  Fishes
Tapestry from Raphael, Pinacoteca Viticana 1517

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Malachi 3:10

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38

In Luke 5:1-8

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, ² And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. ³ And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. ⁴ Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. ⁵ And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. ⁶ And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. ⁷ And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. ⁸ When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

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Like many folks, our family lives pretty much week to week, and not having a whole lot “stored by” in the way of savings.  What we are able to save amounts to something between “precious little” and a smidgen.  But the Lord has from time to time moved us to give of what savings we have, even knowing it might be a long time before we could ever “replace” it.  One such instance happened earlier this year.  Only this time we felt the Lord leading to give it all!  Gulp!  But we did, and we felt peace and a little excitement and anticipation to see how the Lord might fulfill that “pressed down, shaken together, running over” thing!  Weeks went by, and instead of better, our financial situation became more strained.  We wondered if we had somehow had a wrong attitude or something.  Several weeks went by and we began to sweat it a little even as our usual income for the month decreased due to some things at my husband’s job.  But then a funny thing happened.  First we noticed we had somehow paid one bill “ahead” so we were okay for that bill session.  Next session (we send out payments 3 times a month, generally), we had gotten on the budget plan for one of the utilities, and that resulted in less cash outflow needed for that period.  On the next one, we got a great deal on switching our TV service, and also got in on a deal for phone.  We got a check in the mail here,  a small bonus there, a month with an extra paycheck due to pay schedules changing at work.  All these factors, little by little, and after several months we realized that the math really wasn’t making sense, and yet it our expenses had all been covered.

When I read this account in Luke when Jesus boarded Simon Peter’s boat,  I was struck anew by a facet of this account that we don’t often appreciate.  Simon was a fisherman by trade.  He had just come off of fishing the whole night, but hadn’t caught anything, and so he was probably looking at having to keep at it for several more hours, because not catching anything wasn’t really an option.  Yet when Jesus stepped into his boat and told him to thrust out a little ways from shore, Simon obeyed.

Jesus had been pressed in by multitudes wanting to hear Him preach, but the crowds being so close, those in the back wouldn’t have been able to hear.  Pushing out from shore and preaching from the boat created space and allowed His voice to carry out over the water.  I don’t know how long Jesus spoke, the Bible doesn’t say.  But as much as the gospels describe how He was often sort of swamped by those trying to get near Him, I imagine it may have gone on for a while.  Simon was tired, and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think he could easily have gotten impatient and anxious, thinking about the rest he had hoped to get, or the dinner, or the few more hours of fishing, but Simon apparently decided to just trust the Lord.  After Jesus was done, He told Simon to launch out into the deep in his boat and lower his nets “for a draught” ( a load or “haul).  You know the story.  They pulled up so many fish that the nets broke and they had to call on fishermen in another boat to help haul it in.

This account ends with Jesus saying He will make Simon and James and John “fishers of men” and that’s what we usually focus on.  But look what happened!  Peter was exhausted, empty-handed, and probably hungry, but he trusted and obeyed.  He launched out into the deep, and consequently, Jesus pours him out a blessing so great he is unable to receive it all, without help anyway.

That’s how generous Jesus is.  The world is His, and the fullness thereof.  He is willing to give lavishly.  Miracles happen in an atmosphere of faith and obedience!  It is easy to let past bad experiences and disappointments discourage us from faith.  After all, if you don’t get your hopes up, you can’t be disappointed.  But we need to believe God.  He hasn’t lied to us or failed us thus far.  We get anxious, we panic, and in the end, it always works out somehow.  That goes for small things and even the biggies in life.  God gets us through.

God grant us the childlike faith to simply take You at Your Word!