I Go A Fishing

I do not like to fish, but many do in the beautiful Northwoods Lake area of North Wisconsin (2500 lakes in six counties). My dad took me fishing a few times. It seemed that the fish were few, but the mosquitos were abundant. I caught a few fish (about the size of a minnow), but I received hundreds of mosquito bites. By the time I finished a fishing event, I wanted no more.

I was aware of the many who fished successfully in North Wisconsin and loved it, but that was not my experience.

But it was very different in the first century along the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Simon and Andrew, James and John grew up near the sea, fished with their dads, and they loved it. Their dads operated a fishing business.

The Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Kinnereth, Lake of Gennesaret, and the Sea of Tiberias), located in the hills of North Israel, is nearly 700 feet below sea level. At its widest point, it is eight miles, and its length about 12 miles from north to south. It plunges to depths of 200 feet in places. It is surrounded by the hills of Galilee rising to nearly 1400 feet above sea level and the mountains of Golan Heights on the east, which range up to heights of 2500 feet. On the west of the sea is Mount Arbel. The slopes of the Golan Heights and Mount Arbel both drop sharply down to the sea. Because of the sea’s location and topography, it is subject to sudden, furious storms.

Living around the Sea of Galilee, you could enjoy the vibrant green on the hills in the spring and brown during the dry season. The colors contrasted beautifully with the deep blue of the water.

Peter was a fisherman by vocation. It was hard, rough work that required long hours and oftentimes fishing through the night. Usually, the fishermen worked in teams, often with two or more boats. They frequently used a trammel net. This was a multiple rectangular net with three meshes. The central net had the smallest mesh size that trapped the fish.

But Peter’s vocation changed. One day, his brother, Andrew, came to Peter, bursting over with excitement, “We have found the Messiah.” (John 1:41). Andrew introduced him to Jesus. He had never met anyone like Jesus before. Peter and Andrew started following and listening to Jesus with all their spare time from their fishing business.

In a momentous life-changing day, Jesus came to their boat docked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They were cleaning their nets after a long, non-productive night fishing. Jesus just got into their boat and asked them to move their boat a little way from shore. (Luke 5) Jesus then taught the crowd of people gathered on the shoreline. When he finished teaching, he surprisingly told Peter to launch out into the deep and let down their nets for a draught (or a catching – a fishing term). Peter protested. We’ve already labored all night and caught nothing. How can we expect anything different now? But Peter relented and said, “Yes, I will let down the net.” When he did, he got the shock of his life. The catch was so great that the net broke. He quickly called for his partners, James and John, who helped him pull in the catch.

Peter and Andrew and James and John now understood that Jesus knew a whole lot about fishing.

But Jesus had one more astonishing thing to say to them. “Don’t fear. From now on, you will catch men.” Peter, Andrew, James, and John now had a new vocation. They would catch men rather than fish. (Luke 5:10-11). He didn’t understand then, but soon, he would know that fishing for men meant winning souls to Jesus.

Jesus turned their whole life and livelihood upside down. The four of them left their fishing business behind and followed Jesus.

Then began three exhilarating and fantastic years. They watched as Jesus taught the multitudes, healed the sick, caused the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and raised the dead. They saw him still the waves when they thought they were going to drown in a storm on the Sea of Galilee. They helped Jesus feed the multitude when he took just five loaves and two fishes and fed the crowd. They watched and helped again as he fed another crowd with seven loaves and a few fishes. They knew he was the promised Messiah who would save their nation from the Romans and set up His kingdom.

But they couldn’t understand when he told them that the Jews would crucify Him and He would rise from the dead after three days.

Now, the disciples had witnessed the crucifixion and had seen the resurrected Christ. Jesus met with Peter privately. (1 Corinthians 15:5). Even though Peter was assured of the resurrection, he experienced all sorts of mixed emotions. What would he do now? Would he go back to fishing for a living? What about the other disciples?

In his confusion and bewilderment, Peter said to the others, “I go a fishing.” All of them went with him. Was Peter giving up on the Lord? Was everything he saw and experienced for nothing?

What do you do, and how do you react when it seems that you have lost your goals and direction in life?

Peter would soon have the answers to those questions. Jesus came to the shore that day. Again, the disciples had fished all night with no catch at all. Jesus knew where to find them. He had prepared a fish fry breakfast for them. But first, he demonstrated his mastery of nature and fish. “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find.” (John 21:6). They followed Jesus’ instruction and caught 153 fish. Then Jesus invited them to “Come and dine.” The fish were not from their catch, but with fish Jesus had caught and prepared earlier.

Jesus followed up on that fish fry breakfast with a thrice repeated question to Peter: “Do you love me?” Peter replied, “Thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus revealed to Peter that he would also die for the Lord. Then he said, “Follow me.” Peter was now re-commissioned to follow Jesus and to preach the gospel. And what a powerful, Spirit-led preacher and apostle he turned out to be. Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 people were saved and baptized. He continued to lead, along with James, John, and the other apostles. The Jerusalem church exploded in growth as thousands were saved. This provoked the wrath of the Jewish leaders, who began a persecution that erupted in force when Stephen preached and was stoned to death.

Saul led the persecution and imprisoned and/or killed many of the Jerusalem Christians. James, the brother of John, was executed. Peter was miraculously rescued from prison and death by an angel and in answer to prayer. Believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria, preaching the gospel wherever they went. Peter and the other apostles stayed in Jerusalem, building the church there.

Later, God used Peter to open the gospel to Gentiles in Acts 10. Peter went on to write the books of First and Second Peter, giving instructions about how to live for the Lord in times of persecution. He also taught, in 2nd Peter, about false teachers and about getting ready for and looking for Christ’s return.

God transformed Peter, the fisher of fish, into a mighty fisher of men. He ended his life victoriously, dying for the Lord, just as Jesus prophesied in John 21.

God has commissioned all believers to become fishers of men. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Have you responded to that call? God has a perfect plan for your life. Your obedience to His Great Commission could mean salvation for multitudes. What will you do?