The Excessive Catch

In Luke chapter 5 Jesus finds a small group of fishermen who’ve been out fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus gets into Peter’s boat and tells him to put out into the deep for a catch. Peter responds, “Hey man, I’m the professional here, and we’ve been at this all night. I got this.”

Isn’t that the way we spend life? We are too busy for God because “We’ve got this.” And we come up empty. Still, Peter has enough humility to say, “At your word Lord we will lower our nets.” And he catches such a massive haul of fish they can’t even bring it in. Immediately Peter falls to his knees and cries out, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

What made Peter fall and beg Jesus to leave? He felt unworthy because of his sins. He felt ashamed. And the shame of his sin causes him to push God away. But the Mercy expressed by the excessive catch causes him to rise and answer Jesus’ call despite his shame.

Too often we push God away because we are ashamed of our own life and sins, but let’s make a resolution to focus instead on the excessive catch, on the excessive mercy of God, and the unrestrained love of Christ.