The Excessive Catch

ONE

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 and caught nothing. 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 had 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; “What are the winning Power Ball numbers?” That’s what I would have asked. “No” Peter says, “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

What made Peter fall down and beg Jesus to leave? He felt unworthy because of his sins. He is ashamed. And the shame of his sin causes him to push God away.

Have you ever pushed God away because you were ashamed of your life or sins? 

TWO

Satan is our adversary. Jesus said he is a liar and a murderer. So, we need to know his tactics.

Satan’s strategy is to tempt us with the pleasure of sin and then accuse us once we have fallen.

It sounds something like this; “You are so stupid. You have wrecked everything by your sin. There is no way to fix this and besides you are not worthy of God’s love.”

Satan doesn’t stop there. He says; “No. You are even worse. You are a hypocrite because you claim to be a Christian and look at what you've done.”

Satan accuses and we accept the lie which causes us to turn and run further and further from God because we don’t feel worthy.

THREE

If shame makes Peter fall to his knees, what enables him to arise?

The excessive catch of fish!

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity says Peter was dumbstruck by the excessive love of Jesus manifest by the excessive catch of fish. Peter falls because he felt unworthy. The mercy expressed by the excessive catch causes him to rise. Mercy is the excessive unconditional healing love of Christ. You don’t have to become worthy before you receive the mercy of Christ because it is unconditional – there are no conditions. And His mercy is excessive! It is always more than we deserve. And His mercy is healing! We don’t have to change ourselves. His mercy will transform us.  Peter encounters the mercy of Christ through the excessive catch - and he rises and goes forward.

FOUR

Mercy is the excessive, unconditional, healing love of God.

Mercy is who God is. It is the way He always works. His love is always excessive.

At the end of the wedding feast in Cana they ran out of wine. Jesus doesn’t ask; “So, how much do you need to get by?” No! He makes an excessive amount of the world’s greatest wine, 180 gallons, 900 bottles.

God only knows one way to give – excessively.

This is why Jesus tells Peter; “Do not be afraid. This is who I am. Excessive love.”

FIVE

So, what is our resolution?

Stop looking at your past failings.

Start looking at the Excessive Catch, the Extravagant amount of wine, the Unrestrained Love of Christ.