944) I enjoy going fishing. I must admit it’s been a few years since I have been, but I enjoy it. One of my fondest memories as a child was when my grandfather took me fishing for the first time. He took a long stick, added a fishing line, bobber and hook and baited the hook with bread. I caught my first fish! I was so excited.
What is not exciting is when you go fishing and you catch nothing–not even a bite. It’s disappointing but those that rely on catching fish for their job, money or family are more than disappointed; they rely on their catch.
In John 21:1-14, seven disciples, including Peter and Thomas, decide to go fishing. We can assume they want them for eating or selling and they were having no luck. Knowing that Peter was a hot-head, I see in these verses that this lack of fish did not tick him off. This tells me either Peter was used to days when they caught no fish or that the highly emotional events of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are dominating his mind, so the lack of fish is secondary to him.
When the disciples decide to give up on fishing they headed toward the shore. Jesus is standing there, but they do not recognize him. He asks them how the fishing was. When they reply they had caught nothing, he told them to do something “ridiculous” and that is to go back out and put the net out on the opposite side of the boat. Everyone knows that putting the net out on the other side of the boat won’t make any difference in catching fish. If there are no fish on one side of the boat, there would be none on the other, but the disciples do what the man tells them to do, and their nets fill so full of fish that they feared the net would break. John figures out that the man was Jesus and all rejoice.
Sometimes God directs us to do something that, on human-terms, is ridiculous. For example, there was a time that God made it clear to me that I needed to say something really kind to someone who had hurt me badly. Everything within me argued against it, but I did it, anyway. I do not know what a difference my words meant to that other person, but I know that God showed me he wanted me to do it.
The bottom line is, God has his reasons he asks things of us. It takes faith to do the “ridiculous”.
