Have you ever had someone show up and randomly start telling you how to do your job? It’s frustrating! Especially if you are forced to put up with that person because of their status. In my case, I was the college-educated boss’s kid on the construction job, working with guys that had been doing this work for years. I knew that my best bet was to keep my lips sealed, my head down, and work hard at whatever task was put in front of me.
There’s an interesting story about Jesus, only recorded in Luke 5, where Jesus shows up and starts telling some blue-collar guys how to do their job. Luke writes: Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5:3-5)
Jesus, who is not a fisherman, tells Simon the fisherman how to fish. And the day has already been unproductive. Simon tells Jesus, “Master, we’ve already been at it all night and haven’t caught a thing!” But Simon also has respect for Jesus as a spiritual teacher, so he indulges his Master a little. You can almost hear Simon and the other fishermen muttering beneath their breath! “We’re going to get these boats ready and out there again and Jesus will see it’s exactly like we said: there’s no fish! Stick to the preaching, Jesus. Leave the fishing to us.”
But what happens? “And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” (Luke 5:6-7) Not only do these experienced fishermen haul in an astounding catch, they take in so much that it becomes dangerous! What happened?
What happened is summed up in Peter’s words, which he probably wasn’t even thinking about, “At Your word I will let down the net.” It is not the skill of these fishermen that makes the difference; it isn’t the wisdom of men who’ve probably spent their whole lives on these waters, hauling in fish. It is the word, the commandment, of Jesus that makes the difference and turns this fishing venture from a bad catch to an overwhelming abundance.
There’s another place in Scripture where Jesus commanded something that sounds strange to us: when He instituted the Lord’s supper at His last supper with His disciples. There He broke the Passover bread and He told them: “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28)
If we were doing things with man’s wisdom, we could probably come up with a much more impressive sacrament than the Lord’s supper. In fact, the communion table is astoundingly unimpressive to the flesh: a little bread, a small taste from the cup. And yet, because Christ Himself instituted this meal with His own words, His own commandment, the table becomes for us the very place where we taste by faith the body and blood of our Savior. Through the Spirit’s power and blessing that little bread and little cup become for us spiritual nourishment and encouragement for our souls. And as we eat the meal together we have the curtain peeled back and get a brief glimpse of eternal life, where we will eat the everlasting meal at the Lamb’s wedding table. As we come to the Lord’s table this week, let us come in obedience to the very words of Jesus, believing that His word transforms scarcity into abundance, death into life, and the cross into eternal victory. God bless you all until we gather at the table once again.
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