College Park United Methodist Church

Luke 5:1-11

The ruins of the boat are not that impressive, until you think that they are the remains of a 2000 year old boat.  It was built between 200 BC and 100 AD.  The boats mentioned in Luke 5:1-11 were probably similar.  It was about 25 ½  feet long and seven and a half feet wide.  About the size of my first boat.  It was used for fishing and transportation.   I've added a picture of the full size replica.

Luke tells us that Jesus sees a couple of these boats at the water’s edge and decides to borrow one of them.  Did he appreciate the craftsmanship of the small wooden boat? Jesus was a carpenter. It was made of cedar planks joined together by pegged mortise-and-tenon joints and nails.  Other types of wood were used to repair and strengthen it.  It was flat on the bottom, made for fishing in the shallows.

Now two things strike me about this passage in Luke.  

One is that Jesus tells the fishermen, who had come from a rotten day of poor fishing, “Let’s put out I to the deep water and catch some fish.”   Going out into the deep water implies taking risks, leaving the shore.  Following Jesus means letting go of the dock lines and heading out into uncharted waters.  It means taking risks. As Capt. Ron says, "If it's going to happen, it's going to happen out there."

But when the disciples obeyed Jesus and cast their nets into the deep water, the catch was so large it tore their nets and almost sunk their boat!  This became the pattern for the rest of their lives as disciples.  Obeying Jesus carried them into deeper and riskier waters and reaped results beyond their wildest expectations.  Those fishing boats may have been made for the shallows, but Jesus knew they could handle crossing the lake as well.

The second thought is that, after this miraculous catch of fish, Jesus tells the fishermen to forget fishing for fish and come with him. "I will make you fishers of men."  They left their boats and followed him. 

Archeologists tell us that the boat found in Galilee was probably repaired and used for about 100 years.  It was probably handed down from  father to son to son.  Can you imagine leaving such a family treasure?  But the disciples left their nets and their boats and followed Jesus. Imagine leaving your job, your investments, your livelihood, to follow who knows where? Where is Jesus leading?  Deeper water indeed.

Images courtesy of www.HolyLandPhotos.org

This entry was posted on 02/10/10 and is filed under . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.