Grace in Unlikely Places

Have you ever wondered why God works in the ways that He does? Or maybe you have wondered what He is doing. Both of these questions have been asked by Christians for centuries. There is mystery and wonder in the way that God chooses to work, and so it is at times with Jesus in the Gospels. And what if it is in the mystified wonder of those around Jesus in the Gospels that we actually find the ultimate answer as to why Jesus works in the ways that He does. Few stories reveal this more than Jesus’ call of some ordinary fisherman in Luke 5:1-11.

(5:1)- Jesus is by the shore of the lake of Gennesaret with a

A crowd of people are standing in front of Him

The crowd is pushing against Him.

(5:2-3)- Jesus gets into a fishing boat

He sees two fishing boats by the shore

He goes to them and gets in Simon’s boat

He asks them to put out from shore a bit so that He can teach from the crowd from the boat.

The acoustics of the sea would have helped Jesus to project His voice to the crowd

(5:4-7)- After He is finished speaking, He tells the fishermen to put out to deeper water

Simon makes his reservations known to Jesus saying that they just fished all night and caught nothing

It is the wrong time of day

It is the wrong part of the lake

Jesus is not a fisherman

Yet they obey and put out into the deep water

He performs a miracle by providing an exceedingly large catch of fish.

It was such a great catch that they had to call to their partners in the other boat to help

Both of their boats began to sink because of the amount of fish

Oh, what glory and power are on display!

(5:8-11)- The fishermen respond and Jesus calls

Simon responds by proclaiming his sinfulness

This is similar to the response of Isaiah to God in Isaiah 6

The other men are also astonished at the catch of fish

They are not only astonished but also afraid because of the power that they have just witnessed

Jesus calls them to be catchers of men

They are catchers of fish, but He will make them catchers of men.

The men leave their nets and follow Jesus.

Do you see? Jesus chooses the most unlikely of men at the most unlikely of times in the most unlikely of places to display His power and glory to call them to follow Him. It is here that we find the answer to the question “why does He work in the ways that He does?” He works in the ways that He does because He is zealous for His glory. He wants us to see that it is all of grace and nothing of us. He rids us of all notions that He calls His people for their abilities or resources. He calls His disciples in power and wisdom for His glory. May you fall to your knees in awe and wonder of the glory and power of such a great Savior.