KNEE DEEP IN FISH STINK
(or we might call this, The Anatomy of a Call)
(You may see by the date of this post that it has taken me some time to come up with this follow up, but it finally came.)
As I said at the end of the post on the anatomy of a miracle, I am sure that my job is a miraculous work of God. In fact, it has gotten even more miraculous since that post with my being hired full time at a higher level and higher pay than I could dare to dream. That falls very much in line with God’s miracles that He works in people’s lives. When Peter did what Jesus instructed him to do, even though it made no sense, he not only got a “catch” of fish (we realize in this story that Jesus was understating the forecasted outcome greatly), but the nets filled so much they couldn’t pull them in. In fact, upon calling their partners out to help them, the nets were bursting and the “catch” was so enormous, it was swamping both boats. Now that is a catch of fish.
Though we, as humans are greatly talented at explaining away the miraculous work of God, He does go out of His way to make sure that those for whom it is meant definitely understand the work. Peter understood. The Scripture says that he and all the others were astounded, but Peter reacted in a very special way. He fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” When Peter saw what had happened, sheer and totally drained humility was his response. We know from later accounts that Peter is not fully aware of who Jesus is at this point, but he is aware enough to know that Jesus is of God and that in His presence, Peter’s own short comings trumpet loudly. In this realization, Peter confesses his sinfulness upon his knees, presumably in a pile of fish. Most if not all Biblical accounts of an honest man coming into a realization that he is in the presence of the Holiness and Power of God relates that man confessing his inability to measure up. “Woe is me,” cried Isaiah. Falling upon one’s face is common, and fearing death in the presence of The Holy is also a frequent response.
Peter, at this moment realized as best he could at this point in time whom he was faced with. He realized his own inadequacies in relationship to this Holiness and Power. He responds to this in the most common way known in Biblical accounts. He begs Jesus to go away from his sinfulness. As stated in the earlier post, God doesn’t do miracles for miracle’s sake. He doesn’t do them just to prove He’s God. He usually has a deeper purpose for his miraculous work, and many times, it is in relation to calling a person to a special task or ministry. Moses saw a burning bush. Peter got a pile of fish.
As Peter begged Jesus to depart from him, giving Him what seem to be acceptable reasons for the Son of God to depart, having nothing more to do with this sinful man, Jesus did the opposite. He did not depart, at least not until he gave Peter a call.
Jesus’ first response is the same thing that God has been saying to men in Peter’s position throughout history, “Do not be afraid.” In fact I am writing this less than two weeks before Christmas, and I am reminded of the Angel’s words, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy!” Man’s right response to the presence of God is contrition. A usual response is fear. God says to not be afraid. A contrite man has nothing to fear from God. A confessing man has nothing to fear from God. God’s response to these men is always, “Fear not,” and “I love you.” Jesus answered Peter with “Do not be afraid,” then he gave him a combination invitation/prophecy. In Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts, Jesus is recorded to have said, “follow me and I will make you fishers’ of men.” Luke’s account just says, “from now on you will catch men.” The difference in wording doesn’t change the call or the prophecy. The call is implied even in Luke’s account, and we know that Peter left the fish behind and followed Jesus. Peter left that whole big, unbelievable catch behind and followed Jesus—that catch that would make him a legend among fishermen—that catch that would pay all of his bills and possibly go toward a start on retirement. He left it behind and followed Jesus right then and there.
So what’s going on here? What are we to gather from this story? I believe it has to do with identity. Peter was a fisherman. Jesus said from now on, you will be a fisher of men. Being a fisherman was Peter’s worldly identity. It produced worldly results. It produced a living which is not bad at all in and of itself. Don’t get me wrong, work and vocation, providing a living and shelter are not wrong in God’s eyes. What is wrong in God’s eyes is when we find our identity in these things. Being a fisherman produced recognition, especially after having hauled in such a big catch. It produced camaraderie. For Peter it was in the form of partners, James, John and Zebedee, as well as membership in a group made up of a common trade, fishermen. Just think of the comradeship of the group on the sea shore or in the local inn as they regaled each other with their stories of catches and trials at sea. It wasn’t God telling Peter that this wasn’t enough, however. Obviously for Peter, however, all of this was not enough. It seems that for Peter, this identity was missing something. Even with the most astounding catch known to man at that time, Peter must have felt an emptiness. Somehow, the great catch of fish had turned into one big pile of fish stink for Peter. That’s what happens to every honest human when they find their self worth and identity in the temporal. Peter was ready to find true identity and meaning in his life. He was ready to shed the hollow and/or shallow identity that is found in worldly pursuits and take hold of the identity found in following Jesus.
The problem for all who have not heard and taken up that call to truly “follow” Jesus is that we, as Peter find our identity in temporal or worldly things. We find our identity in parenting, in our relationships, in our jobs, in our hobbies, in the groups and clubs we belong to, even our religious groups and churches, etc. These are all temporal and worldly.
The call from Jesus is “come follow Me, and get your identity from Me.” That’s what we see in Jesus’ call to Peter. Jesus was saying, “follow me and I will make you who you truly were meant to be.” The call from Jesus is telling us that whatever we see as our identity in this world is only a shadow of what God, the Father created us to be. I’ve heard sermons preached on this passage with the bottom line being that we are all called to be fishers of men. I don’t buy that now. I am not a fisherman by nature. By nature, I am a fixer, a builder and a rebuilder of things. I have an old Harley Davidson that I bought as a very derelict basket case and spent four years gathering parts and putting it back together. Later, I bought another basket case. This time it was a 1952 Ford Pickup. It was in as bad or worse shape than the Harley—really nothing more than a big pile of parts, but now it runs and I have fun with it. I also build things from scratch, like musical instruments and tube type guitar amplifiers. I seem to have a need to always be doing something like that. My vocational career at this time is that of designing and building machines for the manufacturing world. If someone were to look at me, they would say that this is the core of my identity. I would tend to agree, but I have, of late, found that identity to be a bit shallow. I still find myself unsatisfied deep down. One accomplishment after another still doesn’t do it. It is in this quandary that Jesus speaks and says, “Follow me and I will make you a fixer, a builder and a rebuilder of men.”
Lately my wife, Gayle and I have been going through some deeper learning and growing with a special group in our Christian lives. The idea of getting one’s identity from Christ has been a very strong concept in our teachings. At a time or two, I had to admit that I was nervous, even scared to press on, because I was honestly afraid of losing the identity that I had come to know as me. Who would I be without it? Others may judge me for this, but I am being honest here. It was, however, while I was once again contemplating this fish story that I saw the light.
Jesus didn’t say to Peter, follow me and I will make you a fixer of men, or anything else of men. Jesus wasn’t going to make Peter into something he wasn’t. Jesus was going to take the dim, shadowy identity that Peter found in this world and transform it, clarify it, and perfect it into his true Kingdom identity. I now see that this is what Jesus wants to do with me. That’s what he wants to do for all of us, and his call is, “follow Me, and let Me take that big pile of fish stink that you have accepted as a substitute identity in this world and transform it into what God, the Father always meant it to be.” I think I understand now and am ready to truly follow and find my identity in Christ.
