What is that story we have just heard read from Luke’s gospel about (5:1-11)? Is this a tale about an incredible fishing trip when the catch was ‘this big’? All were amazed and some of them even left everything they had to follow Jesus as a result. That’s quite incredible in itself. I want to spend a few moments thinking about three ways of looking at this passage.

Firstly we have the event itself. We find Jesus standing by the side of a lake and the crowd is so big that to make himself heard he makes use of a couple of boats as a makeshift stage and employs the natural amphitheatre of the countryside to project his voice. He then goes fishing for tea and as so often happens when he is around he gets carried away and the catch not only feeds himself but would feed an army. We get a glimpse of the generous provision of God, who in the words of the well known hymn ‘The Lord’s my shepherd’ makes our cup overflow - or in this case nets.

We have a day to remember. Everyone has gone away fed. Those who came to hear him have had their heads filled with food to inspire them. Those who were in the boat have found something so fulfilling that they will leave everything to follow him. They have sensed what Paul later came to describe as making everything else seem utter rubbish in comparison to knowing the love of God in Christ (Phil 3:7-8). It is so special that it takes over your life and nothing else can compare with it.

So that is the first thing that is going on. It is the wow factor and it inspires beyond words.

But we can dig a bit deeper. Jesus starts off on the shore, at the edge of the lake. He then gets onto a boat in the shallows and finally they put out into the deep. Dry land is safe - no one is going to drown there. The shallows are a bit more risky, you can drown in an inch of water, but chances are if you fall in the worst that will happen is you get a bit wet and look and feel a little silly. The deep is a dangerous place. Storms can overwhelm you there, if you can’t swim you can drown, but the fish are bigger!

If we take this as an analogy of the spiritual life, of our journey in faith, where are we standing? Are we with the crowd, standing on the side of the lake? We have seen something that has made us go and find out a bit more and this man is saying things that intrigue us, even start a fire glowing inside that we can’t explain? Are we early on in growing in spiritual things but hungry for more? Are we hesitant about getting involved too much, anxious about where it might lead and we can’t swim very well so better keep on dry land, it’s a much safer place to be? Are we the sort of person who will just take a run at the lake and jump in making a great big splash? Some will find swimming comes easily, some will look on and wonder why we didn’t use the boat, some will delight in the joy and youthful playfulness that this strange spirituality brings.

As an analogy of spiritual living, the story tells us that the deeper we go the bigger the catch of fish. The deeper we go the greater the rewards. The deeper we dare go into God, the more we find our desires fulfilled in ways we could never have imagined. There is a depth to God, to prayer, to our study of the bible and spiritual wisdom that is like the biggest catch we could ever imagine.

So the second way of looking at this passage uses it as an analogy of spiritual things. There is a depth to be explored that we can never imagine from the shore and if we dare to step onto the boat, or jump in, it will surprise and delight us.

The third way of looking at this story goes straight to the catch of fish. The clue comes in Jesus telling those who follow him that ‘from now on you will be catching people’.

They have been fishing all night, in the depths, and have caught nothing. We know that, because when Jesus has this brain wave they tell him quite bluntly that they’ve been there and tried that and it didn’t work. Well doesn’t that sound familiar? There are many faithful people, committed people in churches who feel they have laboured all night and caught nothing. Over the last 100 years, however we massage statistics church attendance has been going down and among the youngest members of our society it has been a haemorrhaging. Surely we are a clapped out institution, whatever our denomination, and its time to beach the boat!

Perhaps we are looking at this from the wrong angle. My observation is that a growing number of people are becoming not just post-Christian, that is our society is no longer based on a working knowledge of the Christian faith, but are now also post-denominational, that is no longer have strong ties to any particular church structure: be that Church of England, Methodist or Roman Catholic. I perceive that many people are now more prepared to cross the denominational boundaries in ways that they just would not have done in the past. And it is good that they are.

Perhaps what we are finding is that we are having to signal to our partners in the other boats to help with the catch. The focus has shifted quite dramatically from the boat to the catch. The implications of this for our ecumenical relations are quite dramatic. We are being challenged to start from a different place - where the fish are rather than where the boat is moored. Our denominations become part of the rich traditions that add colour and flavour to the meal. But they are not good if they get in the way of meeting people and allowing the good news of the gospel to engage with all our lives.

And get in the way they do! They tend to make us too cautious about leaving the shore and putting out into the deep in the first place; too cautious about risking that plunge into the depth that is God, into the depth that goes way beyond our own tradition and expectations, the depth that can fulfil our hunger in ways we never dreamt possible.

Baptism is being brought into the Church of God. The different churches recognise each other’s baptisms and it never needs to be repeated. It focuses our thoughts more on the fish and being part of the tremendous catch, the Church of God, than it does on the boat - where the boat in this case is a particular church structure. It also reminds us that we all stand in different places on the spiritual journey and can grow in time to explore more of the tremendous depths that there are in God if we dare to step out from the shore. That depth is itself part of the incredible generous bounty of God’s love that can light a fire deep inside us. It can make us literally count everything else as rubbish in comparison; make us leave everything and follow Jesus.

© Ian Black 2004

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