Is your Christianity a hobby? A hobby is something you do in your spare time, and it could be that’s how you think about Christianity, something for Sunday. Perhaps that’s how Simon felt about Jesus, he was happy to listen to Jesus occasionally, but to listen to Jesus in all of life was a bit too much. In Luke 5 something happens that helps Simon discover that there is great blessing in listening to and obeying Jesus in all of life.
Simon was happy enough to let Jesus use his fishing boat as a pulpit, but when the preaching was over, Simon found it harder to listen to Jesus. You can understand, Simon is the fisherman, Jesus is the carpenter come preacher, what does he know about fishing! And so when Jesus tells Simon to put out the nets, you can hear Simon’s reluctance:
“Master, we toiled all night and took nothing.”
In other words – “are you crazy?! We’ve had a hard night, throwing out the nets and pulling them in and caught nothing, we’re exhausted, we’ve washed the nets, and besides all this, its the middle of the day – wrong time to fish!”
Well, he’s not quite that rude, but is that what he’s thinking? Simon’s happy to listen to Jesus, when he’s preaching, but to obey Jesus in all of life? That’s different, but just look at the blessing he discovers when he has a go at obeying Jesus in all of life – they catch more fish than you can poke a stick at!
What’s Simon’s reaction to such an amazing catch? What would you expect? You’d expect him to be overjoyed, but what does Luke tell us Simon said? “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Why would he respond like this? Perhaps it’s because as he kneels among the squirming fish, he gets a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, perhaps he realises that “the one who knows the depths of the lake, knows the depths of his heart” (Ryken, Luke).
Sometimes when I’m talking to people about Jesus, I discover that people think they don’t really need Jesus, they are good people. Perhaps that’s what Simon thought until this point. What changed? Up until now, Simon was most likely comparing himself to others, and compared to others, he wasn’t that bad, he even lent Jesus his boat! It’s always easy to find someone worse than us, and convince ourselves that we’re not that bad. But start looking at the glory of Jesus, and you’ll realise how far you and I fall short.
How will Jesus react when we admit that we’re sinners? Perhaps we fear he’ll say “Aaaagggh, I had no idea!” And he’ll want nothing to do with us, but look at his wonderful words to Simon – “do not be afraid”. Jesus already knows what we’re like, it comes as no surprise to him. He is only too pleased when we admit our sin, because that was the very reason he came, he came for those who know they need him. He’s done everything so that we can be forgiven. He loves to welcome us. And he doesn’t just welcome Simon, he gives him a job to do. Up until this point, Simon used to catch living fish and kill them. Now Jesus tells him that he will reach out to those drowning in despair and give them hope. He will no longer pull up living fish, but dying men.
How will Simon respond? Well, he’s seen the blessing of listening to Jesus in all of life, he’s ready to make his Christianity more than just a hobby, are you?
Light and Momentary Troubles 
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