You. Follow Me.

Today we compare two miraculous catches of fish in the Bible and see how Peter reacts each time.

Luke 5:5-10, Luke 22:54-62, John 21:1-24

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Peter cast his net off the side of the boat and pulled in an incredible catch a fish. And then he fell on his knees and said, Lord, I’m a sinful man. Go away from me. When he saw God’s power. Did you know that this isn’t the last time that this happens in the Bible? It will happen again. And this time, I think Peter would know his sinfulness even more than he did in Luke Chapter 5. This time, he had seen the depths of his sin, as Jesus had already revealed to him, that all of you will reject me and you, Peter, you’ll reject and disown me multiple times. And he did.

As Jesus was about to be crucified, he had over and over said, I don’t know the man and Jesus had locked eyes with him. He knew that he had rejected and failed him. He had, essentially again said, Go away from me, Lord. I don’t want to be associated with you. And then Jesus had died on the cross. But he’d risen. He’d risen, Peter had seen him, but he hadn’t had a conversation with him. Not a good, long conversation. They hadn’t cleared this up yet. And then one day…

One day, Jesus was alive. And Peter and the other disciples said, let’s go out to fish. And they went back to what they had known how to do that they go out into the water. They keep fishing. And then all of a sudden, there’s a man on the shore calling out to them and they don’t recognize them. And he says, Friends, have you caught any fish? You haven’t, have you? And they you can just see them? No. And then he calls from the shore. Try the right side of the boat. Oh, thanks. And they do. And once again, the net is full of fish. They start to pull it off. And this time, this time Peter doesn’t fall on his knees and say, Go away from me, Jesus. This time he jumps out of the boat and he runs and splashes to Jesus, because this is the one who knows his sin, yes. But this is the one who is his Savior. This is the one who took his sins to the cross and rose again.

And now, Peter can listen to those words of Jesus. Don’t worry about your sins, I’ve dealt with that. Don’t worry about anybody else and what they’re doing. You. Follow me. And that’s there for us too. Jesus the friend of sinners calls us to follow him. Let’s go.

Marques Nelson
Marques Nelson

Pastor Marques Nelson currently serves the Beacon Lutheran Campus Center in the Mankato area.

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