Hope for the Hopeless
Adapted from a sermon by Fr Yacoub Magdy
A very handy message comes for the disheartened when we read about the miracles of the catch of fish in Luke 5:1-11. When our hopes are dashed and we feel that nothing is going right. When every door has been shut in our face. When I need the ultimate revival – this is where our hope lies.
This is a message that calls the consecration of the heart. St Peter knew Jesus, and this event happened after He heals his mother in law. Jesus had been to St Peter’s house and it was likely that He had slept there overnight. This was not the call for consecration, this came later with the miracles that ensues.
St Peter was a fisherman and he toiled with some other fishermen over two large ships. A day in the life of a fisherman began at about midnight. Six to eight people were employed to pull on the ropes. They went to the lake to make a full circle with the nets. This process takes about 30 minutes to throw the net. The net stood vertical so it would reach the floor of the waters. This process takes about two hours. Altogether, it takes about four hours to pull the rope until the big circle that is made with the nets becomes narrow enough to only hold the catch of fish. The fishermen don’t know if they have caught any fish or not until the process is complete.
They then go and sell the fish in the morning, and they can pay the workers their wages from selling the fish. Until now, fishermen attribute success and failure to luck. All over history this mentality remained.
On this particular night, they had spent the whole night at sea but caught nothing. Added on top of this was the payment of the workers’ wages. They spent all night in hope, but came to morning and their hope was shattered.
This would have been distressing to St Peter, especially since Jesus had been at his home for the past few days. Jesus, that did so many miracles before him, even healing his mother-in-law, yet when it came to fish, he caught nothing. Did Jesus bring him bad luck?
Nevertheless, they had to mend the net so that no big fish could eat the little fish that were caught. This was also a time consuming process. While they were doing this was when Jesus passed by. He had a large crowd following Him to hear the Word of God.
People are always to hear the Word of God. Wherever the Word of God is, people will follow. If we want our service to flourish, we must always use the Word of God, because people do not come for your wisdom or understanding, but the Word. The crowd followed to listen to His words. For Jesus to address them from the shore, He had to pull out a little way so He could see them all.
Jesus must have had a strong voice, for He would preach before thousands and they would hear Him. He asked St Peter to move the ship out to the water a little way so He can see them all on the shore. He started teaching, the exact time He was teaching, we do not know but we can presume it was a long time.
St Peter may have been still mending his net but was still listening. The process of elevating us from our sadness begins with hearing the Word of God. We do not know what Jesus said, but surely it was a message of hope. As St Peter listened, we can presume that his heart was moved.
When Jesus finished speaking he told Peter to throw his net into the sea once more. It was well known that as the sun starts rising, it is very difficult to catch fish. The fish can see in the light and escape. They catch fish in the dark because they cannot see in front of them and are easily caught.
They rely on darkness to deceive the fish, so it was not the time to go catching fish. St Peter was still obedient, and trusted Jesus, who was a Carpenter, despite spending his life fishing. He was polite saying, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5).
This is the pre-consecration of the heart – When I am down, when I have no hope, when I have no where left to turn, when I laboured in vain – but at the Word of the Lord, I will try again.
The joy that comes to the heart cannot be fathomed. The word used in the Greek language translates to, ‘ecstasy.’ The combination of tremendous joy and not knowing where it came from. It was no longer about the fish but the possibility that the Lord could perform such miracles.
Where did the fish come from? How did this happen? It was at this point that St Peter surrendered completely to the Lord – “When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”” (Luke 5:8). Having no hope and no help but then the Word of the Lord changes the hopeless to hopeful and fills them with ecstatic joy.
The Lord is true, and He in my life. I follow the Lord, it is not about what He
can give me, but who He is. The evidence of this is in St Peter’s broken
heartedness when he fell at the knees of the Lord. If you want to know if you are
on the verge of the consecration of the heart, you must first fall at the feet
of Jesus saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!” I am not worthy of
the grace He bestows upon me.
Jesus appeases his fears saying, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” St Peter was called to bring men to the Kingdom of God. If I come to stages of hopelessness where I feel I have nowhere to turn, I begin to listen to the Word of God and this begins to revive my hope. Until I see the Hand of God clearly and it could be nothing other than divine intervention that uplifts me, it is at this point that I fall to my knees before the Lord.
We become for the Lord and nothing in this life satisfies us, just like the ships that were left flooded with fish for hope in the Lord.