29th June 2026

29th June 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Luke 5:1-11 focus v1-7)


Message (Alan Burke) 


You know I like fishing. I don’t get to go very often because it takes a bit of time to get organised. It’s better when you’ve nothing really planned and you can take the day relaxing. I’ve taken Scott a few times since I got here, and I’ve a wee confession to make. I haven’t caught a single fish, and he has. Most people that would be enough to put them off fishing for life. Like, what’s the point of sitting on some rocks somewhere and watching a float bob up and down to catch nothing!? Well, the truth is I don’t care. There is always a chance I’ll catch something, and I love the sound of the sea against the shore. You’re forced to sit, and it gives you some headspace to think. I’m not sure that these lads, ie Peter, James, and John, and Andrew, were thinking that (although Luke doesn’t mention Andrew, we learn he was there from Mark’s gospel, Mk 1:16). 


Jesus comes to the Lake of Gennesaret (ie the Sea of Galilee to you and me), and again Jesus is surrounded by people. They are there, coming to listen to the word of God, that message of the good news of the kingdom of God. I love this scene. Jesus is crowded by the people. The people are coming, they are coming to hear the good news of the kingdom of God. They are a people who had been waiting expectantly for the coming king, the Messiah, the Christ of God, and Jesus. He’s trying to teach them, and seeing two boats at the waters’ edge, gets into one of the boats. He asks Peter to put out a little from shore, and Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat. In effect, Jesus is using the boat as a floating pulpit to teach those who had come, who were desiring to hear the word of God. 


In the makeshift floating pulpit, anchored just a few metres from the shore, Jesus tells Peter to: “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” (V4). Think of the absurdity of what is going on here; Jesus, the son of a carpenter, telling someone who in all regards was a pretty successful fisherman who had his own vessel and business partners to in the day is telling Peter to let down the nets for a catch, with Andrew in the boat, the two of them were likely looking at each other, rolling their eyes, thinking to themselves, this guy has no idea what he’s talking about. And after all, they had been fishing at night, and the reason they had been fishing at night was because the fish are closer to the surface, feeding during the night; when it is light, the fish go to deeper water, and so Peter pushes back, saying: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” 


In what was unfolding, Jesus was revealing more of who he was; he was going to reveal his glory, that he is the one who is the sovereign Lord. After his initial protest, Peter says, "But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” He had seen firsthand the power of Jesus, how his mother-in-law had been healed. Even though Peter knew that the chances of catching anything were pretty remote, he does what he had been asked; he gives it a shot, he goes out, puts down his nets, and he was in for the shock of his life, and the catch of his life. In this miraculous catch, Jesus was revealing his glory. What a day on the lake for these fishermen! God in all his power is present and expressing himself through Jesus. He was demonstrating his divine power so that these fishermen might see and know who he is. Who is Jesus, he is the Son of God, true God and true man and he revealed his sovereignty to those men that day on the lake. He is LORD of all, and one day he will reveal his sovereignty to all, for he has been exalted to the highest place, the name above every name, so that at his name, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 5:9-11)


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q106 What do we pray for in the sixth petition?
A. In the sixth petition, which is, And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” we pray, that God would either keep us from being tempted to sin, or support and deliver us when we are tempted.
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