they filled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at Jesus’ knees. ‘Leave me, Lord,’ he said, ‘because I am a sinful man.’ Wonder gripped him and all who were with him at the number of fishes they had caught. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, ‘From now on you will be catching men.’ So they brought the boats to land and they left everything and followed him.
THE famous sheet of water in Galilee is called by three names – the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesaret. It is thirteen miles long by eight miles wide. It lies in a dip in the earth’s surface and is 680 feet below sea level. That fact gives it an almost tropical climate. Nowadays it is not very populous but in the days of Jesus it had nine townships clustered round its shores, none of fewer than 15,000 people.
Gennesaret is really the name of the lovely plain on the west side of the lake, a most fertile piece of land. The Jews loved to play with derivations, and they had three derivations for Gennesaret all of which show how beautiful it was.
(1) From kinnor, which means a harp, either because ‘its fruit is as sweet as the sound of a harp’ or because ‘the voice of its waves is pleasant as the voice of the harp’.
(2) From gan, a garden, and sar, a prince – hence ‘the prince of gardens’.
(3) From gan, a garden, and asher, riches – hence ‘the garden of riches’.
We are here confronted with a turning point in the career of Jesus. Last time we heard him preach he was in the synagogue; now he is at the lakeside. True, he will be back in the synagogue again; but the time is coming when the door of the synagogue will be shut to him and his church will be the lakeside and the open road, and his pulpit a boat. He would go anywhere where people would listen to him. ‘Our societies’, said John Wesley, ‘were formed from those who were wandering upon the dark mountains, that belonged to no Christian church; but were awakened by the preaching of the Methodists, who had pursued them through the wilderness of this world to the Highways and the Hedges – to the Markets and the Fairs – to the Hills and the Dales – who set up the Standard of the Cross in the Streets and Lanes of the Cities, in the Villages, in the Barns, and Farmers’ Kitchens, etc. – and all this done in such a way, and to such an extent, as never had been done before since the Apostolic age.’ ‘I love a commodious room,’ said Wesley, ‘a soft cushion and a handsome pulpit, but field preaching saves souls.’ When the synagogue was shut Jesus took to the open road.
There is in this story what we might call a list of the conditions of a miracle.
(1) There is the eye that sees. There is no need to think that Jesus created a shoal of fishes for the occasion. In the Sea of Galilee there were phenomenal shoals which covered the sea as if it was solid for as much as an acre. Most likely Jesus’ discerning eye saw just such a shoal and his keen sight made it look like a miracle. We need the eye that really sees. Many people saw steam raise the lid of a kettle; only James Watt went on to think of a steam engine. Many people saw an apple fall; only Isaac Newton went on to think out the law of gravity. The earth is full of miracles for the eye that sees.
(2) There is the spirit that will make an effort. If Jesus said it, tired as he was Peter was prepared to try again. For most people the disaster of life is that they give up just one effort too soon.
(3) There is the spirit which will attempt what seems hopeless. The night was past and that was the time for fishing. All the circumstances were unfavourable, but Peter said, ‘Let circumstances be what they may, if you say so, we will try again.’ Too often we wait because the time is not opportune. If we wait for a perfect set of circumstances, we will never begin at all. If we want a miracle, we must take Jesus at his word when he bids us attempt the impossible.
TOUCHING THE UNTOUCHABLE
Luke 5:12–15
While Jesus was in one of the towns – look you – a man who was a severe case of leprosy saw him. He fell before him and besought him, ‘Lord, if you are willing to do so you are able to cleanse me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘I am willing,’ he said. ‘Be cleansed.’ Immediately the leprosy left him. Jesus enjoined him to tell no one. ‘But,’ he said, ‘go and show yourself to the priest, and bring the offering for cleansing, as Moses’s law laid it down, to prove to them that you are cured.’ Talk about him spread all the more; and many crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their illnesses.
IN Palestine there were two kinds of leprosy. There was one which was rather like a very bad skin disease, and it was the less serious of the two. There was one in which the disease, starting from a small spot, ate away the flesh until the wretched sufferer was left with only the stump of a hand or a leg. It was literally a living death.
The regulations concerning leprosy are in Leviticus, chapters 13 and 14. The most terrible thing about it was the isolation it brought. Lepers were to cry ‘Unclean! unclean!’ wherever they went and were condemned to live alone in a dwelling ‘outside the camp’ (Leviticus 13:45–6), banished from society and exiled from home. The result was, and still is, that the psychological consequences of leprosy were as serious as the physical.
Dr A. B. MacDonald, in an article on the leper colony in Itu, of which he was in charge, wrote, ‘The leper is sick in mind as well as body. For some reason there is an attitude to leprosy different from the attitude to any other disfiguring disease. It is associated with shame and horror, and carries, in some mysterious way, a sense of guilt, although innocently acquired like most contagious troubles. Shunned and despised, frequently do lepers consider taking their own lives and some do.’
Lepers were hated by others until they came to hate themselves. The leper came to Jesus; he was unclean; and Jesus touched him.
(1) Jesus touched the untouchable. His hand went out to the man from whom everyone else would have shrunk away. Two things emerge. First, when we despise ourselves, when our hearts are filled with bitter shame, let us remember that, in spite of all, Christ’s hand is still stretched out. The writer Mark Rutherford wished to add a new beatitude: ‘Blessed are those who heal us of our self-despisings.’ That is what Jesus did and does. Second, it is of the very essence of Christianity to touch the untouchable, to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgivable. Jesus did – and so must we.
(2) Jesus sent the man to carry out the normal, prescribed routine for cleansing. The regulations are described in Leviticus 14. That is to say a miracle did not dispense with what medical science of the time could do. It did not absolve the man from carrying out the prescribed rules. We will never get miracles by neglecting the gifts and the wisdom God has given us. It is when human skill combines with God’s grace that wonder happens.
(3) Verse 15 tells us of the popularity Jesus enjoyed. But it was only because people wanted something out of him. Many desire the gifts of God but repudiate the demands of God – and, there can be nothing more dishonourable.
THE OPPOSITION INTENSIFIES
Luke 5:16–17
Jesus withdrew into the desert places and he continued in prayer. On a certain day he was teaching and, sitting listening, there were Pharisees and experts in the law who had come from every village in Galilee and from Judaea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was there to enable him to heal.
THERE are only two verses here; but as we read them we must pause, for this indeed is a milestone. The scribes and the Pharisees had arrived
