Boat

Advent, 2025, Day 11

So, Jesus comes in the most miraculous and unlikeliest of ways. He grows up, and those first stories fade. New stories replace them: stories of a powerful teacher who heals and casts out demons. Word about him spreads. Excitement grows.

But you, you keep your head down. You’re just trying to survive. You fish, you pay your taxes, you live your simple life. Until one morning, after a long night of fruitless work, you are cleaning up, and Jesus just gets into your boat.

Not now, you think. You just want to go home, but there’s this man in your boat, and crowds of people pressing in, and you cannot say no. He pushes out and teaches the people. What does he say, I wonder? How is your heart stirred by his words? Or are you even listening?

Then he asks you to go back out onto the water and throw out your nets. The nets you just finally finished cleaning. Now you really just want to go home and go to sleep. But there are the crowds, and there’s Jesus, this man everyone has been talking about, just looking at you.

“Master, we fished all night and caught nothing,” you say, letting the implications linger. I am a fisherman. I know how to fish. And the fish are not biting. And I am tired. He just keeps looking at you. Do you sigh audibly? “But at your word, I will let down the nets.”

At your word.

You are about to find out, Peter, that his word makes all the difference.

At his word the earth was born. At his word life sprang into being. At his word the stars began to sing.

When the one who is the Word comes and speaks a word to you, your life changes. You let down your empty nets and watch in astonishment as they stretch to breaking. You cannot even pull in the abundance of the gift. You look up at the man who spoke the word and find him laughing in joy. I mean, Jesus knows how to have fun.

When Jesus comes to get into your boat, he upends your life completely. He changes your direction, gives you a new calling. Even a new name. But he also takes your fruitless past, your empty expectations, and fills them completely. It’s terrifying. And fun. And he reminds you, “Don’t be afraid.”

From now on you will be catching men. From now on you will work in partnership with the one whose word is power. Hope. Truth. Life. On your own you will always pull in emptiness. But he changes everything.

At his word, Peter, you will walk on water. At his word you will heal the sick. At his word you will speak before thousands, will lead his church. You will also doubt him. You will fail. You will deny him, and you will be devastated. But at his word, you will be forgiven. You will be transformed.

Jesus doesn’t come to make you comfortable. When he gets into your boat, watch out. Life’s about to get crazy. And if you listen to his word, if you throw out your nets, you’ll see miracles.