What Is Jesus Trying To Tell You?

What is Jesus trying to tell you that you can't hear because you're too distracted? That's a big question. I was forced to reckon with it after reading a very familiar story from Luke 5.

In Luke 5:1–11, we read about Jesus calling Peter and his brother Andrew and another set of brothers, James and John, to become His disciples. The passage starts with Jesus' back to the Sea of Galilee preaching to a large crowd. The crowd was enthralled. But off to the side was a group of fishermen mending their nets (we discover this is Peter, Andrew, James, and John). They had been fishing all night unsuccessfully and were packing up to go home. They were tired. And apparently, they weren't paying any attention to Jesus' sermon.

It wasn't that Peter and Andrew didn't know who Jesus was. In John 1:35–42, Andrew asks Jesus where He was staying. Andrew spent the night with Jesus and the next day went to Peter and said, "Hey, we've met the Messiah. Come meet him." Peter went to meet Jesus, but that's where that story ends. But there's more. Jesus had been in Capernaum, Peter's hometown, healing the sick and teaching God's Word. He was beginning to cause a stir. There's no way Peter didn't hear the buzz. But for whatever reason, Peter had not yet responded to Jesus' pursuit of him.

Luke 5:3 is a beautiful moment in Scripture:

"Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, [Jesus] asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat."

Don't miss what Jesus did here. Jesus didn't ask Peter; He just got in it. Jesus broke through Peter's distractedness and made him take notice. But Jesus wasn't done.

At some point, Jesus finished His sermon and told Peter to row further into the deep water and let down their nets for a catch. This was too much for Peter. Here he was, about to finally get to rest after a night of work, and Jesus was asking him, a professional fisherman, to row back out and fish some more after they had already packed up.

Peter's response showed his frustration: "And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5). If we were to read this in the original Greek, we'd recognize a tone similar to the one we might encounter if a teenage child were asked to put up their phone while at the table; they'd comply, but not very willingly. Peter was exhausted. He knew something about Jesus (after all, he agreed to row out to the deep), but he had yet to buy in. And so, he begrudgingly did what Jesus asked with no real expectation that anything would change.

Of course, we know the way the story goes. The brothers hauled in a catch of fish so large that the boats almost sank. Jesus had used a miracle to finally get Peter's attention. Peter confessed Jesus as Lord and realized his sinful posture in the face of Jesus' identity (Luke 5:8). Jesus then commanded Peter and the others to leave everything and follow Him, and they did.

Before we judge Peter, don't we sometimes act just like him?

Jesus had been setting the region afire with His teaching and healing. What were Peter and his friends doing while Jesus was preaching to the crowds? Working. Why were they working with Jesus in his midst? Because, too often, that's what we do. We manage our lives. We have our responsibilities. We have family, work, kids' sports, hobbies, etc. Like Peter, we are surrounded by God and His goodness, yet many of us go through our lives with our heads down while Jesus relentlessly pursues us.

What did it take for Jesus to get Peter's attention? He stepped into his space. He blurred the lines between the "God stuff" (the Gospel He was preaching) and his everyday life. And it changed everything for Peter.

What is Jesus trying to tell you that you can't hear because you're too distracted? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to find out?

This week, let Peter motivate you to make space in your life to hear what Jesus has to say. God has a plan for this world, and that plan has space for every one of us to plug in. It's what God wants from us and for us. But before God can use us, we must know where He wants us. And to do that, we have to be listening.

This article originally appeared in Volume 21 of my free newsletter, Good For You.

To subscribe, CLICK HERE.

Andy BlanksComment