FISHERMAN’S TALE – pt.1

Mk.1:17,18 – Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him.

My name is Simon Peter and this is my last day on this side of eternity before I see Jesus again, so I think I will tell the things I saw and heard this one last time. It started unexpectedly one morning after a long night of fruitless fishing. This was highly unusual, even on the worst days I would catch something, but not that night. The bills had been piling up for quite awhile and that night had been my last shot of making up the debt until things started crashing down all around me. That frustrating morning on the beach was the first time I had met Jesus up close. He startled me when He asked to use my boat to teach from. He shocked me afterwards when He said “launch out into the deep and let your nets out for a catch”. Apparently this carpenter knew nothing about fishing but I reluctantly honored His word; I guess I listened because of the rumors that had been associated with Jesus. Before I knew it, the nets were filled passed their capacity, nothing like this had ever happened on this lake. The nets were so full they began to rip and the boat began to sink. Without the help of the other fishing boats nearby I would have surely gone down. That’s when it hit me, this Jesus of Nazareth could be the One we had been waiting for. That’s when He spoke to me again, “Follow Me and I will make you a fisher of men”. Those words launched me into a three year adventure with this traveling preacher.
That miracle fish story was just the beginning. Soon there would be water turned into wine, demons cast out, lepers cleansed, and one day a paralytic was healed in my house. Jesus had been staying at my house for several days and He was teaching God’s word to my neighbors. One day the crowd was so massive that no one else could get inside. That’s when it all started, there was pounding and scratching on my roof, and then a big hole with a paralyzed man being let down by ropes right in front of Jesus. The Lord told this man his sins were forgiven and then it happened, “Pick up your pallet and go home”. That’s exactly what the paralyzed man did; he walked right through the crowd. There was no denying it now, Jesus was the Messiah, miracles were in the air. My life could never be the same.