We should be in the tail-end of the NCAA Basketball Tournament right now.
Like any good red-blooded American, I fill out a Tournament bracket every year and follow the games closely. Before this year I was on a ten-year streak of getting at least one game prediction right.
I was in the band growing up.
Basketball is such an exhilarating sport. Watching a team that has fallen behind go on a run to cut the lead from ten to five to two and then, with one magical three-pointer, to suddenly take the lead; it’s a thrill. And rarely does a three point shot bounce off the backboard or roll around the rim. Usually they slice right through the net echoing that great and unique *thoosh* sound effect throughout the arena. In such cases, when you hit nothing but net (and by “you” of course I mean the team you’re cheering for I was in the band let’s move on) there’s an elation that comes over you equal to how you feel when you actually win the game (hypothetically speaking: I’m an Arkansas fan).
There was an occasion, however, where the last thing a team wanted was “nothing but net.”
And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
(Luke 5:1-5)
When your job is fisherman, and your craft is catching by net, you’re not exactly thrilled at seeing nothing but net. Such was the case with Simon and co. who had been fishing all night with nothing to show for it but wounded pride. When along comes the Man Who has made a kind of eternal habit out of solving problems. And He tells them to do something totally unheard of for a fisherman. “Go out to the deep water and let down the net.” What’s the big deal? Well every fisherman of the area knows you don’t fish in the deep water during the day, you go to the shallower waters. Peter had been fishing all night in the deep (as you’re “supposed” to) but had found nothing. Now Jesus wants him to go back? At an even worse time to fish? That’s crazy! And it is!
If we apply human reasoning to God’s commands, some of them are going to come back as nuts to us. But if we do it…
And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
(Luke 5:6)
…We get what we’re looking for.
What are you looking for? A home in Heaven? Eternal bliss? Salvation from sin? Jesus has the answer. Will you do what He commands…even if the command seems crazy to your human reasoning? If you do you’ll find what you need.
If you don’t it’ll be nothing (not even a net) for all eternity.