Miriam Thurlow Writes:
A life with Jesus is a life with the expectation of transformation.
Luke 5:1-11 is the calling and commissioning story of Simon Peter. Jesus was being followed by a crowd eager to hear His teaching and so He asked Simon and the other fishermen to use their boat so He could teach the crowd. But, even though they weren’t initially the hungry ones, it was the fishermen whose lives were transformed.
They had had a fruitless night of fishing and were weary, but when Jesus asked Simon to put out the nets one more time, Simon recognised something in Jesus and decided to do as He asked. And a miracle happened! The two fishing boats were overflowing with fish. Simon has a revelation of who Jesus truly is and falls before Him in repentance and sinner. He moves from calling Jesus master to recognising Him as Lord.
Even though Simon tells Jesus to go away because he is not worthy, Jesus draws close and says to Simon ‘from now on you will be catching people’. This phrase ‘from now on’ really struck me. It reminded me of the song from the Greatest Showman when the lead character reaches a crisis moment and makes the decision to live differently from now on. The lyric of the song is: ‘And let this promise in me start, like an anthem in my heart, from now on’.
There are echoes of Simon’s story in these words. He has a revelation of who Jesus is and responded in repentance. From this place Jesus calls and commissions him to join His kingdom work. There is a new anthem in Simon’s heart, it is the anthem God is singing over him, and therefore ‘from now on’ his life is transformed.
Coming to Jesus means choosing from now on the walk in the promises of God, to allow His anthem to be the anthem in our hearts. We all get things wrong, but ‘from now on’ means something has changed. No longer is the world centred around me or no longer is my identity dictated by a criteria the world decides. From now on my identity is found in Jesus. Simon went from a worthless fisherman in the world’s eyes, to a valued fisher of men in Jesus’ eyes.
Sometimes we get stuck or forget that transformation isn’t just a part of the beginning of our testimony. Life as a disciple is a lifelong journey of learning and transformation.
The fishermen left everything (including the huge catch of fish) behind to follow Jesus and become those who catch people for the Kingdom. Will we also lean in? Will we also allow the Holy Spirit to transform us? Because a life with Jesus is a life with the expectation of transformation.
Revd Miriam Thurlow, Curate CCBN