Luke 5: 1-7

Finding your fish

The Giant Trevally or Ulua as it is known in Hawaii is widely sought after by fishermen and women in the warm reaches of the world.  For Hawaiian fishermen it is quite a catch to be proud off. Not too long ago on a lava field leading from a quiet beach on the Big Island, a healthy young man with a spring in his step bounded past us. He had a small plastic crate on his back. On top of the crate (for it could not fit in it) was what turned out was a male Giant Trevally, which was as wide as the young man’s shoulders.  The Hawaiians likened the fish to a great warrior and for that reason women were prohibited from consuming it. Friends, the powerful young man had struggled down the fish and took it home as a trophy.  He had found his fish.

In the animated movie finding Nemo, family and friends, including his forgetful friend Dory go in search of a little fish that has wound up in a cooler in Sydney, Australia.  At the end they are reunited. They find their fish.  Now there is a sequel opening in theaters called finding Dory. It seems the amnesia of the little friend has worsened and now her friends have to find her. The journey takes them to the Monterey bay Aquarium.  I assume they will find their fish.

Friends, the disciples are tired from fishing. Jesus tells them to go out one more time.  Simon agrees reluctantly. He is discouraged and tired from a night of fishing.  Rieko in her dance already showed us the frustration of fishing for something you desperately want when you keep catching everything you don’t want. Simon knows this lake and this teacher, not an expert, tells him to go again.   It was a good thing that he did, because he does not only find his fish, he finds all the fishes he could possibly want for quite a while. Nets are breaking. Help is needed from the other boats.

Friends, we are not all fishing men and women.  Most of us would not know what we were looking at in a bait and tackle shop. But then we understand that this passage is not a clear water fishing manual. It is about something else.  We get it.  In the movie a Fish called Wanda (not for kids), the plot isn’t about a fish at all. There is a woman called Wanda in it and there is a fish called Wanda in an aquarium. Keys to a treasure have been hidden in the aquarium.  The hapless criminal Ken loves Wanda the fish and when an evil criminal called Otto eats all the fish in then aquarium and threatens to eat Wanda, Ken gives a way the secret to the diamonds. So in the movie the Fish only points to other things.  It is a symbol, but in a way it is also a distraction or a diversion.  The movie is a comedy about white collar crime and the strange characters that get caught up with it.

Friends, what is the lesson of all this?  If this story is not really about fish, then is it a distraction or a diversion perhaps? We assume Jesus isn’t going to be catching their fish for them all the time, so what’s going on? Late in the Gospels he speaks of making his followers “fishers of people.” In another passage when he appears to the disciples he asks for a fish. Then there is the account of the loaves and fishes being multiplied.  But Jesus does not seem to be in the habit of going fishing.

I think there are three possible lessons here. The first is persistence. Friends, you and I all face discouragement of some kind.  There is something that we keep trying to achieve, but we fail to get there.  And this sense of futility and despair starts taking over.  If we let it, it can even change the narrative we have for our lives: from success to failure.  Jesus is fast forwarding that narrative and showing them what can happen in your life when you keep at it, when you don’t let up.  There is value in tenacity.

The second possible lesson is timing.  Fish do not do the same thing at every time of day, like all of us mammals. We have routines. We do certain things in the morning and certain things at night.  Timing may have been an issue here, although you would think fishermen know their fish quite well.  John Cleese, one of the main characters in a Fish called Wanda made a video on creativity and in it he said that if you are trying to be creative, wait until the last possible moment to produce, because then the product will be the best. Otherwise it is like picking an unripe fruit.

The third lesson is not distraction, but reframing.  It goes for this passage. We always think the point of this passage is: Wow, Jesus can catch a lot of fish. Maybe he’s really saying: ok, catching fish is easy: here you go, but what I am really going to ask you to do is hard, so hard by the way that you’re going to have to be persistent.  So do not let up.  It isn’t about the fish. Look at life a different way.  Throw your net somewhere else.  Find a new perspective.

Friends, as we face discouragement, there are lessons here: either persistence, or timing or changing perspective or perhaps all of the above. Thanks be to God.