Luke 5: Jesus Sees Something Else in Your Empty Boat

Introduction

Xenia James is preaching for the first time at St Aldates in Oxford. The person introducing her reminds the congregation that the church loves to train up new preachers, and invites everyone to encourage her. She was already there on Friday for the Night Life evening, and she opens with a conviction: God is not an imaginary character, "he is a real person, a real presence," and God wants to speak this morning.

Her text is Luke 5: Jesus by the Lake of Gennesaret, the miraculous catch of fish and the calling of Simon. She sees three pictures in it: the empty boat, the empty net and the empty man. Each time, where Simon sees only failure, Jesus sees something else.

Outline of the Message

1. A Memory You'd Rather Forget

Xenia James has been very sociable since childhood. In primary school, she always looked for the child sitting alone and brought them into the group. That is how she met a friend who barely spoke English and knew no one: they have been friends since they were eight and now live ten minutes apart.
When she started secondary school, she formed a small group of friends with three other girls. Nine weeks later, the group turned against her: two of the three bullied her for a whole year. She arrived at school with intense anxiety, not knowing where she belonged.
What she believed was her gift, helping others find their place, became the area where she had failed. "I felt like a failure. I felt that something was wrong with me." She was afraid of letting people get close.
She kept a small journal where she wrote every day. Its pages became very dark. As a teenager, when she saw it in her room, it felt like looking at herself.
Maybe you too have an object at home, or a photo on your phone, that reminds you of a time you would like to forget. For her, it was a book. For Simon, it may have been the boat he had fished from.

2. The Empty Boat

In verse 2, Jesus sees two boats at the water's edge, left by fishermen who are washing their nets. They had worked all night. Fishing was their trade, their livelihood.
They had planned everything: going out at night so the boat would be hidden by the dark and the fish would not scatter, choosing where to place the boat, preparing the nets. With all that preparation, they caught nothing.
"Master, we worked all night and caught nothing." Looking at his empty boat that morning, Simon may have told himself: you work hard, but you're not good enough; you'll never make it; you'll never be the best.
Where are the empty boats in your life? Maybe a job, a relationship, a degree, your finances, or a dream that has not come true yet.
Just as Jesus stepped into that boat to speak to the crowd, he can turn your pain into a pulpit where he shows his power, and your mess into a message of hope.
But he does not force himself in. He asked Simon to put out into deep water. Revelation 3:20 pictures him at the door, knocking: he invites us to let him in.
If you feel you have fished all night, putting your heart, soul and strength into it with nothing to show for it, Jesus tells you that his grace is sufficient for you and that his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

3. The Empty Net: "At Your Word"

Simon answers: "at your word I will let down the net." Xenia James believes Simon had seen something in Jesus, and that it is not found in Luke 5, but in Luke 4.
In Luke 4, Jesus begins his public ministry after his baptism: he teaches in the synagogues, then heals every disease and every sickness. No one is a hopeless case. Among the first people healed is Simon's mother-in-law, who had a high fever: Jesus rebuked the fever, it left her, and she got up at once to serve them (Luke 4:38-39).
Simon could have been tempted to let that experience limit the news: "Jesus, you heal fevers, but what do you know about fishing?" We do the same: I know you can touch my friends, but my family? My home, but my health? My finances, but my future?
"Don't let your experiences smother your faith, let them stir it up." What you have seen God do in your life or in the lives of others should push you to believe he can do more.
Often we shout to God about how big our problems are. Sometimes we need to tell our problems how great the God we serve is.
Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35): the only place where our soul is satisfied. He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25): through the cross he defeated death, hell and the grave, and we no longer have to live in fear. He is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6).
If we believe he is who he says he is, what makes us think any part of our life is outside his authority? "He knows about fishing." He can fill your empty nets if you trust him and cast them into deep water.

4. The Empty Man

Faced with the catch, Simon Peter falls at Jesus' knees: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord." James and John, the sons of Zebedee, his partners, are also seized with awe.
In Luke 4, Jesus had come to Simon's house, but for his mother-in-law. That morning, he steps into Simon's boat, but to speak to the crowd. Simon may not have realized that, all along, Jesus was coming to meet him.
She does not know where you are this morning. You may feel unworthy of Jesus coming near, unworthy of receiving a miracle. You look at your colleagues, your family, your friends and think: these things happen to other people, not to me.
"There is a miracle for you." Jesus does not come only for the crowds, he comes for each person and invites you into a relationship with him.
It does not depend on your efforts, but on what he has already done for you. Ephesians 1:4-7: God chose us in him before the foundation of the world and predestined us to be adopted as his children through Jesus Christ. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
God came to earth in a human body, fully man and fully God. He lived without sin to carry the weight of your past, present and future sins, and he took on himself the punishment that was ours.
The world keeps telling us we have to do something to become somebody. Jesus says you have nothing to prove, because you are already loved: seen, heard, known and loved by God. What others think of you, or the way they treat you, does not change God's heart toward you.
"There is a miracle for me," she goes on: because Jesus wants to meet me in a relationship, because he loves me, because he died and rose again for me, because he cares about the details of my everyday life.

5. Fishers of Men

This miracle was not only for Simon. The nets fill so full that he calls his partners, and both boats nearly sink. It was for those men, and it is for us today.
In verse 10, Jesus says: "Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive."
In those days, fishermen were not the most educated. The best you could do with your life was to study the Scriptures and learn from a teacher. Those who did not seem bright enough had to settle for what was left.
Xenia James wonders whether, when they were younger, these men really dreamed of becoming fishermen, or whether they had told themselves: I am the product of my circumstances, I will settle for what is in front of me.
Jesus saw them differently. Just as he saw something else in the empty boat and the empty nets, he says to these empty men: you are not only fishers of fish, you are fishers of men, meant for something greater.
In the same way, Jesus sees you in a completely different light.

6. Taking a Step Toward Him

Jesus stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20). He does not force his way into our lives or our hearts. He invites us to take a step toward him.
He invites us to let him step into the boat, to cast our nets into deep water and to haul them in again.
He invites us to let him use us to make a difference in the lives of those around us.
As he comes near to you, will you be bold enough and humble enough to accept his invitation to a relationship and come close to him?
She closes by praying for those who feel like an empty boat, whose nets are empty or who feel they have come to the end of the road: that Jesus would meet them and help them receive the free gift of his grace and his invitation to friendship.

Key Takeaways

Where you see an empty boat, a failure or a stalled dream, Jesus can turn your pain into a pulpit and your mess into a message of hope.
What God has already done in your life should feed your faith, not limit it. Tell your problems how great your God is.
No part of your life is outside Jesus' authority: he knows about fishing, and he can fill your empty nets.
You have nothing to prove to be loved. The miracle rests on what Jesus has already done for you, not on your efforts.
Jesus sees more in you than your circumstances. Like Simon, he calls you to become a fisher of men.

Personal Application

What is the "empty boat" in your life right now: a job, a relationship, a degree, your finances, a dream?
In what area are you telling Jesus, "I know you can act there, but not here"?
What past experience with God can you call to mind this week to stir up your faith instead of holding it back?
Do you sometimes feel unworthy of a miracle happening to you? What changes for you when you know you are already seen, known and loved by God?
What concrete step can you take toward Jesus, and with whom could he use you to make a difference?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What do the empty boat, the empty net and the empty man stand for in Luke 5?

For Xenia James, the empty boat stands for our efforts that came to nothing, the empty net for our needs that only Jesus can fill, and the empty man for the feeling of being unworthy. In all three cases, Jesus sees something else and transforms what was empty.

Why did Simon let down the net "at your word"?

According to the preacher, Simon had already seen Jesus at work: in Luke 4, Jesus had healed his mother-in-law of her fever. That experience fed his trust. She urges us to let what God has already done stir up our faith instead of limiting it.

What does Jesus mean by "from now on you will be catching people alive"?

These fishermen were not the ones chosen to study the Scriptures under a teacher. Jesus sees them differently: they are meant for something greater. The miracle was not only for them, it is for us too, called to make a difference in other people's lives.