Go Deeper, Simon
In the Mar 21 One Year Bible reading in Numbers 32, the tribes of Reuben and Gad seek to remain in the green, grassy land on the east side of the Jordan, with their vast herds of livestock and large families. They offer to help their fellow Israelites cross the Jordan and fight for the promise land, but they want to build towns and set their families up in this fertile area first. From their experience, this is optimal: their families and herds are safe and fed. The tribes of Reuben and Gad want to put their worldly possessions in safe keeping before going into this unknown land that God promised and taking it for Israel.
Moses says, ok, but in Numbers 33, recounts how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, listing every place they camped, and how they obeyed and followed God. He illustrates how God’s led and provided for them up to this point, and He has a plan for them to enter into the land He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Then in the New Testament reading in Luke 5, after Jesus preaches to people from Simon’s empty boat on the Sea of Galilee, He tells Simon to “go where it’s deeper” and cast his nets again. Simon’s not keen on following the order; after fishing all night, he’s leery to put his clean nets back into the salty sea for what his experience tells him is a waste of time.
Reuben and Gad are pleased with their experience East of the Jordan; their families and livestock are safe. Why risk all their wealth and comfort by crossing into what was unknown? Simon, on the other hand, is standing in an empty fishing boat; he’s dejected and saw little point in obeying, but because he has nothing to lose except time cleaning his nets again, he obeys, and his nets overflow with fish.
Jesus calls us to go deeper in faith, to step out into the Jordan and risk losing everything to follow Him. He sometimes asks the empty and broken to cast their clean net into seemingly spent waters, so He can fill them in a way we never could ourselves.
How often are we the people of Reuben and Gad, content with a “Christmas and Easter church life” or a “when I need it” Christianity? When things are comfortable, we don’t seek God or read the Bible or pray anything beyond a rushed “thanks, God,” or “gimme ….” I’ve been there many years of my life. Like Michelangelo’s Adam on the ceiling of the Sistene Chapel, God is reaching out to us, and we, content with our lives, barely lift a finger toward Him in response. Then something terrible happens and we rush back, empty, desperate, knowing that what we need is not something we ourselves can achieve by simply attending church or praying rote prayers - it’s a total surrender of our hearts to Him, a saying “yes, Lord,” and obeying where He leads, trusting that He is the Way. It’s that surrender that makes us eager to read Scripture, be in fellowship and seek Him in fervent prayer.
Simon, seeing the boatload of fish, falls on his knees in surrender, knowing he’s unworthy of what God just provided him. Although he’d spent his entire life yearning for a catch like this (and the worldly comfort it would provide), Simon, along with James and John, leave it all behind on the shore to follow Jesus, to "go deeper" and become “fishers of men.”