Fishing For New Life : hope in the abysmal hollows
It is time to get out of our comfortable ruts, break away from our fruitless routines, forget what we think we know and take the risk of wading into the unknown deep waters… when all I can see is a deep, dark watery abyss, I must choose to trust in the possibility of new and abundant life, and go fishing.
What will it take for you to stop whatever you are doing and try something new? Would it have to be one really spectacular grand prize winning day? Ten of those awesome days stacked in a row? Or, would it take the most dreaded and terrible thing you can imagine happening?
The way we humans are hard-wired is really interesting. For most of us most of the time, when life is sort of percolating along we tend to go along with it. Maybe not exactly burying our heads in the sand, but, keeping our heads down, sticking to our status quo routines, not wanting to make a fuss, until something hugely dramatic happens. Regardless of whether we experience the drama as fantastic or horrific, when we are stunned, we tend to stop what ever we are doing and ask ourselves, “What’s happening here?” And, sometimes we even turn toward God. “Oh God, what is happening? Where are you in this?”
This is what happens to Simon Peter at Lake Genneserat. (See Luke 5.1–11 below) Following a long and fruitless day of fishing, Peter and his exhausted fisher friends are mending their nets, getting ready to fish again tomorrow, preparing to go home empty handed tonight. But everything changes when Peter chooses to follow Jesus’ instruction.
Although he is skeptical, Peter takes the risk and follows Jesus direction to row to the ‘deep water’ and let down his fishing nets. Taking the risk to trust Jesus, Peter rows out to the deep waters, lets down his nets into water he has fished all day long to no avail. And here we find the key, the pivot point. When Peter decides to put his faith in Jesus rather than what he thinks he knows (there are no fish to be caught in these waters) he is astonished by the abundant life made known to him when he pulls up “so many fish that his nets were beginning to break.”
I believe this is precisely what it always takes to follow Jesus. We have to get out of our comfortable ruts, break away from our fruitless routines, forget what we think we know (there are no fish in this lake, this situation is hopeless) and take the risk of wading into the unknown deep waters.
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, theologian, teacher and spiritual leader well known for his Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been teaching this for years. Rohr insists there are two universal paths that help people break out of our comfortable ruts and ego defenses in order to draw closer to God, and in so doing, closer to one another. The path of great love and the path of great suffering.
Experiencing either great love or great suffering, we have the opportunity to go deeper; deeper into ourselves asking, “What does it mean to be human? to experience the depths of love or suffering?” and, deeper into our faith asking, “What does it mean to be in intimate relationship with God? to experience God with us in great love or great suffering?” The fact of the matter is this. Whether we start our journey following God because we have the inexplicable experience of great love or because we are enduring unspeakable suffering, eventually we all will experience suffering because, where there is great love there is always also suffering. Which, I believe, is why we have a cross rather than a heart as the central symbol of our faith.
Well, that certainly does not sound like good news.
Here is the thing. The cross, the suffering, is not the end. That is why in the Episcopal tradition the image of the cross does not have Jesus’ dead body nailed to it. The empty cross represents the mystery of resurrection life. There is always new and abundant life that rises from the depths. This abundant life is just waiting for us to fish it out of our deep waters.
When we choose to take the risk, step out of our comfortable ruts and respond to God’s call to go to where we do not know answering, “Here am I; send me!” things we could never even begin to imagine become possible. Hope sparks a flame in the midst of our despair, courage and confidence overrule our fear, an abundance of new possibilities replace our skepticism.
Think about it. This is what happened to the disciples who experienced the Spirit of God with them after Jesus’ brutal execution. This sparked hope in the midst of their despair, gave them confidence and courage to go out and proclaim, “Brutality, cruelty, even death does not have the last word.” There is always the possibility of new and abundant life.
So what does this mean for our current cultural-political situation? For me it means, I must stop fishing in the same ‘ol fishing hole. I must get out of my comfortable rut, pause and wait for God’s spark of hope to penetrate my despair, put my confidence in God with me, even when it feels hopeless continue to fish for new and renewed life and, when all I can see is a deep, dark watery abyss, choose to trust in the possibility of new and abundant life. Go fishing!
Thank you for reading these words, created by grace and the grit of a real human being. Debra Asis
Luke 5:1–11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
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The assignment that brings me to the writing of these words is to unapologetically tell the story of how God nudges, cajoles, drop kicks and masters me to be the real human being that I am … becoming … following God’s Jeweled Breadcrumbs. My daily writing challenge for 2025 is to share the Breadcrumbs with you.
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