Decisive Encounters

The Teacher has finally finished speaking with the people, and proceeds with resolve along the shore. Andrew and his friends accompany Him. In the glorious joy of the morning, His white tunic flutters in the wind, like the sail of a ship without mooring.

With a wandering gaze, as if scanning the horizon, the Teacher abruptly stops, and advances toward Simon. The latter, embarrassed about having left his work to catch a glimpse of the visitor, lowers his head and picks up the net in an astonished manner, acting like trying to repair it.

A strange emotion overwhelms him to the point of not feeling completely in control of his actions. He can’t understand why the arrival of the Teacher has managed to confound him to this point. From the first time he saw Jesus, his image does not stop recurring in his dreams, and each one of His phrases penetrates his heart and makes it beat. As His words seem to have a life of their own6 and to fuel his dreams.

Determined, the Teacher approaches the fisherman.

“There you have your boat, Peter (The Teacher insists on calling him by that name). I appreciate your having lent it to me.”

And immediately afterward, he seeks to make eye contact and tells him with a smile, involving his partners in the plan:

“I see that fishing turned out bad. Why don’t you gather the nets and go back out to deep sea? Try and cast them again, but from the right side.”7

In other circumstances, Simon would have said that trying to fish at such an odd hour was madness, but he refrains this time, and replies, shyly:

“Teacher, after toiling all night we have not caught anything. But if you say so, I will cast the net in your name.”

Simon warily looks around, hoping that none of his fellow fishermen see him, and he feels somewhat ridiculous going back to fish in broad daylight. But his brother and his friends enthusiastically lead the way. Perhaps the unconscious desire to escape the magnetism of the Nazarene compels him to rig out the boat and start rowing against all logic.

As he sets out from the shore, Simon can’t help to turn around and, out of the corner of his eye, look at the strange Teacher, who is still standing on the sand, directing the operation, all the while displaying His splendid white teeth, as if he could see beyond what could be seen in plain view.

Yes, there, to the right.

At the motion of the Nazarene, the fishermen cast the recently repaired nets, as always, like so many times that evening. But upon raising them . . . Simon cannot believe it! They are astir from an incredible catch! He does not understand anything that is happening. This is more than a miracle.

The silvery fish leap splashing him in the face, sparkling under the rays of the sun. He has never seen a larger catch! Finally, they will be able to buy new nets, and if the locals arrive promptly to lend a hand, and they together can drag the fish to the beach without the net getting torn again—he might even be able to buy a new boat!

Following the indications of the mysterious Teacher, Simon thinks that his lifelong dream is becoming reality. This catch exceeds the best he could have ever imagined. His friends arrive with two more barges to assist him, and the three boats filled with fish are in danger of sinking under the weight of their precious cargo. Perhaps, despite everything, the life of a fisherman is not so unrewarding after all.

The return to the coast is a triumphant entrance, a stellar moment in the humdrum of his existence. Panting with excitement, Simon exults amid his partners’ cries of joy. The jubilation is such that a crowd of curious, local women, intrigued fishermen and lightly dressed small children show up to greet the boats, carrying one basket after another that are slowly filled with the jumpy fish.

Radiant and agitated, Simon struggles from one spot to another enjoying that hour of glory, that sudden wealth, which has turned him into a hero.

When the nets, which have miraculously resisted the pull of so much weight, become empty at last, and the baskets have disappeared to the market over the women’s heads and on the vigorous arms of the men, Simon turns toward the Teacher, who remains there, as if waiting for him. Barefoot on the beach, He entertains himself by returning several fish to the water that were rejected by the fishermen due to their small sizes, and restlessly leap as they sparkle over the pebbles.

Simon goes deeper into the lake to tidy himself up a little, relishing the pleasure of feeling the coolness of the water rising in soothing waves on his tired body, soiled with algae, sweat and sand.

Upon emerging with a cleaner body, his glance is caught by the cheerful and piercing eyes of the Teacher, who is still waiting for him. Then, he hears him express an unexpected invitation:

“If you follow me, Peter, one day you will fish for men.”

Simon hesitates for an instant in the face of the unusual call. It is not that he doesn’t trust the Nazarene; rather it gives him vertigo to realize that he is gambling his future in his decision, right there, at that very moment. He can choose to continue fishing, maybe even with a new boat. Or decide to follow the Teacher, who is earnestly calling him, and who promises to teach him—as well as his brother Andrew, and his friends John and Jacob—to “fish for men.”

What else in the world would he truly want the most?

This miraculous catch makes at least one thing clear: a single moment with Jesus is worth more than an entire life without Him.

Confused, Simon falls to his knees before the Teacher and tells him:

“No, rabbi, I am not worthy of being your disciple. Depart from me, as I am more a sinner than a fisherman.”

The Teacher stretches out His hand toward the man, who gently trembles upon the warm contact and, with an energetic embrace, pulls Him toward himself like embracing a friend.

Simon—or was he already Peter—maintains the steady gaze of someone who reads the heart and who sees in His eyes something that allows him to fulfill his greatest hopes; something capable of finally giving his life meaning, direction and purpose. He senses that fishing for men involves collaborating in the enormous mission that the Nazarene has at hand, of trying to save the world.

The strange words of the Teacher, also directed at His fishermen friends, resonate in full strength and mystery in the astonished ears of the new disciple:

Follow Me and I will make you fishermen of men.

Simon, who is now Peter, well understands what Jesus asks of him:

Leave your nets and boat here with your family. They will need them. I promise to embark you on another type of ship, to show you how to use other nets and to look for another catch: and certainly, in another sea; without seashores.

Fisherman of men. If that’s what it is to be like Jesus, it is what Peter desires. He does not understand the exact meaning of those words, but given whom they come from, he accepts them with bewilderment.

On the golden sand of the beach, the Teacher’s footprints are being etched, like a luminous wake that invites him to follow them. On it, the footprints gradually become indistinct, between unsteady and vigorous, belonging to whom no longer wants to continue being a mere fisherman of fish.

The afternoon sun still shines brightly over the lake.

Being left in the distance are the fisherman’s small village, his house, his boat and his nets. There too remains, busy in the market of the port, his family enjoying the amazing catch. Everything is staying behind, while Peter sees a radiant future open up before him, like the sun over the lake that almost blinds him.

His people do not understand why he leaves it all now. They do not know that what awaits him is worth much more than what he leaves behind. They do not yet see the abysmal difference that exists between the uncertain satisfaction of catching fish and the supreme joy of leading human beings to the kingdom of God.

1 . Gabriel Miro describes in this way the Lake of Gennesaret from Capernaum: “further away, the red ridges of Golan had to their left the hoary brows of Hermon, and to their right, the beautiful plain and Mount Tabor, with the mountain’s bare dome looking like a crown to the Jewish fatherland.” (Figures of the Passion, Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 1973, 9th edition, p. 17)

2 . Matthew 4:18-22; cf. Mark 1:16-20.

3 . Ellen G. White evokes this scene saying about Peter that “as he watched by the empty nets, the future seemed dark.” (The Desire of Ages, p. 151)

4 . The Aramaic Kepa or Cephas means ‘rock,’ ‘boulder’, in Greek petros, term that has evolved into Spanish until producing the name of Peter.

5 . John 1:42.

6 . When Jesus asks his disciples if they wish to abandon him to continue with their lives from before, Peter will answer: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).

7 . Passage inspired by Luke 5:1-11.

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