JESUS, The Chief Fisherman
Luke “ 5:1 Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 5:2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 5:3 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. “
Once upon a Time Jonah the prophet heard the voice of the Lord, that Jonah get up, don't be lazy, because you have to go to the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, called Niniveh, quite far for Jerusalem, it is a long journey on camel back, and you have to tell them that the Judgment Day of the Lord is nearly coming upon you, surely it is coming, it is nearer, than the Asteroid approaching the Earth in the year of 2032, with 2 percent probability of hitting the Earth.
Oh Lord, said Jonah, I cannot go to Niniveh, they will surely kill me, assuming me as a spy or at least as a hostile foreign agent.
Don't be afraid of them because I will be with you said the Lord, I will guide you, I will strengthen you, I will put my spirit in you, and you will be my messenger and my ambassador, and they shall not touch you. However Jonah was afraid, so he got on a ship sailing in the opposite direction on the Mediterranean Sea. His action angered the Lord and the angered Lord made the sea go mad, attacking the ship with waves, able to sink the ship.
In the middle of the deadly storm the captain of the ship summoned the passengers, saying, that this storm is obviously supernatural, this is not the season of the tempests, so the gods are angry with someone, and it is supposed to be one of you. So who is it?.
Jonah confessed that he had a quarrel with the god of Israel and he offered the Greek captain and the crew and the passengers that they should overthrow him into the sea. They were reluctant to do that, but Jonah said that this issue is between him and the god of Israel and anyways is in God's hand on board and in the water as well so just throw him over the fence or under the bus. So they did. So what did Jonah do in the water then? He prayed to God to rescue him.
You are an odd fellow, Jonah, God said to him, you did not want to go to Niniveh because you were afraid of the Assyrians that they would kill you and now you were risking death in order to save the ship and the passengers.
Oh Lord, Jonah said, in the water I am safe because I know you and you know me, but we both know the people of Niniveh, how wicked they are. It's heard that the Egyptians build the pyramids from stones, the Assyrians built their own pyramids from human sculls. Assyria is like the devil built an Empire for himself on Earth.
Exactly Jonah, the Lord agreed, that this is the very reason I am sending you to Assyria to tell them that God had enough of them, and the judgment day is coming near.
Oh Lord, said Jonah, meanwhile sending me, can you also rescue me, because I'm quite tired of swimming. And the Lord sent him a big Fish which swallowed Jonah for Good.
At first Jonah misjudged the fish for hell, but it wasn't hell it was the ark for him, sent to him for rescue. Sometimes we also misjudge the rescue ships of God in the middle of a storm, and we think God doesn't do anything to rescue us, but the rescue offer is always there.
Jonah's meditation in the darkness of the fish belly led to repentance and determination to do the will of God. That is why Jesus told the authorities in Jerusalem, as they demanded a supernatural sign from him in order to believe him, that there will be no sign given to this sinful generation but the sign of Jonah. As Jonah had stayed for 3 days in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man will have stayed for three days in the belly of the Earth.
Jesus was also talking about Jonah because Jonah eventually ended up in Nineveh the capital city of the Assyrians he was afraid of, and conveyed them the judgment of God that very soon fire will come from Heaven and will devour Niniveh the huge city with all of its inhabitants.
However, on the Assyrian King's order every single one in the city began to fast and do repentance, thus God did not execute the judgment Day, at least in the days of Jonah.
We know now that as the great city of Jerusalem and the great temple were destroyed by the Romans for close to 2,000 years, so probably they should have done a little bit more soul searching and repentance in order to avoid the disaster. And actually this is one of the Jewish opinions why the destruction of city and temple happened, as they say the major cause was the “Lashon Hara”, which can be translated as bad mouthing gossips or just simply jealousy among the powerful. Historically, it is right because the city and the fortified Temple they were almost impregnable, but the Civil War inside the walls burned the food store houses of the Defenders, and they lost the city and their lives.
When the fish or whale spat Jonah out to the coastal ground, he understood that God is King over the fish or the whales, as well.
Once upon another time about 600 years later than Jonah's time line, Jesus went to the coast of the lake of Galilee and found Peter and his brother Andrew exhausted and slumbering. For sure slumbering is way better than slandering, but it was morning and their fishing nets were empty, with another word that was a fishing disaster of catching nothing.
So Jesus told them fellows let's go fishing. Peter said we have been fishing for a whole night and we caught nothing which can be even less than nothing regarding the repercussions in the kitchen and the Fish market and in their pocket.
Just like the famous mathematical anti-puzzle. It goes like this, not in the real world but on a mathematical bus, though the reasoning is very similar to the tax agencies.
So, if five people ride on a bus, and seven people get off the bus then at the next stop how many people should get on the bus that nobody will be on board.
Math says two people should get on the bus in order that nobody will be on board.
Thus, Peter told Jesus that although they caught nothing during the night and the daylight is not fishing time at all so catching nothing again that's the most likely outcome of the action, but if Jesus says so we'll go and fish desperately, which means without hope of catching anything.
In the boat when they drew their nets filled with fish Peter realized that it was a supernatural catch and Jesus told him don't worry I will make you all fishermen.
The supernatural fishing event may have made the disciples, who had already been fishermen by profession understand that the very person who will make them metaphorical fishermen, aka men fishing people for the kingdom of God, that very person must be the chief fisherman for the kingdom of God, and must have the power to rule over the fish.
And that very person who was setting up the boundaries of the Kingdom of God on Earth, was the very Crown Prince, who will be returning in full regalia, at the and of history, as KING. May we praise the Lord, by the will of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
