SHEMA: Hear and ObeySample

Luke 5 opens with Jesus teaching on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Two boats are close by. One belongs to Simon. The men are ashore, washing their nets in preparation for the next day.

This is when Jesus steps into Simon’s boat and asks Simon to “put out a little from the land.” His request is out of sequence. It’s not time for boats to leave shore—it’s time for them to return.

Jesus’s promptings will often feel out of sync with our expectations.

Simon obeys anyway. But he isn’t rewarded with instant clarity. Instead, Jesus soon makes another ask: “Let down your nets.” Same lake. Same nets. Same tired fishermen. This comes right after Simon had “toiled all night.” That’s his word for it: toiled. Toil is when you work hard but come back empty.

Still, he obeys—and then it happens. The water flashes silver. Nets snap taut. The boat groans. The exhausted fishermen are suddenly awake and laughing at their fortune while their hands burn raw, clinging to heavy nets laden with fish threatening to sink the boat.

And there’s Jesus—in the middle of the chaos—steady and smiling. Fish thrash around His feet, and He laughs. Not at them, but for them. He knows Simon’s about to realize something—Someone—far greater than the fish is in his boat.

Simon then falls at Jesus’s feet, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Just moments before, he called Jesus master—a respectful title, but not a revelatory one. Now, something has shifted. He’s Lord now.

Obedience led to revelation. Only after Simon obeyed did he see the holiness of the One in the boat, and it changed everything. What if Simon only gave Jesus his first “yes” that day? Imagine if he never let down the nets. How different would his story be?

How different will yours be?

You are one shema moment away from the Master wrecking your life in the best way imaginable. It didn’t make sense for Simon to drop his nets again—and it won’t make sense when your moment comes either. Do. It. Anyway.

REFLECTION:
Is Jesus asking you for a second “yes”? What would it take to “drop the nets”—despite what you see?