Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. John 21:11
Good morning, dear ones!
You may remember that one day Jesus told Simon Peter to go out into deep water and let down his nets. Peter hadn't caught any fish all night, but he tried again, and got so many that his nets began to break.
In this later incident, after Jesus's death and resurrection, He told Peter and the others to let down their nets on the right side of the boat. The net was filled with large fish, but it did not tear. Why not? Because it was a new kind of net. Peter and the disciples were going to be fishing with new nets now. Consider these words from the Apostle Paul:
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."
The law is like the old net. The law, the old way of luring people towards God, had holes in it. Even though it was designed by God Himself, the law was powerless to do what it was intended to do. The law itself was perfect but it was weakened--by what? The sinful nature. Our sinful nature, as soon as we hear the law, rebels against it.
If there were two windows, one with a sign on it saying "Do not throw a rock at this window," and one with no sign, which would get broken first? We all know. There is something in hearing the law that makes us think maybe we can get away with breaking it. It shows us what we are. It is a perfect law, but it cannot save us because of what we are.
What the law could not do, God did in Jesus. So the message for the fishermen, and for us today, is to use the new net. Use the gospel itself and tell others, "It doesn't matter what you've done, sweetheart, Jesus can save you. In fact, the bigger your sin is, the bigger His mercy is." That is scary stuff. It is radical Christianity. But it is the truth. It is what lures the fish, and what feeds the sheep.
http://freshwaterministries.net/Quenchers/PastQuenchers/Quencher8_15_11.html
