They said, “We’ll go with you.” They set out in a boat, but throughout the night they caught nothing. 4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples didn’t realize it was Jesus.
5 Jesus called to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?”
They answered him, “No.”
6 He said, “Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”
So they did, and there were so many fish that they couldn’t haul in the net. 7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he wrapped his coat around himself (for he was naked) and jumped into the water.
The disciples didn’t catch any fish that night. I bet they were disappointed and felt like they had wasted their time. How often do we as the church feel this way, disappointed that we can’t get new members? How often do we get frustrated by the fact that people took advantage of our outreach, but we weren't able to ‘reel them in’ so to speak? It can be quite frustrating to fish and never get a bite let alone catch any.
I wonder if we need to lower our nets again without expectation, without prerequisites for entering our nets, without prejudices as to who we want in our nets and just allow all God’s children, in whatever manner they present themselves, with all their differences and similarities to just come and let us serve them, let us love them, and let them serve and love us too without expecting anything at all. Just simply being with them, simply loving them.
Loving Lord,
Help us to cast our nets wide offering your love without any prerequisites, without any expectations at all. Just love for all. Amen.
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