Deep Water

by Johanna Johnson

“Jesus said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your
nets for a catch.’… When they had done this, they caught so many fish
that their nets were beginning to break.” (Luke 5:4, 6)

Deep water. Actually, and metaphorically, this translates to: danger.
Deep water is scary, unknown, and dangerous. You don’t know what you
might find there. It could hold something very beautiful and exciting,
or it could be hiding something we don’t want to see or don’t
understand. With so many unknowns, why does Jesus ask Simon to move
away from the safety of the land, even the relative safety of the
shallow water, into the Great, Deep, Unknown?

The fact is, faith is not unlike that deep water. It is at once
beautiful and exciting, and scary and unknown. It sometimes sparkles
on the surface, and gets more interesting and complex the deeper you
go. When Jesus asks Simon – and us – to “put out into the deep water,”
he is asking us to take that risk, that risk that puts us beyond the
simplicity of the sparkling surface, and into those parts that are
unknown and even scary. In the deep water – that is where we will also
deepen our faith.

But Jesus says something else here, too: “let down your nets for a
catch.” This excerpt comes from Luke’s account of Jesus calling the
first disciples – where he tells them that they will be “catching
people.” In the deep water, Jesus says, is where they will be
catching people. When Simon and his companions put down their nets in
that deep water, there are so many fish their nets begin to break,
and the sheer number of fish starts to sink two boats. And this after
they had caught nothing all night! Here, that deep water becomes not
only a deeper understanding of faith personally, but also the ability
to share that faith with other people. Talking about faith is often
difficult for us. It is even more difficult with people who don’t
share our faith. Talking about our personal faith indeed puts us in
deep, scary, unknown waters. But, “when they had done this, they
caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.” It’s
possible. It’s scary, but as Jesus talks about moving into the deep
water, so also is he calling us, just as he called his first
disciples, to take such risks in our faith. “Put out into the deep
water and let down your nets for a catch… From now on, you will be
catching people.”