Who told Jesus to “Depart from me!” after a remarkable miracle? It was Peter, who sceptically put the nets over the other side, as Jesus had suggested! In Luke 5 we see how Jesus used Peter’s boat as a preaching platform and “when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” (Luke 5:4).

Peter earned his living by fishing. He knew when and where the fish were to be found. He answers, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” (verse 5). He “knew” there were no fish around so with what frame of mind would he then add, “But at your word, I will let down the nets”.

The nets become so full of fish that they broke and they need the help of other fishermen with their boat. The fish “filled both boats so that they began to sink” (verse 7). Peter is overwhelmed, he gasps out, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (verse 8). Because of his intimate knowledge of fishing this miracle shocks him far more than the recent healing of his mother-in-law and other sick people.

Peter realises Jesus has the power to do anything! This overwhelms him with a sense of his own unworthiness. Do we ever get confronted by a sense of our own unworthiness? What about our feelings when the miracle of the return of Jesus starts to unfold before our eyes? Carefully meditate on the emotion you will feel then!

Jesus is with us in spirit here and now. John the disciple wrote in his old age, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God abides in him, and he in God … God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment” (1 John 4:15-17). All who believe in Christ have responded to his call “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me” (John 7:37) – and “thirst” to read God’s word everyday will have confidence when it is evident Jesus is returning.