The Invasion

And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. (Luke 5:3 NASB)

Yesterday, one of my patients told me about an attempted home invasion that occurred this past weekend not far from my home. The whole idea of invasion must have still been on my mind, because I saw a very interesting thing when I started reading Luke 5 today. Jesus did a little invasion of His own!

When I read a passage of Scripture, I often have a picture of the unfolding scene in my mind's eye. What I envisioned in this passage was that Jesus walked up to Simon where he was cleaning the nets and politely said, "Hi Simon. I'm Jesus the Messiah and I've come to save you and the world. Do you mind if I borrow your boat for a little while?" I have read Luke 5 every day since we started this chapter and it has seemed exactly the same way. 

Wrong! That's not what Scripture says. Here's what it says. Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee (aka lake of Gennesaret) and the crowd was pressing in so much that He was about to be pushed into the water. He saw two unmanned boats, thought it would be great to teach from one of those so the crowd wouldn't run over Him, and saw the fishermen nearby. He did not ask permission first. He got in Simon's boat, and then He asked Simon to put out from the land!  

When I saw that today, I laughed out loud. Indeed, Jesus was a boat invader! In fact, He was a life-invader that day! Isn't that wonderful? He positioned Himself into Simon's circumstances in such a way that, when He did ask permission of Simon, it was pretty hard to tell Him no. 

Jesus is so very sweet to me that I often see Him as meek, gentle, and kind. Somehow, I tend to forget about this boldness of His. It is wonderful news, however! This Seeking, Saving Savior of ours is also a Life-Invading Savior!

Today, pray that we and our loved ones will be blessed with Christ-invasions of our own. Pray that Jesus will enter our circumstances in such a way that He makes it almost impossible to deny Him or turn Him away.