Simon and his partners had fished all night long, and had nothing to show for it; they were washing out their nets before they went home to sleep. But Jesus came along the shore, along with a great crowd that wanted to listen to him: so he appropriated Simon’s boat to use as a pulpit, and had Simon row a short distance from the beach – making Simon kind of a captive audience as Jesus talked to the crowd about the kingdom of God (Luke 5:1-3). I wonder how long Jesus preached. An hour? Two hours? Since we find out two verses later that Simon had been up all night fishing, I wonder how successful Simon was at staying awake.

After the lesson, Jesus proposed that they should put out into deep water and lower the nets to catch some fish. Listen to Simon’s response: “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets” (5:5). As we’ve noticed a couple of times over the last week or so, a person’s tone of voice makes a big difference, in understanding what they mean: so you’ll have to read Simon’s line out loud, so you can hear what it sounds like. You’ll have to do it several times: first as if Simon is really whiny; then as if this is the moment when Simon has suddenly come to faith; and then as if Simon is just so tired and depressed (turn your inner Eeyore up to eleven for that last one). It’s a fun exercise: you can really hear how the way you say it changes the meaning.

This conversation between Jesus and Simon was originally oral, rather than written. (Again, that’s true for most of the material in the Bible.) So we should recognize that it makes a real difference what Simon’s words sounded like. Part of the meaning was carried not in the words (the part that Luke could write down); instead, it was in Simon’s voice tones. Whenever we read the Bible, it’s a good general principle to read it out loud, so that we’ll have a chance to try out those various voice tones, and listen to how they sound.

And when we do that, several different ways, we’ll often recognize our place in the story with much greater clarity. More than that, we might well hear Jesus telling us, “Don’t be afraid” (5:11) – words we need to hear pretty often. And we might even discover how telling Bible stories like this one will help us bring in more people.

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Help us, Lord, to listen to your word: to hear the way the tone of voice affects what we hear, even though that tone of voice is not written down. Grant us courage, so that we won’t be so afraid; and help us to hear your call to us to draw in those who have never before quite recognized your voice.