Reaction

Our choice of actions, both big and small, have a cascading impact on others, spreading outward like ripples on a pond. This visual metaphor emphasizes the power we have to create change in our communities through our choices and interactions with others. Every act of kindness and compassion, or negativity and hate, can have far-reaching consequences.

In this series, we explore the beginnings of Jesus’ ministry in the Gospel of Luke. What can we learn from the choices that Jesus and those around him made? What difference did the “ripples” of those choices make both then and now? As followers of Jesus, how will the “ripples” of our choices make a difference on our campus, in our community, and around our world?

In this sermon, Simon Peter, with his partners James and John, had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. Because Jesus told him to, Simon risked letting down the nets one more time and “they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.” Simon Peter risked being honest with Jesus by telling him, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” And all three men risked it all “when they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.”