John 21:3 (NASB)
Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.
Is it ironic that the things the disciples were doing when Jesus called them into ministry was the thing they went back to doing when they came to a turning point in their ministry?
Matthew 4:18–20 (Mark 1:16-18; Luke 5:1–11)
18 Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.
19 And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.
And the same scenario took place, at the beginning when they were called and at the turning point/transition in their execution of their call: they were fishing (their profession) but were not catching anything (being productive). Jesus gives them directives to launch out into the deep/cast their nets on the right side of the boat and then they received a drought, so much fish that their nets were full to the overflow and at the point of breaking and they needed help from their associates to help bring in the harvest… more fish than they could handle
John 21:4–6
4 But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.”
6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat and you will find a catch.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
What is it about the place where we first surrendered to the Lord that we want to return to when we come to a turning point? Is it that it becomes a place of significance so when we need clarity/direction we see that as the place we need to be to see our way clear?
It is not uncommon for the patriots to return to the place they first heard the Lord. Abraham did.
Genesis 12:7–8
7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the Lord who had appeared to him.
8 Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
Genesis 13:3–4
3 He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
4 to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.
Jacob did…Bethel
Moses did…Mount Sinai
Jesus did...Mount Olives
Luke 22:39
39 And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him.
Now the disciples…fishing.
Though your return to the same place, physically, you are not returning to the same place, inner man.
It is the place of your experience; of hearing and seeing God, clearly. It is your place of retreat, to pull away and pull back for direction on going forward.
So it is not that the disciples abandoned the call and was going back to their old profession for they were in Galilee, waiting for the Lord as he had directed them. (Matthew 28:7–10; Mark 16:7)
But it is going to the place where you can get clarity of direction for going forward, for the undertaking of what was before them.