With a Lake for a Megaphone

Luke 5:1-3

I love this scene. Jesus is down by the lakeside – happens to be the big lake in Galilee, sometimes called Gennesaret. The people are all crowded around Jesus while he is talking. It is not a formal setting, like the synagogue. Some of the men in the crowd go on cleaning their nets. Kids are playing by the water’s edge. I’m sure there is a lot of activity going on as people do whatever they’re doing and listen to this traveling rabbi speaking about big ideas in manageable bites.

Although from Nazareth, Jesus has been around this lake country long enough that people are familiar with him. News about his teachings and miracles is already spreading and so the crowd is getting bigger. Some people are having a hard time seeing or hearing him, there are so many people.

As Jesus talks, he notices a couple of boats close by at the water’s edge, and the fishermen cleaning their nets in the water. Jesus knows these guys. One, Simon, is a guy with whom Jesus is already acquainted. In fact, Jesus has been to his house, healed his mother-in-law, had dinner, and probably stayed the night.

So Jesus climbs into Simon’s boat. He’s been around enough he already knows which boat is Simon’s. Doesn’t have to ask. But he does ask Simon to put out from shore – just a little bit. And then he sits down and continues to teach.

This is centuries before megaphones are invented. Even so, it was already known that water surfaces make a natural megaphone. When I was in graduate school, my apartment faced a swimming pool which had a hot tub at its far end. My roommate and I could hear people talking in that hot tub late at night, whether we wanted to or not. I could write a book…

Jesus understands this dynamic – not just because he created it, but also because it was common knowledge for anyone that hung around such a body of water. So Jesus takes advantage of this natural megaphone, not to get away from people, but so they can understand him better.

Sometimes platforms distance speakers from their audiences. When that happens, a sad dynamic unfolds. For distance is the opposite of what Jesus intended with his life’s work. As Luke writes, the people are “listening to the word of God.” Not just in random form, but as one of the fishermen listening that day would later put it, the word come in the flesh. It is the word of God communicated in relationship. These were people getting to know Jesus fairly well by now, a fact that added meaning to what he was teaching.

The other day I finally joined Facebook, at the prompting of an old friend. Heard immediately from another old friend who, when she wrote, sounded just like she talked. It was uncanny. Her voice came through loud and clear, regardless the years and miles. That’s what happens with Jesus’ words to this crowd. He’s not foreign to them and thus his words hit home.