Luke 5:3 He climbed into the boat that was Simon’s and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd. (The Message Bible)
If you look in chapter 4 you find Jesus teaching in the synagogue. That episode begins well enough but ends with the congregation ready to push Jesus off a cliff. If the synagogue was not going to work for him, he would have to make a new plan. We might have packed it all in after the first incident of conflict. ”Look God” we might say, “I gave it my best shot but the crowd was against me.” But Jesus doesn’t take that route. He continues to speak his message wherever he can and is bold enough to take over a boat if that is what is necessary. There are plenty of reasons to get discouraged in our walk of faith, sometimes more reasons to be discouraged than encouraged. But maybe we just have to look for a different approach. Maybe we just need to look around to see the boat that is there to get into.
Logan Memorial Presbyterian Church 