We set off back into the town. The cured one ran off in front, followed by many of the witnesses who were talking and marvelling at what they had seen. Some of them, including the one called Nathaniel, walked along with us. There was another stranger whom Nathaniel addressed as Philip.
     We went straight to the lakeside, and found Simon and his crew just approaching the shore. Jesus, Nathaniel, Philip and I were actually standing in the water, partly because of the crowd around us. They were gabbling the story of the leper to each other, and clamouring at Jesus for more stories, more teaching, more signs. As the boat nosed slowly in, we caught the stem. Jesus looked up at Simon standing over him, up in the bow, and asked-
     “May we come aboard?”
     Simon looked at me with some hostility, nodded curtly at Nathaniel and Philip in a way which made me think he knew them, and only then did he answer-
     “We were out at dawn and have caught nothing. We are fishermen not ferrymen”.
     “Please”, said Jesus. “Just take us out a little way until the crowd disperses,” and held up his hand for Simon to pull him up. Of course, Simon could hardly refuse. We all clambered aboard. James and Andrew poled the boat off- shore and about, while John was hauling up the sail, and we moved gently out before a soft wind.
     Jesus was sitting alone, in the bow, while Nathaniel and Philip related what they had witnessed to the others, in hushed tones, as the stood at the tiller. I sat on the sweep-rail, amidships. I would have felt like an intruder with the group, and I fancied Jesus wanted a moment’s solitude.
     When we were 400 yds or so out, he got up and approached the others. He stood looking down at the damp nets piled on the deck, aft of the open hatch. Still looking down at the nets, he asked-
     “You say you caught nothing?”
“Not even the smell of fish!”
     “Do you always cast to leeward?”
     “Of course!” replied Simon, scornfully. “That way we get a longer cast”.
     “Try a cast to windward”.
     “So your miracle worker is now a fisherman, Nathaniel?”
     Jesus said nothing. After a moment I picked up a net, shook it out, to refold it quickly in the proper manner, then held it out to Simon. He took it, but by the look in his eyes, I feared he might only use it to strangle me. Jesus spoke again-
     “Just one cast- a net each, casting in line, as you normally do”. I could tell from the sharp lift of Simon’s jaw that Jesus familiarity with the procedure was not lost on him. After pausing just long enough to establish his authority, Simon sullenly motioned the others to the nets. At last, Simon Andrew, James and John stood in line, each with net poised. After a moment, Simon cast his net, followed by the next, the next, and the next. Because they were casting into the wind, the nets went not so far out, but high, and soon stopped travelling laterally. For a splinter of time they hung over the wind, then the weights brought them down, straight and heavy. A few seconds after the nets hit the water, Simon flexed his arm to pull in the draw line around the skirt of his net, but Jesus stopped him-
     “Let them fall a little further”.
     A short pause, then Jesus called out- “Draw now!”
     The men all hauled quickly and it was immediately obvious that they were meeting some resistance. Soon Andrew called Philip to help him, and as Philip went to do so, Nathaniel went to help John, I to James, and Jesus to Simon. As we pulled on the lines the water before us began to roll and bubble, then to foam, and as the nets hit the surface the water was like a boiling cauldron! The nets were choked to bursting!
     Simon, immediately the fisherman, took command and yelled to everyone to just hang on and not try to ship the nets. Then leaving Jesus to hold their net, he grabbed some rope, secured a loose loop to the boat on one side of the net, then threw a double loop out beyond so that it fell below it and he was able to truss it up at the other side, so forming a simple cradle of two ropes passing below the net full of fish.
     Now he went back to the first loop he had made, threw it over the side and slipped over after it to stand with his feet in the loop. This arrangement put him almost up to the waist in the water, and close by the side of the bulging net. He then twisted himself round so that the rope sling he stood in lay crossed behind him, and he was able to lean out backwards from the boat with both hands free. He called out to Jesus to start pulling up, slowly. As he did so, Simon was able to haul up on the improvised cradle, belaying the ropes onto pins in the gunwale.
     Meanwhile, John had partially secured his net to the side of the boat and, leaving Nathaniel to hang on to it, John then came to help Jesus and Simon. As the net started to pass over into the boat the skirt began to loosen and the fish started to pour out like a boiling sea of quicksilver. By the time the net was virtually unburdened, the hold appeared to be almost half full, and there were still three more nets to come.
     Of course with the second net there were four pairs of hands, then six, then eight for the last which fair flew over the side in a storm of flashing light as the fish erupted onto the deck, for the hold was now completely overflowing. As the last net was cleared, James and John gathered it up and, taking the other nets from Andrew, immediately set to improvising slings, first down the centre to stop the deck cargo from shifting and so capsizing us, and then down the sides so that we should not lose any overboard. Simon and Jesus set their backs to the tiller, and Philip hauled in the main sheet in preparation for reaching against the wind for our return.
     All the while the fish were leaping in the air. The noise was as a rain or hailstorm as the fish kept up their dance, like an eruption of silver stones. The noise brooked no speech, but we were all too overjoyed to speak. As we came by each other in our feverish scampering to work the boat and her cargo, we would clasp and hug each other. Even I knew what such a catch meant. It was not just money or food. It was a justification- of purpose, of endeavour, of life. It was like an oblique glimpse of God.
     I remember thinking that phrase at the time, and looking to Jesus. He was braced with his back against the tiller, holding the boat close up to the wind. Simon was kneeling up before Jesus, leaning with his head against Jesus’ body. There were tears streaming down Simon’s face.
     We arrived back at Capernaum scarcely two hours before the Sabbath. Zebedee and some hired men were waiting on the shore. As we approached they could see the fish leaping and hanging in the net on the weather side. We dropped the sail short of the beach and poled the boat round to approach by the stern, square on to a rough framed ramp, having first unshipped the tiller and rudder. All this was to facilitate speedy unloading. As soon as we grounded, Andrew and Philip leaped one over each side, and raced up the beach, each with a rope to secure the boat to huge kedge anchors, half buried in the shingle.
     No one could speak! Yet all tried to speak at once. Despite the joy, all were fishermen foremost, and Zebedee and his two sons quickly organised the hired men into a relay chain to unload the catch.
     Simon could do nothing.
     Jesus helped him from the boat and Nathaniel and I followed them up the beach, after Jesus had answered a questioning look from Zebedee with a re-assuring gesture and a smile. We stopped on the causeway, and Simon found his voice-
     “The fish- it is too much- I cannot believe- in my boat- so many fishes-
     Jesus smiled, clasped Simon by the shoulders and said-
     “Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men!” and his smile again, that warm, loving, heartbreaking smile. Small wonder that Simon pulled away, crying-
     “No! I am-  I am a sinful man! No, Lord!  I cannot!” and he fell sobbing to the ground. Jesus knelt by him and touched his shoulder. Simon raised his head, grasped the hand and pressed it to his cheek.
     “Your family name is Cephas is it not? The rock? The rock is also petra- Peter, I shall call you..
     Then came Andrew, James, John and Philip, laughing and clapping each other on the back in congratulation. As they approached and saw Simon,in distress, they fell silent.
     “Your brother is overcome by your Father’s generosity. Would that others could see so clearly. Andrew?”
     “Yes, Rabbi?”
     “May we share a little in your good fortune? May we have supper with you?”
     “I hope you will all stay this night with us!”
     I asked quietly- “Will you preach in the synagogue tomorrow, Jesus?”
     “I will do all that I must do, and I pray that you will do no less. Come! We must be indoors before sunset, and we have only moments”.