Go Out Into The Deep - Devotion for August 4

Let’s start with a fun bit of art history. Back in the Renaissance, artists used something called a “cartoon” to help them plan their artwork. Not cartoons like Saturday morning shows—these were big drawings on paper. The word comes from the Italian word carta (meaning paper) and the ending -one, which just means “big.” So a cartoon was literally just a big sheet of paper with a design on it.

Artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci would sketch out their work on these giant papers. Then, they’d poke tiny holes along the lines of the drawing and rub powder through the back. That way, they could copy the image onto a wall or cloth. It was a clever method, but it often messed up the paper. In fact, most of these cartoons didn’t last. Michelangelo even burned most of his—he didn’t want anyone copying his techniques, and he liked people to think his art came straight from God. Only two of his cartoons still exist.

One of Raphael’s most famous cartoons is called The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. He made it to help design tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. It’s based on a story from Luke 5 in the Bible.

Here’s what happens in that story: Peter (also called Simon) has been fishing all night and caught nothing. Zero fish. He’s tired. But then Jesus tells him, “Throw your nets out into the deep water.” Now, Peter’s a professional fisherman. He knows the fish should be near the shallow water at night—not out deep in the middle of the day. Still, Peter listens to Jesus and says, “If you say so, I’ll do it.”

He lets down his nets—and BAM. So many fish fill the nets that they nearly break. Another boat has to come help them haul it all in.

Can you imagine Peter’s shock? He knew there shouldn’t have been fish out there. But he trusted Jesus and acted anyway.

That’s the kind of trust Jesus invites us to have too. He asks us to go out into the “deep”—those scary, uncertain, risky places in our lives. Sometimes it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes it’s the opposite of what we think we should do. But Jesus is always in the boat with us.

He doesn’t ask us to step out in faith and then leave us on our own. He stays with us. He could have just made the fish jump into Peter’s boat, but instead, he invited Peter to do the hard part—to trust, to act, to believe. And that’s when the miracle happened.

The miracle didn’t come before Peter acted. It came after.

So maybe today, Jesus is calling you into deeper waters too. Maybe he’s nudging you to take a risk, to step out in faith, even if it doesn’t seem logical. Just remember: he’s with you in the boat.

P.S. After the Renaissance, cartoons like these weren’t used much anymore. The word “cartoon” eventually started to mean something totally different—like funny drawings in newspapers or animated shows. Funny how words change over time, isn’t it?

Featured art: Raphael, The Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 1515-1516