And it came to pass, as the crowd pressed on him to hear the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret
Jesus stands at the water's edge. A crowd pushes in around Him. Luke tells us what drew them: not a miracle, but the word of God. It is an ordinary working morning by a busy fishing lake, and His teaching is what gathers the people.
Luke gives the crowd's motive first. One writer notes that contrast, then reads the work of the fishermen with their nets as a picture of different kinds of service:
It is good to read in verse 1 that beside the Lake of Gennesaret (or Sea of Galilee) the people pressed around the Lord Jesus. They came not to see miracles, but to hear the word of God. Two fishing boats were nearby, the fishermen taking time to wash their nets. Elsewhere we read of Simon and Andrew "casting a net into the sea" (Mark 1:16). That pictures the work of evangelists, fishing for people. Then James and John are "mending the nets" (Mark 1:19). That pictures restoring, pastoral work, which renews a person's strength for useful service. Washing nets speaks of being kept fit for service by the washing of water with the word (Ephesians 5:26). It is like the washing of feet (John 13), because contact with what defiles will hinder our service.
The lake of Gennesaret was not a quiet retreat. It was one of the busiest parts of the country. The men Jesus was about to call ran a real business there:
A crowd in such a place is easy to explain. This was one of the most crowded parts of Palestine… The fishing fleet has come in to its port — Bethsaida, which means the house of fish. There Peter was running a large business in partnership with James and John, and probably with his own brother Andrew… So everything is busy with the concerns of daily life when the Lord appears on the scene.
Matthew and Mark record the call of these fishermen earlier in their accounts. Luke places it after a run of preaching and healing. One writer sees purpose in that order:
The Holy Spirit moves the call of Peter and his companions to a later place than the historical order kept by Matthew and Mark. That order fitted His design in their Gospels. But it suited His work through Luke to put other things first: the Lord's preaching in the synagogues of Galilee, His striking action in Nazareth on the sabbath day, His freeing of the man possessed by a demon in the synagogue of Capernaum, His healing of Peter's mother-in-law along with many more, and His preaching in Galilee.
Pressing in to listen does not mean a person is changed. One writer reads this opening line as a warning about what a big crowd proves and does not prove:
Even people who are not converted feel God's presence to some degree. Adam did, when he tried to hide himself. When the gospel is preached with power, it draws crowds. They are touched, perhaps, by something new, but no fruit follows. So it was with the Lord's preaching and miracles. We know their motives were often selfish, yet He went on all the same.
The same writer separates hearing a word from being held by it:
There are many now, as always, who accept the authority of the word, and yet its power does not attach them to His person. Many are taken up with their daily pursuits. The word has not gripped their souls, so it does not make them walk fully with Christ.
Teaching the crowd was not the whole aim. The scene is the doorway into the calling of Simon, and behind that lies a purpose larger than pardon:
But even this is not enough for His grace. He wants to join people to Himself in what is good. So in the next scene the Holy Spirit shows us the Lord calling others. He rejoices in the part of His earth where people live, and His delight is with people; He linked them to Himself. He came not only to pardon people, but for salvation and all its fruits. Simon Peter is the more prominent of those now called, so he comes into the foreground. If he is to help others, he must first be helped himself. And no one is truly helped until the question of sin is raised and settled in the heart, as well as settled by Christ outside ourselves.
- The word draws. The crowd pressed in to hear the word of God — not to watch a miracle.
- The word finds you at work. He stood by a working harbour, among washed nets and beached boats, at the busiest hour of an ordinary trade.
- The word can be heard and not received. Preaching with power draws crowds who are touched, perhaps, by something new — but no fruit follows.
- The word lays hold. Accepting the authority of the word is one thing. Letting its power attach you to Christ Himself is another.
- The word commissions. He came not only to pardon, but to join people to Himself. Simon must be helped himself before he can help anyone else.
and he saw two ships standing by the lake, but the fishermen, having come down from them, were washing their nets.
A crowd presses in to hear God's word, and the nearest thing at hand is an empty fishing boat. Luke records the plain details of that morning — two boats, crews on shore, nets being washed — and leaves us asking why they matter.
This was a working harbour in a crowded district. Peter and his partners ran a real business there.
It is easy to explain such a crowd here. The scene is set in one of the most populated parts of Palestine. The fishing fleet has made for its port — Bethsaida (which means "the house of fish"). There Peter, in partnership with James and John, and probably his own brother Andrew, was carrying on a considerable business... All is therefore stir and activity in the things that concern human life when the Lord appears on the scene.
The men are washing their nets, not unloading a catch. One writer sees in that empty night a picture of every man who works hard for something that never satisfies.
The son of Jonas was a fisherman by trade; he had what was needed for catching fish — a boat and nets. He had used them to get what he wanted, and had worked all night for this purpose, but with no result. So the natural man uses his abilities, and whatever means he has, to get something that will fill and satisfy his heart. But it is useless. The net stays empty. His labour produces nothing that can answer the deep need of his soul... Simon and his companions, having taken nothing, leave their boats and wash their nets. They set about washing them, because they had brought up nothing but mud from the bottom of the sea. Once the nets are clean, they will start fishing again. Is it not the same with a man of the world? He renews his efforts every day to reach the goal he wants, and every day he fails.
The same men appear elsewhere doing two other things with their nets. One writer takes each action as a picture of work for God.
Two fishing boats were nearby, the fishermen taking time to wash their nets. We read elsewhere of Simon and Andrew "casting a net into the sea" (Mark 1:16). That pictures the work of evangelists fishing for men. We then read of James and John "mending the nets" (Mark 1:19). That pictures a restoring, pastoral work, which revives one's energy for effective service. The washing of nets speaks of keeping us fit for service by the washing of water by the Word (Eph. 5:26), like the washing of feet (John 13), because defiling contacts will hinder our service.
Notice who the Lord picks, and what they were doing when He picked them.
We then learn the grace of the Lord that identifies others with Himself in service. He passes by the official priests, the learned scribes, and the religious Pharisees, and takes up humble fishermen... The lack of riches and human learning is no hindrance to being a companion of the Lord, or to being used in His service. Yet however humble the calling of those the Lord may engage in His service, they are not unemployed. These simple men were pursuing their occupation as fishermen when the Lord called them to become fishers of men. The Lord's service is not to be taken up by those who have nothing else to do.
The two boats are the hinge of the story. The Lord had just been shown healing and preaching alone; now He takes up men.
But even this is not enough for His grace; He would associate men with Himself in good. So in the next scene before us the Holy Spirit shows us the Lord calling others... It was not only for men's pardon that He came, but for salvation and all its fruits. Simon Peter, the more prominent of those now called, stands in the foreground. If he is to help others, he must first be helped himself. And no one is truly helped until the question of sin is raised and settled in the heart, as well as by Christ outside ourselves.
- Empty. The men wash their nets because they caught nothing. The boats picture human effort that brings up only mud.
- Ordinary. The Lord comes where life is busy — a real harbour, a real partnership, men at their trade.
- Occupied. He calls men already at work, not men with time to spare. Poverty and lack of learning are no barrier.
- Cleaned. Casting the net pictures evangelism. Mending it pictures restoring work. Washing it pictures staying fit for service through the Word.
- Associated. He stopped at these boats not only to pardon men but to join them to Himself in His work. It begins with Simon, who must be helped before he can help others.
And getting into one of the ships, which was Simon's, he asked him to draw out a little from the land; and he sat down and taught the crowds out of the ship.
A crowd pressed on Jesus to hear the word of God, so He borrowed a fishing boat. A working man's tool became a pulpit, and its owner heard Him from close by, apart from the crowd.
The move was practical before it was anything else.
The Lord's object in this step is plain. He desired that those to whom He spoke might easily hear Him. He was a model preacher in every way, whether in matter, manner, or method. All who preach should seek only to imitate Him. If they did, I believe all listeners would hear, and more would be helped.
Luke records none of what Jesus said that day.
Of what He said we have no record. What effect it produced on any of His hearers, Peter included, is equally hidden. The record passes over much that could have been included. A reporter might have handed down the text of the Lord's discourse. A word-painter might have described the scene. But neither of them, if any were present, has left us information about it. All we know is that the crowd was great, and the Lord, to reach them all, took His seat in the boat and taught them all on the shore.
Commentators differ on the tone of the request. One reads it as courtesy from the One who owns everything.
Notice especially the moral grace that shines here. He asked him to put out a little from the land. He is Lord of all creation — Possessor of heaven and earth. Yet as the lowly, gracious Man, He respects Simon's ownership. He asks it as a favour that Simon would push out a little from the shore. This was morally lovely, and we may be sure it had its own effect on Simon's heart.
Another hears a quiet claim on Simon in the same action.
He does not say, Peter, lend Me your boat! He took it. What did He teach by His action? Simon, you and all that you have belong to Me. I taught you in the first chapter of John that you belonged to Me. I changed your name; now I must teach you something else — that all you have belongs to Me. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.
Jesus was speaking to a crowd, yet the arrangement put one man at His side, away from everyone else.
Jesus appears, seeming occupied with something other than Peter. He teaches the crowds, but while He is ministering His heart is with Simon, and He does not lose sight of him. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to put out a little from the land. He separates Peter with Himself from the crowd, and so Peter hears all the Lord says. Jesus was no stranger to him before this; now he listens to His word, and this time alone with Him makes him listen all the more closely.
One writer suggests what Jesus may have taught, and traces what followed back to it.
If Matthew 13 supplies what the Lord taught that day, what wonderful news of God's activity in grace fell on the ears of landsmen and fishermen alike! That morning Peter dropped his net-mending and listened to the Lord. I am inclined to think the ministry he heard had much to do with what followed. The Son of Man, as the Sower, was generously scattering the seed. He tells us "the seed is the word of God." The soil is the heart of man. Into Peter's heart that day fell seed that later brought forth fruit a hundredfold. The effect of God's Word is always far-reaching, though the fruit may be slow to appear.
But hearing Christ speak does not yet bind a person to Him.
The word had authority in the conscience. Peter and Andrew had seen Jesus before, but had not yet stayed with Him; there had not been enough power in their faith to attach them to Christ. There are many now, as always, who own the authority of the word, yet its power does not attach them to His person. Many are absorbed by their everyday pursuits. The word has not laid hold of their souls, so it never makes them walk fully with Christ. It is one thing to hear His word when He speaks. It is quite another when the word reaches them and becomes the source and motive of all their ways.
Nothing given to Christ is left unanswered. What Simon handed over for an hour came back loaded.
Simon was about to be well paid for the loan of his boat… There was power, as well as grace, in that word! And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish, and their nets were breaking… Neither their nets nor their boats were able to hold the fruit of divine power and goodness.
- Loan. Simon gives Christ the one thing he has — his boat — and it becomes the platform from which the word of God is preached.
- Nearness. The loan puts Simon closer to Jesus than the crowd on the shore; being set apart with Him made him listen harder.
- Seed. Before any fish are caught, the word is sown into Peter's heart, and its fruit may be slow but it is far-reaching.
- Warning. Owning that Christ's word has authority is not the same as being held by Him; many hear and stay absorbed in daily business.
- Return. Christ pays for the boat with a catch the nets cannot hold — what is lent to Him comes back beyond capacity.
But when he ceased speaking, he said to Simon, Draw out into the deep [water] and let down your nets for a haul.
The teaching ends, and the Lord turns from the crowd to one man. Verse 4 is where He speaks to that man about the trade he knew best.
Peter had lent the boat for the preaching. The command lands on a man who fished all night and caught nothing.
The Lord taught these simple people. When it was all over He said, in effect, "I am going to pay you, Peter, for the loan of your boat." And what does Simon say? "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing." That was experience speaking, and what would reason add? If they caught no fish in the night, they are not likely to catch any in the daylight. That is what reason would say. But do you know what faith said? Faith is always obedient.
The same water, the same net, the same man — but a different starting point.
Peter had done that all night; but up to this it was by the will of man, now it is at the word of the Lord. Peter believes this word, and submits to it. The first result of God's word is to produce faith, and faith accepts its authority and obeys. The Lord has spoken; that is enough for faith.
Hearing His word is one thing. Letting it hold you is another.
The word had authority in the conscience. Peter and Andrew had seen Jesus before, but had not yet stayed with Him. Their faith did not yet have enough power to attach them to Christ. Many people now, as always, admit the authority of the word, yet its power does not attach them to His person. Their everyday work absorbs them. The word has not laid hold of their souls, so it does not make them walk fully with Christ. Now we see obedience to His word when it comes to them. They put out at His word, and at His word they let down their nets.
Peter fished this lake for a living. The order came from someone with no claim to the trade.
A seaman is apt to think that he understands his own business best... He bows to One who, by any natural reckoning, could know nothing of a fisherman's work. Yet Peter has confidence that He is the Messiah. He learns that He is this and, far more, that He had the mind and grace of God. Now it would become clear whether He had all power at His command. Simon had reason to know His divine energy towards men on earth. But here was something new: One who had dominion over the fish of the sea. Sin had greatly hindered the exercise, and even the proof, of the wide dominion first granted to man. But here was the repairer of all breaches. In Peter's ship was the Second Man, the Lord from heaven.
One writer draws out what the Lord taught Peter before anything else:
Simon Peter had another important lesson to learn on the sea. But first the Lord taught him this: He could command even the creatures of the deep, and they obeyed His will. How necessary that every servant should know the power of his Master!
The command was plural. Peter's answer, in the older translations, is singular — and commentators make much of the gap. (The ESV reads "nets" in verse 5, following a different manuscript reading; writers here are working from the older text.)
When the Lord finished speaking, He called for action. He told Simon to put out into the deeper water and let down the nets. Simon protested that he and others had worked all night (the most likely time for catching fish) without success. Yet he accepted the Lord's word in measure at least: he let down one net, though the Lord had said "nets." Too often, sadly, our obedience is only partial... The catch loaded two boats to capacity and left them near to sinking. The blessing that God is willing to give is more than our limited vessels can accommodate.
The overflow is read as a picture of how God gives:
He fills the human vessels with blessings such as they are unable to contain without breaking, and which surpass the needs of the disciple.
The word "deep" carries an invitation beyond the lake.
After teaching the people, the Lord says to Peter, "Put out into the deep." Peter did so. What the disciples then saw gave them a wonderful impression of the greatness of Christ. Let us put out into the deep. We shall find that the depths of God are lit up with the glory, the preciousness and the pre-eminence of Jesus. That is what the deep yielded for Peter. That is what it will yield for us: fresh and wonderful impressions of the greatness of Christ.
- Loan — Peter lends a boat for preaching. The Lord repays him with a catch that a whole night's work could not win.
- Word — the same net, the same lake, but let down at Christ's word instead of man's will. He has spoken: that is enough for faith.
- Deep — the order came where Peter's skill said it was hopeless. It revealed One with dominion over the fish of the sea.
- Nets — He said "nets"; Peter let down one. Even partial obedience brought more blessing than the boats could hold.
- Depth — what the deep gave Peter it gives still: a fresh impression of the greatness of Christ.
And Simon answering said to him, Master, having laboured through the whole night we have taken nothing, but at thy word I will let down the net.
Peter calls Jesus "Master." The Greek word he uses (epistatēs) means someone set over the work:
ἐπιστάτης, 'superintendent, overseer.' Luke 5:5; Luke 8:24, 45; Luke 9:33, 49; Luke 17:13.
The first half of Peter's answer is not an excuse but a report of emptiness. That emptiness is the point of the whole scene:
The miracle the Lord worked was fitted in every way to reach those involved. They confessed their own powerlessness: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!" Man could do nothing in such a case. If Jesus could, it was because everything was at His disposal. "But at your word I will let down the nets."
Peter was the expert in that boat. Everything he knew about fishing argued against trying again in daylight:
His answer is at once a confession of failure, and of faith. Failure in his own efforts, and faith in the One who now tells him to lower his nets. Daylight is not the time when fish enter a net, so the man who wants to catch them goes out by night. Reason would have said: if there were none to be caught last night, there are sure to be none in broad daylight. But reason is of no use in drawing near to God. Faith alone understands Him. His words, "But at your word I will let down the nets," show both the obedience of faith and its confidence.
Peter gives up more than an opinion here. He gives up his expert judgment, in his own boat. He also speaks only for himself.
He let down his nets for a catch. In doing so he set aside all trust in his own judgment and in that of the fishermen with him. Granted, it was no great matter. The smaller the occasion, the clearer the principle. Happy is the believer who takes his stand from the start on this high rung of the ladder of faith. He runs his business not as a man of the world, but by the word of the Lord... He simply said — "I will let down the nets," whether his partners would join him in it or not. There was no looking to them, or waiting for them. His faith was personal. He knew the mind of Christ and obeyed, looking to Him alone for the blessing of obedience.
In older translations Peter answers with one net, though the Lord had said "nets." Not every writer presses this, but one draws a lesson from it:
Simon protested that he and the others had worked all night without success. Night is the most likely time for catching fish. Yet he did accept the Lord's word, at least in part. He let down one net, though the Lord had said "nets." Sadly, our obedience is often only partial. The fish were too many for the net and it broke.
(Older translations read "net" here, while the ESV reads "nets." That is why not every writer draws out this point.)
Nothing outward has changed: the same lake, the same men, the same work. What changed is whose word sends them out:
Peter had done that all night; but until now it was by the will of man; now it is at the word of the Lord. Peter believes this word, and submits to it. The first result of God's word is to produce faith, and faith accepts its authority and obeys. The Lord has spoken; that is enough for faith... He fills the human vessels with blessings they cannot hold without breaking. These blessings go beyond the needs of the disciple.
- Empty — Peter's night of work ends with nothing. That confessed weakness is the ground on which Christ acts.
- But — one word turns the sentence. Peter states his failure, then sets it aside for the word of the One speaking.
- Word — the Lord has spoken, and that is enough for faith. Reason objects, but faith asks for no other evidence.
- Personal — Peter obeys in his own trade, in a small matter. He does not wait to see if his partners will join him.
- Overflow — obedience given in part still brings back more than the net can hold.
And having done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes. And their net broke.
Peter had just told Jesus that a whole night of skilled work produced nothing. He let the net down anyway. The catch is so large that the gear itself gives way. Two questions follow: what does the size of the haul say about Jesus, and what does the torn net say about us?
Everything Peter knew about fishing argued against letting the net down again.
His answer is at once a confession of failure, and of faith. Failure as regards his own efforts, and faith in the One who now tells him to lower his nets. Daylight is not the time when fish enter a net, so the man who wants to catch them goes out by night. Reason would have said, "If there were none to be caught last night, there will surely be none in broad daylight." But reason is of no help in coming near to God.
Peter acted without waiting for his partners to agree. That makes the scene a model for daily work:
Happy is the believer who takes his stand on this high rung of the ladder of faith from the very start. He runs his business not as a man of the world, but by the word of the Lord. It will keep him out of much mud. Of course, such a believer trusts Jesus for everything, small or great. Even so, he cannot commit others to this practical, everyday obedience of faith. Simon did not.
The catch showed Peter something about Jesus he had not yet seen. His authority reached past people and into the sea itself.
Simon had reason to know that He had divine energy toward men on earth. But now there was a new thing: One who had dominion over the fish of the sea. Sin had badly hindered the use, and even the proof, of the wide dominion first given to men. But here was the repairer of all breaches; in Peter's ship was the Second Man, the Lord from heaven.
Blessing on that scale creates a problem of its own.
The boats filled until they began to sink. That is usually how things go in this world when blessing comes. Earthen vessels are too weak to keep the blessing. All sorts of disorders follow. It is not that the treasure is not good, but that even God's servants are indeed feeble. Even so, Peter learned a weighty lesson there. He had a good deal more to learn before he was nothing in his own eyes.
The weakness went deeper than the nets and boats.
They had no strength in themselves even to receive it… The Lord reveals Himself to Peter, and that shows Peter to himself. When we know the eye of God is on us, we see in ourselves what He saw.
One writer notes that the Lord said nets, and Peter let down one. (Older translations read "the net" in verses 5 and 6, where the ESV reads "the nets.")
Now the Lord had said to him, "Let down your nets, all the nets you have." But Peter was doubtful. He thought, "We shall not catch many fish, if any. I will let down one net only; that will be enough." So he let down the net. It enclosed a great multitude of fish, so many that it broke.
A later catch, in John 21, ended differently.
"Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn." When the gospel haul was pictured (Luke 5:6), the net broke. But here the Lord was present, and the net did not break. The gospel net gathered fish, and does now; but as a whole, the net broke, and they began to sink.
Why the difference? One writer traces it to the part man plays:
There could be no breakdown or failure with God, so the broken net must have to do with the responsibility of man… The picture of the net in Luke 5 seems to answer to the present system God has set up to gather men in for blessing… Man in responsibility — that is, in his ability to respond — has always failed, even in the most favoured circumstances. God shows carefully from His word that the present time is no exception. Yet a person can be separate from it in spirit.
- Word first. Peter's night of failure came from his own efforts; the haul came when the net went down on the word of the Lord.
- Word obeyed. Faith acts before it sees. It is also personal: Simon did not wait for his partners to agree.
- Word answered. The catch showed a Man with dominion over the fish of the sea. Seeing Christ is what showed Peter to himself.
- Word overflowing. Nets tore and boats began to sink. The blessing was greater than the vessels that held it.
- Word completed. The net breaks here; in John 21 it holds. That is the gap between what man is responsible for and what the Lord does Himself.
And they beckoned to their partners who were in the other ship to come and help them, and they came, and filled both the ships, so that they were sinking.
Peter had let down one net at the word of Jesus, and the haul was so large that the net began to tear. Now the catch outgrows the crew. The fishermen signal to the men in the second boat. Even two boats cannot hold what one word of Christ has given.
The nets and boats were never built to hold what the Lord was handing over.
He fills the human vessels with blessings they cannot hold without breaking, blessings that go beyond what the disciple needs. His companions arrive with a second ship, and it sinks too, so great are the riches given by the Lord of glory.
The trouble went further than a torn net.
They did not even have the strength to receive the catch on their own.
The Lord's instruction was plural; Peter's obedience was singular. Commentators notice that detail and read the broken net in its light.
Simon protested that he and others had worked all night without success — and night was the most likely time for catching fish. Yet he accepted the Lord's word at least in part: he let down one net, though the Lord had said "nets." Sadly, our obedience is often only partial. The fish were too many for the net and it broke (v.7). … The blessing that God is willing to give is more than our limited vessels can hold.
The word for "partners" here is not the word used three verses later. One word can point to men who share the same water, the other to men who share the same boat.
In Luke 5:7 a different word is translated "partners." It describes men who only shared the privilege of fishing in the lake, since these fishermen were in different ships. But in verse 10 of the same chapter our word describes partners in a closer relationship. They shared the ownership of one ship and its nets, so they also shared the fish they caught.
Commentators differ. Others read the two words here as much the same:
In Luke 5 the two words are used in a general way. "They signaled to their partners" (v. 7), while the word in verse 10 shows they had a share in common. There is nothing very definite to mark them apart. A word can carry a looser sense in one place and a stricter sense in another.
The miracle was not only about fish. It showed these men what their new work would look like.
It was a beautiful picture of the gospel work they were called to from that day on. Apart from Him they could do nothing; His power did the work. Yet He still let them feel the weakness of human responsibility, for the nets were breaking and the boats sinking under the weight of the very blessing He gave.
The same men fish again in John 21, after the resurrection. That time nothing tears, and the difference is deliberate.
Throwing in the net and getting a great haul without the net breaking is a little picture of what will be at the end. … In Luke 5 the net broke, and the ships began to sink. Here it is not so, and the Holy Spirit marks this out as different. Christ's work in the coming age is perfect. He is there after the resurrection, and what He brings about does not in itself rest on man's responsibility — the net does not break. At the beginning, in Luke 5, the disciples gathered a great mass of fish, but the net broke: the arrangement that was meant to hold the fish could not keep them in it.
- Word. One word from Christ filled the nets that a whole night of skilled work had left empty. The catch came from Him, not from their method.
- Overflow. The gift outran the vessel. Nets tore, a second boat came, and both boats sank low. What He gives goes past what we can hold.
- Weakness. Their limits showed in receiving too. They had no strength even to take in what He gave.
- Partners. The men in the other boat shared the lake. The word in verse 10 can go further, describing partners who owned boat and nets together. Commentators differ on how sharp that line is.
- Picture. This is the pattern of their coming gospel work. His power supplies everything. Their responsibility strains under it — until the day of the haul that does not break the net.
But Simon Peter, seeing it, fell at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.
A borrowed boat, a night of empty nets, then a catch so heavy that two boats start to sink. Peter's response is not delight but dread. Why does a miracle like this make a fisherman beg the Lord to leave? And why does he beg it from as close as he can get, at Jesus' knees?
Peter's cry answers what the catch told him about the Man in his boat.
When Peter saw the huge catch of fish, the Spirit was forming a link that would never break. He cried, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." What had taught him that? The catch of fish was the expression, to his conscience, of divine glory. The veil had dropped off the face of the Nazarene, and the glory of God shone out. Who but God could have commanded the wealth of the lake into Peter's net?
Notice what Peter confesses. He does not list failures; he names a condition.
As long as he was busy washing his nets, he knew neither God nor himself. Now he knows both. And it is a remarkable thing: he does not judge what he has done, but what he is. Many souls admit that they must repent of their guilty acts and judge them. But they have never been brought to see the source of those acts. Underneath the sins there is "a sinful man." The sense of God's presence opens our eyes and shows us what we are. It makes us see that our only refuge is with the One who could condemn us.
The words and the posture pull in opposite directions. Unlike Adam, who hid, Peter moves toward the One he feels unfit to face.
Peter does not run away from the Lord, the way Adam hid himself. He is drawn to Him. At the same time, in his own conscience he stands there a judged, convicted, sinful man. His conscience takes Christ's side against himself. "Depart from me," he says, but he says it at Jesus' knees. This might seem like a contradiction. But it was really love for the Lord and care for His honor, because His word had revealed Christ to him. His heart does not have perfect peace, but Christ has taken possession of it.
This double movement is not unique to Peter.
He felt the full weight of how unfit he was for Jesus, but he could not do without Him. It has been the same with every soul God has awakened, from that day to this.
Two things reached Peter at once.
Love attracted Peter; Luke 5. Why does he not run away? Why go up to Him and say, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord"? The love and grace drew him, and the light that the love had brought in convicted him. Light shows me what I am in God's sight, and it brings me there, so that I am in the light as He is.
Peter asks the Lord to go, and says it at His knees. Both halves come from one work of the Spirit.
There is the deep sense of sinfulness and guilt, and yet that mysterious clinging of the heart to the One whose moral glory has humbled us in the dust. "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But where were these glowing words said? At the knees of a Savior-God. Did Peter imagine that Jesus was going to depart from him?... We do not and cannot believe it. The Spirit of God always combines these two things — the awareness of complete unworthiness and an earnest clinging to Christ. The first is conviction; the second conversion.
Peter's words place him in long company.
God produces this spirit of self-judgment in all who really have to do with Him. Examples of it fill Scripture. When Abraham found himself in the presence of God, he said, I "am but dust and ashes." Isaiah said, "I am lost." Daniel said, "my radiant appearance was fearfully changed." Peter said, "I am a sinful man, O Lord." And Paul said, "sinners, of whom I am the foremost." And all of these were outstanding saints in their day. They would not have been outstanding if they had not had such an experience. Have we had it?
- Glory first. The catch was not a lucky haul but a lifted veil; Peter saw the God who commands the sea, and only then saw himself.
- Light next. In that presence he judged not what he had done but what he was — "a sinful man," the source under the acts.
- Love holds. He asked the Lord to leave, and said it at His knees. Love had already taken hold of him.
- Grace answers. Conviction and clinging always come together: the sense of unworthiness, and the refusal to let Christ go.
- Every saint. Abraham, Isaiah, Daniel, Peter, Paul — the same self-judgment marks all who meet God. Have we known it?
For astonishment had laid hold on him, and on all those who were with him, at the haul of fishes which they had taken;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and in like manner also on James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be catching men.
Peter has just fallen at Jesus' knees and begged Him to leave, and the same catch of fish has stunned his partners, James and John. The Lord does not argue with Peter's confession — He answers it with a word that removes fear and a promise of new work.
Peter had asked the Lord to go away from him. What he got instead was the opposite.
Here was the divine response to the cry of a contrite heart. The wound was deep, but the grace was deeper still. Simon was not only convicted, but converted. He saw himself as a man full of sin, but he saw the Saviour full of grace. His sin could never be beyond the reach of that grace.
The Lord does not soften Peter's view of himself. He takes away only the one thing that would have driven Peter off.
Fear had taken hold of Peter, but the Lord never allows fear to exist in His presence. He speaks and banishes the fear, because He is the Lord of grace. He allows everything else to remain — in no way weakening the effects of the work in the soul — but He removes the fear. "Depart from me." No, the Lord will never depart. He says, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men" — if I had not met you to save you, I could not save others through you. He does more than make Simon Peter happy. He gives him a fresh blessing and promises him service. So instead of remaining a sinner, Peter becomes a servant.
Fear can even grow at first as God's Spirit works. Only Christ has the right to end it.
He banishes the fear so natural to the heart where sin is, which is even increased at first by the action of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit only removes fear by the revelation of Christ, His work, and His word... Our Lord was about to bring in that great redemption by His blood. On that ground He could righteously say, "Do not be afraid." This was the divine way of forming a man who would later become a fisher of men. He had to know the blessing of grace himself before he was fit to tell others about it.
Peter has just declared his own unfitness. The promise that follows rests on the other Person in the boat.
"And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid." That means, "It is not what you are, Simon, but what I am; not what you can be to Me, but what I can be to you; not your efforts, but My grace." He added, "From now on you will be catching men." A man only has to own the truth about himself, and the Lord does the rest.
An earlier meeting with Jesus changed Peter's name. This one changed his trade.
He was down in the depths of repentance and self-judgment, completely broken before the Lord. There he learned His grace in a very special way, as Jesus said to him, "Simon, do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." In effect He said, "I changed your name last time; I shall change your occupation now."
Scripture uses the same phrase elsewhere, and not in a good sense. The work it describes also takes more than one shape.
In Jeremiah 5:26 we read of leaders in wickedness who "catch men"; here we have Simon commissioned to catch men for Christ and for heaven. For this great work God acknowledges no other means than the gospel... In Acts 2 we have an example of fishing with a net: three thousand souls were blessed. In Acts 8 we see a man fishing with a hook — Philip landing one man, the eunuch, for Christ. Both public and individual work remain open to us today.
The verse names James and John as Simon's partners. The word spoken to Simon did not stay with Simon.
There is a season for everything, a time to fear and a time not to fear. Nor is this peculiar to Simon. It is for every believer in Christ. Until we know Him by faith we do well to fear... But when grace makes Him known to us, "Do not be afraid" is as truly for us as for him. And so it was for James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon's partners. The word addressed to Simon they took for themselves believingly; and they were right. It was written for us, that we might believe and have the blessing with the same assurance. Perfect love casts out fear.
- Conviction — Peter cried that he was unworthy. Christ did not correct him; He answered him. The wound was deep, the grace deeper still.
- Comfort — Christ takes the fear away and leaves the self-knowledge in place. The redemption He was about to bring in by His blood gave Him the right to say "Do not be afraid."
- Commission — the promise rests on what Christ is, not on what Simon is. Peter is no longer only a sinner; he is a servant.
- Change — one meeting changed his name; this one changed his work. He would catch men, not fish, by the gospel alone — with the net of Acts 2 or the hook of Acts 8.
- Company — James and John, his partners, took the word spoken to Simon as their own. Scripture records it so that every believer can do the same.
And having run the ships on shore, leaving all they followed him.
Verse 11 closes the scene at the lake. The men walk away from the best catch of their lives. Two questions follow: what made that possible, and what it asks of believers who still have jobs to go to.
The leaving was not a decision squeezed out of them by duty. It was the effect of a Person who had grown too large in their eyes for the boats to matter.
Such was the power of grace. It made everything little in comparison with Christ, and with what Christ becomes to the man who believes in Him.
That is why there is no hesitation in the record — no weighing of Christ against the trade.
There was no halting here, at any rate; no wavering between Christ and present things. Boats, nets, fish, natural ties — he surrendered them all, without hesitation and without reserve. This was not cold duty or legal service. It was the grand and necessary result of having seen the glory and heard the voice of the Son of God.
The timing is the sharp edge of the verse. They abandon the business on the one morning it had never done better.
Most people would have thought Peter very reckless. They would have said he had better take his fish to market first. But Peter answered the call, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He gave up everything that had captivated him until then, on the day when it was at its brightest and most prosperous. He had a heart to be for the Lord, and the Lord only. Christ outshone everything in his soul, and he leaves all to be near that Saviour, to be His companion and His servant as He passes through this scene.
The catch was not just his own success. It was a gift from the One he now followed.
The Lord bestowed a great temporal blessing upon Peter. He gave him the biggest catch of fish he had ever had. It was a blessing beyond what nets and boats could hold. Yet in that very gift the Lord revealed Himself to Peter in such a way that He became greater in Peter's eyes than the blessings He had given... If ever there was a catch of fish that Peter had a right to keep, it was the catch the Lord had given. But he forsook the blessings to follow the Blesser.
The Lord did not send Peter out untrained.
This was the divine way of forming one who was afterwards to become a fisher of men. He had to be in the experience of the blessing of grace himself before he was fit to be the witness of it to others.
The same voice that calms Peter also sends him.
The Lord does not leave him in doubt about the grace that can take up the sinful. "Fear not," He says to Simon; "from now on you will catch men." The grace shown here is not simply the reception of sinners. When Christ is known in the heart like this, He joins the redeemed to Himself in His message of mercy to men.
Commentators answer this plainly.
But perhaps you say to me, Do we all have to give up our business to become Christians? Certainly not. That is not at all necessary, nor is it the point here. The picture before us is of one who turns his back on what had been his world.
Yet no one is left without a share in His service.
The Lord may not call us to give up everything, as He called the disciples when He was present on earth. But we can serve Him only as He becomes, in spirit, the blessed Object before the soul. Not all are called to give up their daily work. That, in fact, is the path of only a few. Most of God's people are clearly told to stay in their earthly calling (1 Cor. 7:20). Still, the Lord has some service for all... This service means giving up everything that would entangle us in the affairs of this life, and we can carry it out only as we keep near to Him.
- Grace first. Before Peter left anything, he heard "Fear not." Grace met the sinner where he stood.
- Grace shrinks things. It made everything little next to Christ. Boats and nets did not feel like a loss; Christ outweighed them.
- Grace at its costliest. They left the biggest catch of their lives — a catch the Lord Himself had given. They left the blessings to follow the Blesser.
- Grace commissions. Christ does more than forgive Peter. He joins him to His own message of mercy to men.
- Grace today. Few must leave their trade. Everyone must drop whatever entangles them and stay near to Him.