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.