Luke 5:1-11 (CSB)
1 As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” 9 For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.” 11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
This particular story is unique to the Gospel of Luke. The other 3 Gospels do not recount this event. Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20 tell a story of Jesus calling Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, and James and John, but those accounts differ greatly in sequence and detail to this event. I think that is because only Luke tells of this specific occasion. In the book, A Harmony of the Gospels by Robert L. Thomas and Stanley N. Gundry, they explain that this call in Luke came later than the one in Matthew and Mark. It seems like Jesus had told them to “Follow Me” before, but then the disciples still went back to fishing. It wasn’t until after this event in Luke that they fully commit to following Jesus full-time.
I think some of us might have the idea in our head that the disciples, having never heard nor seen Jesus before, meet Him one day and He says “Follow Me” and they then drop everything and from that moment on are transformed into His disciples. Matthew 4:18-22 is probably why some people think this. It says that Jesus, “As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ‘Follow me,’ he told them, ‘and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”
That is not the first time they had encountered, or much less, heard of Jesus, though. We know from reading all the Gospel accounts starting at their first chapters, that Andrew and Simon Peter had met Jesus before this calling. The following text makes it clear that the first time they meet Him is immediately after Jesus’ baptism. John 1:35-42 says, “The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’
The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, ‘What are you looking for?’
They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which means ‘Teacher’), ‘where are you staying?’
‘Come and you’ll see,’ he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. He first found his own brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated ‘the Christ’), and he brought Simon to Jesus.
When Jesus saw him, he said, ‘You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas’ (which is translated ‘Peter’).”
That encounter is when Andrew and Simon Peter first express their interest in following Jesus. This passage doesn’t mean that from this moment on they were always with Jesus, but rather they stayed with Him that day. It seems clear that the event in Matthew 4:18-22 happened after this event in John 1. And our text for today, Luke 5, happened still later. By this time, Peter was already part of Jesus’ band of disciples.
We see evidence for this in Luke 4:38-39, which says that Jesus, “After he left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately and began to serve them.”
So now, reading today’s text in Luke 5 again, we might view it with different eyes and notice new things. Let’s look at it again, taking it one section at a time. Verses 1-5 says, “As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’
‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.’”
According to Strong’s Concordance the word for Master is epistates and it means “master, teacher, chief, commander.” This particular word only appears in the Gospel of Luke and nowhere else in the Bible. Simon Peter was now calling Jesus His master. This is a different word than the word for Rabbi or teacher which is what they had called Him when they first met Him. Next, in the following passage we will read, when Simon Peter addresses Jesus, he doesn’t call him that first word he used for master, but a different one. This word is translated as Lord, but according to HELPS Word-studies, this word is kýrios and it means “properly, a person exercising absolute ownership rights; lord (Lord).”
Let’s read what it says in verses 6-11: “When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, ‘Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!’ For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.
‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jesus told Simon. ‘From now on you will be catching people.’ Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.”
Simon Peter has such a profound reaction to the miracle of the abundance of the fish they catch. He falls to his knees and is filled with such grief over his sin. Why would he have this reaction? If you remember, he’s already seen Jesus perform miracles before. Jesus healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. Why did this miracle cause such an outcry of repentance? I think this is the moment of Simon Peter’s conversion. He realizes who Jesus is and his response is the only appropriate response we should all have at that same realization. It is one of repentance and humility before the feet of the Son of God.
In Ellicott’s commentary, he writes, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man.--We must remember that both before and on that very day Peter had listened to our Lord’s teaching in all its deep and piercing power, and that thus what we have learnt to call ‘conviction of sin’ may well have been begun in him. Then came the miracle, with the proof it gave of superhuman power and knowledge, and with that the consciousness, such as ever accompanies man’s recognition of contact with the divine, of his own exceeding sinfulness. So Isaiah cried, ‘Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips’ (Isaiah 6:5). So Job cried, ‘I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes’ (Job 42:5-6).”
When we truly encounter the Lord, we are convicted of our sin. That’s how we know if we’ve met Jesus or not.
When we first met Jesus, we see Him for who He is and He tells us who we are.
As that truth of Who Jesus is sinks into our hearts, we are convicted of our sin. That’s how we know if we’ve been born again.
There is a problem within Christianity where we have a lot of people who identify as Christians, but who have not surrendered their lives to Him. Some of these people haven’t even met Him yet. They’ve thought about Jesus, but they haven’t met Him.
I think this is why Jesus says what He says in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, drive out demons in your name, and do many miracles in your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you lawbreakers!’”
In his book, Pensées, Blaise Pascal writes, “Men often take their imagination for their heart, and often believe they are converted as soon as they start thinking of becoming converted” (Pascal, Pensées, p.347). In other words, many people think just thinking about becoming saved means they are saved. They’ve imagined in their minds that Jesus is real and so they think that is enough. But they haven’t actually been converted. They haven’t actually met Jesus yet and been convicted of their sin. They stall out right at the beginning of their faith. A person who is merely thinking about becoming a Christian is not a Christian. We must be converted. This is what Jesus says in Matthew 18:3. (CSB), “Truly I tell you,” he said, “unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Or as the KJV says it, which is how I’ve memorized it, “Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Do you think this is why there are so many people who loosely call themselves Christians, yet they do not live in any way which indicates that they are followers of Christ? I do think that as societies turn more and more anti-Christian, the lukewarm or nominal Christians will drop their affiliations. Yet in some societies, like in the U.S., instead of ceasing to call themselves Christians, they are trying to change the definition of what it means to be a Christian. There are pastors with large platforms who are telling their listeners that to be saved requires nothing more than simply thinking about a becoming a Christian. Maybe they don’t say those words specifically, but they might as well. For there is no call to repentance. There is no confession of sin. There is no change of heart required. There is no conversion.
Simon Peter met Jesus. Then he got to know Him. He saw Who Jesus truly is, and that truth produced the realization of who Simon Peter is and he repented and fell down at Jesus’ feet and worshiped Him.
And what is Jesus’ response to Simon Peter’s repentance? He says to him in verse 10, “‘Don’t be afraid,’ Jesus told Simon. ‘From now on you will be catching people.’” The word “catching” is sometimes translated as fishing, but I like how the CSB kept it faithful to the Greek. According to Strong’s Concordance, the word is zógreó, and it means “to catch alive.” The Lord tells Simon Peter and the other disciples who are there that from now on their job will be to catch other people and bring them to Jesus.
This is the same word that is used by Paul in 2 Timonthy2:26, which says, “Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.” Here, the word is translated as “captive.” The devil has caught and captured people. All of us believers, we are to present the truth to them, just as Paul instructs Timothy, so that seeing the truth, they may be set free from the devil’s trap and be brought to saving faith in Jesus, too.
By the way, this is the job of all believers. We should not think that only people called to be evangelists or missionaries have this responsibility. We all have the responsibly to share the truth of who Jesus is with everyone we know. For if we know the truth, why would we withhold it from other people?
This goes directly along with what Jesus said about the sheep and the goats. He said, “Only the one who does the will of My Father” will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Simply calling ourselves a Christian, or simply thinking about becoming a Christian is not enough. If we don’t actually know Who Jesus is, we can’t expect Him to acknowledge us before the Father. If we haven’t been following Him, doing what He has told us to do, what makes us think we are really one of His sheep?
Remember what James 2:20 says? Faith without works is dead. If we have real faith in Jesus, if we have been converted, then our faith will propel us to action. It will cause us to want to share the truth with others. It will cause us to want to follow Jesus and obey Him.
So as no one misunderstands me, let me clarify we are not obeying Jesus in order to earn our salvation. We cannot earn it. We could never do enough to be saved. We are sinful, imperfect, flawed people. That is what Simon Peter realized. He saw his extreme lack compared to Jesus’ perfect majesty. It caused him to fall at Jesus’ feet and humble himself. He implored Jesus to depart from him, for he saw that his sin could not stand next to Jesus’ holiness. It’s not that our actions can ever earn us salvation. Jesus gives us salvation as a gift. But our response to that gift matters. Do we allow the Holy Spirit to work repentance in our heart? Do we allow conviction of sin to cause us to confess our sins and repent? Do we humble ourselves and become converted? It is our confession of our need for a Savior that brings us forgiveness, and it’s our faith in Jesus as our Savior which brings us salvation, but our response to what Jesus has done for us, that proves that we have faith in Him. Do you see how it works together? Our actions prove that we have been converted. It is as Selwyn Hughes so succinctly wrote: “You are not working to be saved; you are working because you are saved.”
This is so vital to understand, because I am afraid the Church continues to do so many people an injustice. There are so many people who are still living in that space that Simon Peter was in before he was converted. They’ve heard of Jesus, seen some proof of His goodness and love, and want to follow Him, but they have not encountered Him to the point of repentance. They haven’t been convicted of their sin. I think this is largely because we have so many “Christian” voices telling them they don’t need to repent. I think those leaders are either wolves in sheep’s clothing, or they, themselves, have not been converted. They don’t know any different, for they have not been set free. For otherwise why would they leave people in their sin? Why would they be okay with leaving people still caught in the devil’s trap? Jesus can set them free. He is not too weak to help them. There is no sin that is too big for the Cross of Christ. If we present the Gospel to someone, and they want to be saved, let’s not leave them unconverted. Let’s disciple them and lead them all the way to freedom.
As we see with Simon Peter, this usually doesn’t happen immediately. It’s a process, and it was a process with me. I praise the Lord that the people around me didn’t leave me unconverted. They kept speaking truth to me until I was set free.
The last thing I want to mention, is the other important words Jesus spoke to Simon Peter. He said, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus speaks these words to us today, too. Do not be afraid. As we follow Him, like Simon Peter, we too will face discouragements. Simon and his fellow fishermen had been out all night fishing and didn’t have anything to show for it. Jesus told him to not give up; to put his nets in again. At first, Simon Peter resisted, but then he quickly relented and obeyed. Then he saw the Lord’s power and he caught more fish than he ever caught before.
If you are going through a moment of ‘empty nets,’ I am here to tell you to not give up hope. Seek the Lord’s direction. Find out where He wants you to ‘fish.’ Trust His Word. If we obey and do what He has told us to do, then we can rely on Him to provide, for just as He provided for people in the New Testament, He is still faithful to provide today. All we need to do is obey what He has told us to do.
And just like Simon Peter, when we obey, then we will see more of the holiness of God. We will realize more of just how majestic and perfect our Savior is, and how weak and insufficient we truly are compared to Him. When we hold that proper perspective, then it’s pretty easy to follow His leading. But if we elevate ourselves and think we know better than God, that’s when we do our own thing and disregard His leading. Let us pray that the Lord helps us to never be so prideful. Let us repent and do exactly what Simon Peter did: let us fall at Jesus’ feet in repentance.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we are sorry for the times when we become prideful. Please help us by Your Holy Spirit, to maintain a posture of repentance. For You are infinitely holy, and we are so sinful. Thank You for clothing us in the righteousness of Jesus and cleansing us of our sins. Help us to obey You. And help us to tell others of Your love, so we may ‘catch’ others for You. We are so thankful for Your great love. In Jesus our Savior’s name we pray, amen.
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