Luke 5:1-11 - The Fishermen's Faith

What have you left to follow Jesus?

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Gospels: Week 3 - Jesus' authority to call, heal, forgive, and welcome sinners

Luke 5:1–11 (NASB95)

¹ Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; ² and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³ And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. ⁴ When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 

⁵ Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; ⁷ so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 

¹¹ When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Heidelberg Catechism

Q&A 21

Q. What is true faith?

A. True faith is

not only a knowledge and conviction

that everything God reveals in his Word is true;

it is also a deep-rooted assurance,

created in me by the Holy Spirit

through the gospel,

that, out of sheer grace earned for us by Christ,

not only others, but I too,

have had my sins forgiven,

have been made forever right with God,

and have been granted salvation.

Summary

As Jesus begins His public ministry, the crowd pressing around Him keep getting bigger. Certainly many of the people have come simply to see or even experience one of the miraculous healings from Jesus that everybody had been talking about, but at the beginning of today's passage, Jesus has the crowd right where He wants them (and us!): listening to the word of God.

Soon the crowd had become so large that Jesus needed to expand His auditorium, so to speak, so He got into Simon's boat and began teaching the people from the boat. But Luke doesn't report any of the specifics of Jesus' lesson; rather, he directs our attention to what happened after it.

Our first clue came when Jesus saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. As Simon (whom we know better as Peter) tells Jesus, they'd worked hard all night and caught nothing. The end of their long shift was near, and although their work left them emptyhanded, at least they could get some rest.

But Jesus had other plans for them, ordering Simon to put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. The resulting catch was so overwhelming that it began to break the nets and nearly sank Simon's boat before they to called out for reinforcements.

  Dig Deeper  

It's always easy to pick on Peter - the impetuous disciple who so often speaks and impulsively acts out before thinking, and who'd famously go on to deny Jesus on that dark Friday morning. But Peter, more so than any of the other disciples demonstrates a massive amount of faith time after time - faith that's clear to see in today's episode.

You can feel the chagrin in Peter's voice as Jesus gives him the seemingly ridiculous order to head back out - an order that would add multiple hours to the fishermen's already long day. Peter tells Jesus of the previous night's failure (a supremely hard thing for any fisherman to admit!), but then immediately adds but I will do as you say and let down the nets. That's true faith! Remind yourself of all of the seeming ridiculous things God has asked people to do in the Old Testament passages we've read this year, and how God rewarded the faithfulness of people who let go of 'common sense' in order to fully cling to our omnipotent Father.

Then there's Peter's gut wrenching reaction to the massive catch of fish, for amazement had seized him and all his companions. They suddenly realized that Jesus was no ordinary man, and it becomes painfully plain to Peter that as a sinful man he had no place in Jesus' presence. It's because Peter was so aware of the magnitude of his sin that he'd go on to appreciate so much what it was that Christ accomplished for him (read the first chapter of his first letter for a reminder!).

As today's passage ends, these newly minted disciples brought their boats to land - the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars in equipment (if not more) that they depended on for their families' livelihoods. Fishing wasn't just a hobby for these guys - they had a massive commercial operation going on here. But Luke tells is that they left everything and followed Jesus.

What will you give up to follow Him?

AAA Prayer (About)

• ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who often proves our faith by ordering things that seem so ridiculous and impossible to us;

• ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that your faith would be as strong and robust as Peter's;

• ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:

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