1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

The Book of Luke, Jesus Catches Men, Part I – Lesson 49

Luke 5:1-11, And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, ²And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. ³And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. ⁴Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. ⁵And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. ⁶And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. ⁷And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. ⁸When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. ⁹For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: ¹⁰And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. ¹¹And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. 

In reading this account in Luke we see an example of the Lord catching men as men catch fish.   

And from this experience we are told that Peter will henceforth catch men. 

So fish are caught but more importantly men are caught for the Lord Jesus Christ.

As Christians that is what we are to be about if we are to be about our father’s business.

So from this point on Simon Peter, and his brother Andrew although not mentioned in this account, and their partners James and John left their vocation as fishermen of fish and followed Jesus to be fishermen of men wherever Jesus went.

From this point on they forsook all and followed him, Luke tells us!

This event is one of the turning points in the life of the disciples. 

Remember that the three named fishermen, Peter, James and John would compose the inner circle of the disciples.

These three were singled out to witness events which the other disciples did not see such as the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ, as Luke describes it in Luke 9:28.

It is interesting that these three are mentioned by name in this account but Andrew who most likely was there was not mentioned.

Simon Peter had been mentioned in Luke’s gospel in the fourth chapter in regard to the healing of his mother in law by Jesus Christ. 

But this is Luke’s first mention of disciples and of James and John. 

Andrew is not mentioned but another person in the boat along with Peter is inferred because Peter uses the word “we” in reference to “we have toiled all night.” 

Luke also uses the words they and them to refer to more than one on Peter’s boat and we assume that that the other partner is Andrew, Peter’s brother. 

Luke 5:7,  And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them.

Apparently fishing was a two man operation and that is shown in James and John also having their own boat.

This is not the first calling of these men as can be shown in the other gospels.

There is an account in Matthew that is similar to this account in Luke but it is not the same event for the details are different. 

Read Matthew 4:18-22,  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. ¹⁹And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. ²⁰And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. ²¹And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. ²²And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

There seems to be a number of callings of some of the disciples which indicates that there were several steps to total commitment on their part to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

One of the keys to understand the events in Luke chapter five is to recognize that there is a progressive drawing by Jesus Christ of the disciples.

From the accounts of the other gospels it seems that although they had followed Jesus at the first call, they did not yet follow Him in a complete and unconditional way.

They were still, at least for part of the time, engaged in their trade as fishermen until the final choice was made to forsake all and follow Jesus as we have read in verse 11 of chapter 5.

Let’s take a look at where this miracle occurred.

Luke 5:1-3,  And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, ²And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. ³And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

We see here in these first three verses that Jesus was standing by the Sea of Galilee, which Luke calls the “lake of Gennesaret”.  

Luke, always calls this body of water a lake, whereas the other gospel writers call it a sea.   

We would also call it a lake because of its relatively small size to what we know as a sea. 

It measures roughly 13 miles by 7 miles and is situated about 700 feet below sea-level, one of the lowest places on the surface of the earth, the Dead Sea being near 1300 feet below sea level.  

This is the only place where it is called Gennesaret (has a connection to a word meaning harp shaped), the usual name being Galilee and it was also called Chinneroth in the Old Testament; and Tiberias twice in the book of John.

But around Jesus a crowd had gathered, listening to Him proclaim the word of God.

Beyond the crowd of those who were pressing in on the Lord Jesus, there was the sea of Galilee, and two ships were pulled up on the shore.

By the way we would not call these ships today but we would call them boats because we are used to ships that are much larger today.

One ship belonged to Peter and Andrew(v. 3), and the other belonged to James and John (vv. 7, 10).

These four fishermen were not among the crowd that were pressing in on the Lord.

Instead, they were off washing their nets (v. 2).

They had spent a long and fruitless night fishing for fish while the Lord Jesus was fishing for men(5).

Just think of this scene. 

You would think that Peter, Andrew, James and John would be close to Jesus Christ as he is preaching but they are off washing their nets.

But this was not a chance occurance, for Jesus had business to do with these fishermen whom he had previously called to follow him. 

He wanted them to leave all and follow him and they had not yet done that.

They had left on occasion to follow Jesus but not yet had they forsook all to follow him.

No doubt Jesus purposed to be there, knowing that this is where the disciples would be.

There are no accidents with God and it was no accident that the boat from which He taught, was Peter’s (v. 3).

From the outward Jesus is doing that which would make His speaking more effective and efficient, as well as providing a way of escape from the crowds when He was finished.

But the important thing that is happening here is that Jesus was seeking the disciples.

It was time for them to become permanently attached to Him, accompanying Him wherever He went.

The time for complete and total commitment and involvement in the cause of Christ had come.

The appearance at the lake that day was for the purpose of bringing about a life-changing decision on the part of Peter and his companions.

Jesus would momentarily use the boat as His pulpit, but He was intent on making fishermen, fishers of men.

The disciples had apparently finished washing their nets and had probably hung them out on the ship to dry.

Jesus had likewise finished His teaching, and asked Peter to put out to deeper water, and to let down the nets for a catch.

Notice these words of our Lord:

Luke 5:4,  Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. (Older form of draft, a pull or haul or a large take of fish)

Jesus did not make a suggestion; He made a command.

And He did not order the disciples to let down their nets to try to catch fish, He ordered them to put out their nets for a catch of fish. 

And not only a catch of fish but a haul of fish, a large catch of fish. 

In other words, Jesus was issuing both a command and a promise.

The command was to put out the nets.

The promise was that there would be a large catch or haul of fish.

And what a haul it would be!

It seems to me that you can catch in Peter’s reply some irritation at being told to again cast off and continue fishing.

Luke 5:5,  And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

In the first place, Peter’s words indicate that he and his partners were dog tired after laboring all night.

And performing hard labor without resulting in any benefit makes the work even harder.  

Besides that, they had just finished washing their nets which included getting out all or the flotsom and jetsom and trash of the sea.

And by Jesus command they would have to do it all over again.

Their efforts had already been proven fruitless.

And any good fishermen knew that nighttime was the best time to fish.

If they had not caught anything at night, why in the world should they catch a large haul of fish in the daytime, the worst possible time to fish.

And there is a hint of professional irritation here. 

It is like a woman telling the mechanic what she thinks is wrong with the car.

Did Jesus, a carpenter, think that He knew more about fish than these fishermen?

His order seemed naïve or ill informed by Peter.

No expert welcomes the advice of a novice for pride gets in the way.

But Peter relented and let down the nets, but it would seem that he has safeguarded himself for the failure he thinks is certain.

You almost wonder if Peter didn’t want to fail in this venture, so that he could give Jesus an “I told you so” look.

Surely when it came to catching fish, he was the expert.

Jesus was the Master, and so His word would be obeyed, but under this slight protest.

And because he obeyed the result was incredible.

There were those stories that all fishermen swapped, about good catches, but this beat all that Peter had ever heard, by far!

The nets were absolutely full. They began to break.

They signaled their partners for help, and even with two ships, the harvest was so large that both boats began to sink.

The catch of a lifetime had been made.

And now it was time for Jesus Christ to “hook” the fishermen.

Every miracle had its purpose, and this one was no exception.

There was a “catch” to the story, and it is now to be disclosed.

Simon Peter was the leader and the spokesman for the others.

He immediately responded as Peter was want to do, by falling down at the feet of Jesus.