Casting the Net one more time

The gospel of Luke records the life and ministry of Jesus, and thus far, we have looked at the birth stories of John the Baptist and Jesus, a brief account of an event from the boyhood of Jesus, the ministry of John the Baptist, and the preparation of Jesus’ ministry, including his temptation and his beginning to teach in synagogues. Along with this, we have seen the accounts of some healing miracles and casting out demons.

As we launch into chapter 5, this morning we are going to hopefully be encouraged by the events surrounding the calling of the firs disciples. Let us look at Luke5.1-11

Luke 5:1–11 ESV

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

This is quite an amazing story, and there are many lessons and encouragements in it. Let’s look at it closely to see what we can find. Luk5.1

Luke 5:1 ESV

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret,

We have already seen Jesus has drawn much interest in himself through his reaching and his healings. His reputation is growing, and many people are coming out to see him. In this case, he is standing out by the lake of Gennesaret, also known to us in other scriptures as the sea of Galilee.

The crowd is pressing in on him to hear the word of God. This shows us that people were not just following him because he told stories well, or was entertaining them. They were coming to hear the Word of God.

Luke 5:2 ESV

and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.

Fishermen in that day, before nylon or polyester ropes were available, needed to be careful to both wash and dry their nets after each use. Otherwise the ropes would rot or get mildew and mold on them. Moldy ropes would not keep their strength, and so it was important to wash and dry the nets. We know, then, before Simon says so in verse 5, that these men had already been out on the water. We will learn in a bit that these two boats were working together.

Luke 5:3 ESV

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.

Outdoor preaching can be hard enough, with the voice of the speaker competing with birds and breezes. Even more so, if this crowd was on the same level as Jesus, it would be difficult for anyone not close to him to see him, so he gets on the boat. He asks Simon to put out a little from the land, and then he proceeds to sit down in the boat. Rabbis would sit when they taught. Their students would normally take a position on the ground while the teacher sat a little elevated, although sometimes they may sit on the same level, which presents much less difficulty if there are less students.

You will find phrases both in the Bible and in ancient literature of someone “sitting at the feet of” their teacher or rabbi. Now that Jesus is up on the boat, and elevated above his listeners, they can both see and hear him more clearly. I’m not criticizing anyone, but I have known pastors that feel that it is better to speak from the floor at the same level their congregation is sitting. This way they feel they are being humble perhaps, or that being up higher somehow may make them seem less approachable. But the reason that most churches have a platform for the pulpit is not to make the pastor seem higher than anyone or more esteemed in the faith, but it is simply a way to ensure that people have a better opportunity to see.

My youngest daughter could tell you that earlier this week, she had trouble seeing at a performance, and this was because the performers were at the same level as the audience. So even though we were only 3 or 4 rows back, the people in front of us blocked part of our view. Now, in some churches, such as the famous Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in For Lauderdale, the church of Dr. Kennedy, the pulpit is really high up. And if you visit St. Andrews, DR. RC Sproul’s church in Sanford, north of Orlando, you will find the pulpit is so high that the minister must go up stairs to get there.

And in that great American novel, Moby Dick, there is a long scene recorded of a great sermon given by a pastor in a church in a fishing town that likewise had to get way up into his pulpit to preach. Now, in those churches that have the pulpit very high, of course a practical part of the reasoning is that which I mentioned, to make the preacher easier to see, and in the days before sound systems especially, it would help their voice to carry over the people in the front so those in the back could hear it.

But perhaps even more important, the reason the pulpit is so high in many of the reformed churches is that it is to remind the people that they are hearing the Word of God preached, and this honor is given not to the preacher but to the message he preaches, the very Word of God. So while it may be nice for pastors to want to be down with the people, it seems to me that the pulpit should have a central place and an elevated place in our worship, not only elevated physically, but elevated spiritually, whereby we are reminded that the Word of God, and not just a man’s own Words, are what we are dealing with.

My preaching professor felt strongly about this as well. He liked a solid wooden pulpit. And in the chapel of the Bible College I attended, they had a sort of acrylic pulpit that was open. He called it the Charismatic pulpit, he said, because you can see right through it. And what more important position for the presenting the Word could there be then when the Word is Preached by Jesus himself?

So humble Jesus was, and yet how high was his message. This message, the word of God, was too important to not make every accommodation that could practically be made to help the most people hear this message. It seems like Jesus was as practical as a farmer. I knew a guy from South Africa, and he told me there is a phrase there, “The farmer makes a way”. It was their way of saying that necessity is the mother of invention. Farmers have to be very inventive. I would venture to guess that on almost every farm on the planet you will find some tool that the farmer himself invented or modified in some way, and while in today’s world, where we can order parts and tools and have them in a day or two, the farmer of old was out there, far from the city, and the planting needed to be done, and the tool had broken or was somehow inadequate for the present job, and so the farmer makes a way.

Many farmers are woodworkers and metal smiths. They have to learn to be a jack of many trades. Here we may say that Jesus serves as an inspiration to those who must make things work with whatever is available. He needs a quick solution to his problem of crowds pressing in, and he wanting to have the most people possible be able to hear his teaching, so he sees these boats and decides that the pulpit is there, already prepared to be used.

Now Jesus is done with his lesson, and he has a request that is also a sort of test. Luk5.4

Luke 5:4–5 ESV

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”

Let us for a moment consider some of the objections Simon might have had in addition to the mild one he actually gives. One is that Simon is a fishermen, and he knows where fish normally are to be found. I can tell you, I have not done a huge amount of fishing, but when I have gone with an expert I have done far better than I would have on my own. Simon, as well as the other fishermen with him, knows that the best fishing is at night or very early morning. And that is exactly what they had been doing all night.

But if you were going to try your luck during the day, at least in this region, as far as I could determine in my study, you would not get anything from the deep parts during the day. What other objections might Simon have had? Well, we know that when Jesus started speaking, the men were washing their nets. By the time Jesus had finished speaking, they had probably finished this task, perhaps working and listening to Jesus at the same time.

But now the have not only worked all night, but they have done the work of preparing the nets, and had probably spread the nets to dry after washing them. This is not hard for us to understand, the frustration we might have after a long day or night of work, have done the final cleanup, and someone arrives and says, take everything out again, and do some more work. Many of you haver been in some sort of situation like this. All the work is done, you have put everything away, you are about to head home for rest and relaxation, and the boss comes and says I have another project for you.

If that has never happened to you, may I encourage you to join the military and you will certainly learn about this sort of thing. Simon also could have objected that Jesus is a rabbi, and a woodworker, and he should stick with his area of expertise. However, Simon’s only objection, which objection is overruled by his desire to obey, is one of plain old weariness. We toiled all night and took nothing! Weariness… and perhaps frustration that the hard work had no results to show for it. It also may indicate that Simon thinks this is just not a good day for him. He may rather just go take a siesta and come again to try in the nighttime.

But over and above any objections, the one he spoke out loud, and the ones he may have kept to himself but was thinking them anyway, was that Simon had seen something special about Jesus. He had certainly met him before. Jesus had healed his mother-in-law. Jesus had made an impression on Simon. He had heard some of the teachings of Jesus by this point. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God.

Simon believed at least in some way, I believe, at this point. He may not have had the clarity he would later, but something in him had been stirred, and this is explained by scripture that tells us that faith is a gift of God, not by works. Whatever faith Simon had to obey Jesus in this moment was most certainly a gift from God. It couldn’t be any other way. Faith comes to a person through hearing the word of Christ. This faith the Holy Spirit quickens within the person.

Perfect faith? No, it was with a little caveat, perhaps a little grumbling. It is obedience, but not without drawing attention to the cost of the request. We toiled all night and took nothing! We are tired and hungry, worn out from a long night and morning of work, we have been out in the boat, we have thrown out the nets again and again, with nothing to show, we have now washed our nets and put them out to dry in hopes of recovering tomorrow what we did not get today. We have no fish to sell, so no income today goes to our families. It has been a complete bust and and now you say for us to go in the deep water, where no one catches anything this time of day, but I will do it. I will do it because it is your word.

Luke 5:6 ESV

And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.

It is an immediate miracle. These nets were huge, perhaps 100 feet circles, and they have so many fish now that the nets are beginning to break. They need help

Luke 5:7 ESV

They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

So many fish that both of these boats began to sake. One scholar said these boats were probably about 7 ft wide and around 27-30 feet long. There are so many fish the boats start to sink! At first, Simon was busy on the job, the excitement of the moment catches him up. For a moment his focus is only on the work, but then he remembers Jesus. He realizes the incredible thing that is happening. All at once, he senses the power of Jesus in a new way. He had seen Jesus heal, but here was Jesus, Lord of Creation, who commands the sea to give up its fish, or commands the fish themselves to swim into the nets. Whatever is happening here, it reveals that Jesus has authority over nature.

At the same time, it reveals the holiness of Jesus. Holiness means separateness. Jesus is so set apart from them. And holiness means perfection, and Peter, like Isaiah, and like many who encountered God before him, is frightened at the holiness of Jesus. And anyone who has spent any time at all reading or listening to the late RC Sproul will not be surprised that in his commentary on Luke, his entire focus as he writes about Luke’s narrative here, is the holiness of God. It is one of top five books I recommend to people, the holiness of God by RC Sproul.

Simon realizes he is profane and God is Holy, and that is something we all need to understand. This is the best explanation of Simon’s reaction. It is interesting that suddenly, after calling him Simon throughout this narrative, suddenly Luke adds the name Jesus would later give him. I can’t help thinking that Luke did this to mark what a significant moment this was in the faith story of Simon called Peter:

Luke 5:8 ESV

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

When Isaiah was in the presence of God, he had a similar response: Is6.5

Isaiah 6:5 ESV

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

You cannot encounter the holiness of God without realizing your own sinfulness. Every person recorded in scripture who was given a glimpse of the holiness of God had this same reaction. “I’m a dead man”. The feeling of being in the presence of a holy God, the sudden and much more clear understanding than one ever had before of their own wretchedness, is indeed a frightening thing. He begs Jesus to go away, showing that he is not really in his right mind, since they are out in the sea.

This is not a command in the sense that he is speaking and giving orders to Jesus. Rather, it is something like begging him to get away. After Jesus healed the two men with demons and they went into the pigs, the people begged him to leave. People who encounter the holy are scared for their lives.

Matthew 8:32–34 ESV

And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

It was the fish that brought attention to the Creator Jesus, who commands and is sovereign over all. Luk5.9-10

Luke 5:9–10 ESV

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Here is the famous phrase. And this may seem like a bit of nuance, but our English may not help us fully appreciate what is being said here. There is a metaphor. Like Simon, James, and John had once caught fish, now they would catch men. However, fish are caught to be killed and eaten. When Jesus said you will be catching men (which means men and women, or simply humans), it wasn’t that they would be caught just to be sold or eaten. This was a catching that brought life, that spared people from death. The word Jesus used means something like catching men alive, or to take, or save alive, take captive, or to spare the life of.

So on the same beach sometimes you have both fishermen and life guards. Jesus is telling these men that their occupation will not be to catch fish anymore but to save people.

Just as in many encounters with the holy recorded in scripture, Jesus responds to the fear of Simon Peter and says do not be afraid. They are in the presence of the holy, yet not for their destruction but for their salvation! And not only for their salvation but for them to be put to good use for their Lord!

Luke 5:11 ESV

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

We do not need to conclude that they left all the fish to rot and the boats to float away at the next tide. Zebedee, father of James and John, and other men who may have been relatives or hired men, most certainly would take care of the boats and the nets and the fish.

This massive haul of fish, by the way, would most certainly provide well for quite some time for the families of Simon Peter and James and John, so that their absence from the fishing business would not mean they had left their families without means. Jesus graciously provided not only the evidence of his mastery over nature, and his holiness, and the metaphor of fishing for men, he provides as well for their families so that these men can focus entirely on serving Jesus, leaving their families taken care of.

just as someone with means may sponsor someone to go and do ministry work, Jesus himself provides.

Now, I mentioned a bit ago that Sproul focuses on the holiness of God as he writes on this passage, and I think that is a very important element for us to consider. Additionally, I believe there is some powerful encouragement here for each of us, whether we serve God in some sort of occupational ministry, or are serving him in other ways. It tells us something of evangelism as well, and the perseverance we need to keep on in obedience to Christ, doing the work to grow His kingdom.

We would all do well to pay attention to the lesson found in Simon’s obedience, even if it was somewhat reluctant and even if he may have whined a little bit. There is a huge and important lesson for anyone who is trying to do the Lord’s work here. Sometimes the work does not seem to present results. Sometimes we will feel like Simon, “Lord, we have done all this work, and we have nothing to show for it!”. Many people in ministry have felt this way.

When the C&MA first went to Syria, over a hundred years ago, they sent a missionary there. and for entire generations of gospel work there, it seemed there were no results. But after about 3 generations of consistent gospel witness, something happened! There is a strong church in Syria. And several years ago, when the war was happening, and Syrians became refugees to Europe and other places, do you know what happened? There were C&MA missionaries in some of those countries, who were seeing little fruit at the time among the people they were there to reach.

Suddenly missionaries in Germany, there to bring the gospel to the German people, but with little result, had thousands of refugees, who, in the displacement and all the trouble they were facing, were receptive to the gospel, and so some of those workers, who thought their harvest of souls would be among the people of Europe, suddenly had a harvest of souls of displaced Syrians! You must understand, that God works in very mysterious ways. Who can understand Him?

The stories will be told through all eternity of people who did the Lord’s work, and it seemed they saw no results. Then suddenly, the Lord did something with the work. This comes when the humble and obedient servant of God says to him, “Master, we have toiled all this time, and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” One more time. We always need to do it one more time.

Jesus commanded Simon to try one more time. Simon responds they have tried all night, but because Jesus is the one commanding, they will try one more time. This leads to the great metaphor of the evangelist. Sometimes there is no catch. Yet, at His word, we cast the net yet again. What we will catche at the next casting of the net only God knows. Yet cast we must.

And sometimes evangelism and Kingdom work is much harder than simply fishing without a catch. Sometimes there are sea monsters. Sometimes not only is there no catch, the boat is overturned. Sometimes storms come that discourage us and make us wish we were occupied in something other than the Lord’s work.

Simon Peter’s catch of fish was nothing compared to the souls caught in his net of preaching. Peter himself, who once struggled to bring in this catch of fish, later would be pulling men from the waters of baptism. I wonder if, when he pulled people up in the baptism, if he was brought back for a moment to this time, when Jesus himself orchestrated the sea and the fish to come into those nets.

Today, we know that Jesus will save all that are His. Yet we do not know who they are, only he does. He knows when and where the fish are that will come into the nets of our gospel message. He knows, we don’t. But we keep on casting that net. Jesus may indeed surprise us at times with a huge catch. Other times we may feel we are laboring in vain. Yet we must cast that net one more time.

Jeremiah the prophet is sometimes called the weeping prophet. He was a guy who preached 40 years and no one listened to him. Yet he was faithful. He kept proclaiming the message that God had given him. Moses at times wanted to be done with leading the stiff-necked people. Ministering to others can be frustrating and wearisome. But we keep casting the net.

As with any metaphor, this one can be taken too far. Many in ministry see it as a virtue to burn themselves out for Jesus. Many feel they should put up with abuse from people who claim to be believers but constantly are on the attack. We must be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. It may not be wise to do ministry at 2 am as the drunks are coming out of the bar. It may not be wise to hand money to the person on the corner, without verifying whether the money is being used for real needs.

Sometimes people have a sort of martyr complex, where they ignore the needs of their own family to take care of others. Our family is our first responsibility. So it may not be that we keep casting our nets at stubborn fish who refuse to be caught. In fact, doing so may keep us from moving to fish that God has prepared for us to catch.

We have seen Jesus as teacher, as healer, and as commander of nature so far in our study of Luke. And we see an example in Peter, who, even though he was weary, because he saw that Jesus was the real deal, he obeyed him and cast the nets one more time.

And we saw Peter’s response to the miracle of the fish. He suddenly understood the horror that sinful people feel when faced with the holiness of God. May we, like him, live in reverence and service, along with obedience, to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.