LUKE 5:1-11

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The Message of Luke d. Affecting Men’s Situations

As long as Simon’s boat is being used for a pulpit, the owner has no objection to Jesus’s saying in it what he likes. But when it reverts to being a fishing-boat, it is Simon’s once more, and Jesus no longer has a say in how it is to be used. Fishing is Simon’s job. In the same way, people will listen to Jesus, will consider what he says, and will even ask him to ‘make them better’ when they are sick; but for him to do as he does in this fourth episode, and to interfere in their job, their home, their leisure, that is another thing altogether. Those matters have nothing, surely, to do with ‘religion’.

The Message of Luke d. Affecting Men’s Situations

Yet the word of power shows that Jesus knows even more about Simon’s job than Simon does himself, and it has a very material effect on the brothers’ situation (5:6–7).

The Message of Luke g. Claiming Men’s Hearts

where the power is most penetrating. We have already seen how Simon and his friends had ‘left everything and followed him’ (5:11), but the power of the word to claim the hearts of men is seen most clearly here, where the command is so bald and unprepared, and the ties which might have bound Levi to his old life are so strong.

Luke A. Reason to Follow: Revelation of Divine Power (5:1–11)

epistata) was Luke’s word of address from the disciples to Jesus where other Gospels used “Rabbi.” Luke thus shows his aim toward a Gentile rather than a Jewish audience. The Master’s word takes precedence over human experience and human knowledge. Tough, experienced fishermen let Jesus show them when and where to fish. They had seen the power and authority of his ministry

Luke A. Reason to Follow: Revelation of Divine Power (5:1–11)

His was the normal reaction to revelation: confession of sin. The holy purity of deity brings consciousness of the unholy sinfulness of humanity. Peter knew that the unholy cannot stand in the presence of the holy

ESV Study Bible

Luke 5:8–9 Simon’s reaction is appropriate for times when God himself appears to someone (cf. Isa. 6:1–8; Ezek. 1:28): he fell down at Jesus’ knees (in the midst of the fish!), asking the Lord to depart from him, lest he be judged as a sinful man. Peter was astonished by the miracle as a demonstration of the presence of God, which was the first step in understanding who Jesus is. At this point Peter simply understands that God works through Jesus, though he will come to a much deeper understanding, as this unfolds only over a period of time (see Mark 8:29). But it is only after the resurrection that Peter and the disciples fully understand who Jesus is (cf. Luke 24:31, 36–43, 52).

“May all your fishes come true.”

ESV Study Bible

. It was a demanding request, to say the least. Jesus was asking a man who had not slept all night, who had spent the night examining empty meshes, to beach the boat, load a thousand pounds of wet nets, row out to deep water, and circle around while setting the net—all at midday.

 Imagine saying to star NBA forward Scottie Pippen, “Scottie, I don’t play basketball. In fact, I’ve never played the game. But if you’ll do as I say, you’ll win the game tonight, guaranteed. Interested?”

reticence

He had witnessed Jesus’ toiling through the night as he performed a wholesale healing of all the sick in Capernaum who came to him. So now, being sure of what Jesus wanted, he responded, “But at your word I will let down the nets” (v.5

The onlookers saw that the fish of the sea were as obedient to Jesus’ will as the frogs and flies and locusts were to Yahweh in Egypt centuries earlier.

this time Jesus ministered in Peter’s personal universe—his sea, his boat, his nets—and so the significance came to him as never before.

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Faced with Christ’s authority and power, his soul flooded with a sense of his own evil and hollowness, and with a trembling realization of the personal consequences of his sin.

The more we know of our sin, and the more we know of Jesus, the more we will run to him! 

And Jesus responded with a prophetic call: “And Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men’” (v. 10b). There is an exquisite nuance here: “catching men” is a combination of two Greek words— zoos (“alive”) and agrein (“catch, hunt).” 3 The exact sense is to “catch alive”—“from now on you will catch men alive.” Catching men not for death but for life would be Peter’s mission.4