In what appears to be a different event from Matthew 4:19, we have Peter, James and John, fishing tirelessly all night and catching nothing. They’re back at the shore washing their fishing nets. Meanwhile, Jesus is preaching nearby to a large crowd that is increasing in size. He asks Peter if he could use his boat as a floating pulpit, which he obliges. Peter is probably exhausted and looking forward to going home. After Jesus ends his sermon, he tells Peter to have another crack at fishing but this time to follow his direction.
Just think about the exchange for a moment. Here is a carpenter telling a seasoned, experienced, professional fisherman who does it for a living on how and where to fish! Peter understandably does as Jesus asked but reluctantly (Luke 5:5). You have to give it to Peter for obeying Jesus as an act of loving faith in his Lord!
Then a miracle happens. The nets are so full of fish the nets begin to break. They get another boat to the same spot. Before long, the two boats are so full of fish, they begin to sink.
Seeing this, Peter falls at Jesus’ knees and says, ‘Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!’ (Luke 5:8). He encounters the holiness of Jesus. In response, Jesus says to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men’ (Luke 5:10b). The Greek word for ‘catching men’ means ‘to catch alive’. The point here is the idea of gathering and rescuing people.
This was not Peter’s first encounter with Jesus, nor the first miracle he had witnessed. Jesus had been at Simon’s home in Capernaum and healed his mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-39). This explains why there is a familiarity between Peter and Jesus. Jesus didn’t just show up out of the blue in Peter’s life; he had been interacting with Peter and the other disciples long before he called them to follow him. Why is this important?
Remember, Jesus’ ministry MO? ‘He can do only what he sees his Father doing…’ (John 5:19-20). In other words, Jesus went to the people his Father was already working on. The 12 that he chose were not random people but those whom he had relationship with and whom the Father had been preparing. Two things:
‘Catching men’ is about investing into relationship, relationship, relationship. Second, ‘catching men’ is not about our level of abilities and knowledge. It is not up to us to make things happen. Our ‘job’ is through prayer identify people in our lives God is already working on and we join Him and follow his lead in reaching them.
Like Peter we will push back. “Lord, no way am I going to pray and spend time with this person. We go a long way back and they are hard and hostile”. But like Peter, I hope we will trust him and say, “Lord, because you say so, I will let down the nets”. And thirdly, God’s mission of ‘catching people’ has been entrusted to ordinary people (Acts 4:13). ‘Don’t be afraid! From now on, you will be fishing for people’ (Luke 5:10b)
Following Jesus,
Mark
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