“The Miracle of the Hugh Catch of Fish” LUKE 5:1-11 2/2/08
All 4 Gospels gives their account of Jesus’ calling His disciples. Some of them were fisherman by trade; we know that Matthew was a tax collector, and I’ve read that his brother James was also, they were both sons of Alphaeus.
In John 21:1-2 we’re told that 7 disciples went fishing and fished all night and caught nothing, that’s when the Lord called to them from the shore, ‘come and dine”. So at least 2 were tax collectors and at least 7 were fisherman, I don’t have any information on the other 3, Judas Iscariot was evidently good with books and mathematics since he was the Treasurer, but we don’t know that for a fact.
But be that as it may, some of the fishermen were mending nets while others were trying to catch a few fish when the Lord called them.
(Mark 1: 16-19 Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 18And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
19And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
But only Luke’s gospel records the miracle catch of fish, listen as I read today’s text found in
Luke 5:1-11 1And 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.
According to the gospels of Matthew and Mark the call of the disciples came after the miracles that Jesus did at Peter’s house in Capernaum. This is important to realize or we might have the impression that Jesus just happened to be by the Sea of Galilee ~~(Luke calls it Lake Gennesaret, Galilee is also called Tiberius.] ~~ All 3 names are the same body of water and It is six hundred eighty-five feet below sea level, about seven miles wide, and twelve miles long. In Christ’s day, it was abundant with fish. ~~
Most likely all of these men had been witnesses of the miracles that Jesus did in Jerusalem before returning to Galilee. They no doubt had been in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Jesus, because He is God already knew all about these men before He called them to be His disciples. It was going to be a rigorous life that Jesus’ was inviting these four fishermen to enter into.
Well what we have here in our text in LK.5: is what was taking place on the boats and on the shore where this great crowd was.
Simon had been washing and mending his nets, while at the same time kelp one ear listening to what Jesus was teaching, After all he had other responsibilities and duties to perform. He had to fish to make a living for his family; Jesus had not called them as yet, but was shortly going to.
~~ Let me say here that Jesus’ call for Simon to launch out into deeper water is an analogy of what He wants to do in Simon’s life. Jesus is going to take Simon Peter to a deeper, more personal commitment to Himself.~~
The Command of Jesus :
vs 4-5 Now 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.
It seems that in almost every conversation involving Jesus and the disciples, Peter is the first to speak, to voice an opinion, although he is not always right. On this occasion Peter seems to say out loud what all of the disciples are probably thinking.
Have you ever noticed, that it seems like many times there are Obstacles in our way when it comes to Obedience to the Lord?
Well at first lets notice that Peter is reluctant to do as Jesus has commanded. In fairness to Peter, he was an experienced fisherman, he had as well as the others fished all night and were surely tired, and to his way of thinking what was the use casting the nets out again at this time.
But lets realize that the people who were still on the shore and had just heard Jesus preach probably also heard Jesus command to Peter to launch out into the deep and try again. So how Peter responds to the command of Jesus is not just a private statement but also a public demonstration of faith.
Well, One of the obstacles was fatigue.
Peter readily admits that he is tired and so are the others that was fishing with him.
Vs. 5And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing:
And it is true; it’s hard to obey God when your body is crying out for rest. There’s many Christians that hold jobs and press their selves to go to meeting.
It is certainly possible to be so busy with our lives that we seem to have no time left for God.
And the sad thing is that some busy Christians end up giving God the leftovers of their time, their talents and their resources.
But Peter never the less, refused to give in to his fatigue, and instead said, vs. 5b -nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
And another obstacle Peter faced was of his past experiences:
A lot of times we’re tempted to be guided by our experiences instead of what God says.
The Lord asks Peter to do something contrary to his own expertise in fishing, and he certainly was a professional, he can’t see anyway at all that what Jesus asks is going to work. The best fishing on the Sea of Galilee was at night close to shore.
But Jesus had asked him to launch out into the deep in the middle of the day. This was asking a great deal of Peter. He was asking him to trust His Word.
He was in effect asking Simon to try again even though he had failed in the past. This of course would be an important lesson for Peter in the future, which is not to allow past failure to keep him from serving the Lord. God may ask us to try again even if we have failed in the past. Will we allow past failure to keep you from following the Lord?
They had not slept all night and they had worked hard all night. The circumstances of the past hours of fishing, to him indicated that further fishing at this time would be fruitless.
But Jesus was asking them to take the freshly cleaned nets and row out to the deep water and go through the tiring process of letting out and taking in the nets all over again.
But they needed to learn that obedience to Jesus don’t always hinge upon favorable circumstances. Will we allow circumstances to dictate our obedience?
And then there is the obstacle of our fears.
Sometimes the greatest obstacles that we face in being obedient to God are our own fear - the fear of being inadequate, or the fear of failure.
Ø I teach Sunday school at church and after the lesson is over often I ask my self if I said the right things. I’m sure everyone that handles Gods precious word has felt that way. ***-Rev.-
But it would be a great loss if we don’t overcome the fear of following Jesus Christ. Have you ever ask your self what fear is it that’s keeping you from doing the things of God?
I just wonder how many blessings in life we have lost because we’re too tired, too discouraged or just simply too lazy to try again.
In Peter’s reply he reveals his respect when he calls Jesus, “Master” the word master means master or teacher and is the Greek equivalent of “rabbi,” but to us who follow Him today, He’s not only our Master, but we would do well to consider Him our Commander in Chief.
Ø When I was in the Marine Corp, we would obey the orders that we were give to do whether it always made us happy or not. There was no such thing as saying I’ll do it later.
Paul tells us in 2nd thess. 2: 13But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
Peter showed his love and respect for Jesus Christ by not letting his judgment hinder his obedience.
How does Jesus take us from where we are to where he wants us to be? By testing our obedience.
Jesus said in Luke 6:46-49 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. –
--49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
Maybe its time for us today to obey God and do things His way, even it we don’t understand where, why or how it’s all going to work out. many times launching out into the deeper water so to speak seems to be scary and it is less familiar, but that is where God’s blessings are to be found.
Let’s see the results of obedience.
Vv. 5-7 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 inclosed 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.
But notice that Peter let down “a” net but Jesus had said “nets” – plural. This seems to be only a partial obedience.
But even Peter’s partial obedience was rewarded greatly. The result of the lowered net was staggering. There was such a great catch that it was straining the capacity of the net that it broke.
Peter had to ask the help his fishing partners in the other boat to help him.
If Peter had let down the –nets- they probably would not have broke. And notice also that Peter shared his abundance with the others. when we receive the blessings of God, then we too can be a blessing to others.
As they brought aboard their catch, the two boats, each probably over seven and half feet wide and over twenty-seven feet long, were filled to overflowing and began sinking. Several tons of fish were hauled ashore that day and no doubt in the midst of roar of a delighted crowd.
