PETER – JESUS THE FISHERMAN
LUKE 5.-11
Did you ever go fishing as a child? Or maybe you are quite keen on fishing now? There are all different types of fishing – coarse fishing, sea fishing, fly fishing and then there are the commercial fishermen. Recently someone has tried to teach me how to fly fish. I have managed to catch two rainbow trout, one of which is still in our freezer. You know when they opened their tackle box and there was myriad of flies I had no idea which one to lift out and attach to the line but they did. They knew exactly what would attract the fish that day. They knew from years of experience as a fly fisherman. Today in our reading from Luke 5 we have a fishing incident in the life of Simon Peter and a pronouncement at the end of it from Jesus about being a ‘fisher of men.’ Turn with me to Luke 5 verses 1-11 and let us see what we can learn this morning.
VERSES 1-3 THE CONTEXT
Jesus has healed many people and the crowds follow him to the shores of the Sea of Galilee (or lake Genessaret). The crowd are overwhelming Jesus and so to give himself a little room and to enable him to teach them he asks a favour of Simon. He sees Simon’s boat and climbing into it he asks Simon to push out a little into the lake. There are two very obvious reasons for doing this. It enables Jesus to escape from the pressing crowd and the natural slopes of the lakeside form a natural amphitheatre for all to see and hear Jesus as he teaches. Luke tells us that Jesus sits down in the boat – again there is a two fold reason for this. The first being practical – standing in a boat would not be very stable and secondly by sitting Jesus was showing the crowd that he was intending to teach. Just as we today stand to teach in the culture of Jesus the teacher sat down to teach. I find it interesting that Luke does not include the sermon which Jesus preached here. Obviously Luke wants us to understand that the lesson is in the actions and example of Jesus to Simon on this occasion.
THE CATCH – VERSES 4-7.
When Jesus had finished teaching the people he then turned to Simon and instructed him to cast his net over the side of the boat. Now there is a really important lesson for us all in these verses. Simon replies – read verse 5. Simon objects – we have been fishing all night and caught nothing. Can you hear the frustration in his voice? Do you think Peter might just have been annoyed with this suggestion? Can you imagine the tone of the answer which Peter gives? I wonder did he think the Hebrew for the proverb about granny and eggs? You see it was okay for Jesus to use the boat as a pulpit but when it came to fishing well that was Simon’s field of expertise. Simon did not need lessons from a carpenter about fishing. We can be like that too. Some of you resent it when Jesus speaks into your personal life or into your job situation. You resent it when the Word of God is brought to bear on what you see as being non-religious areas of life. You want Jesus and the Word of God to stay in church on a Sunday and not to invade the privacy of your life from Monday to Saturday. But Jesus here demonstrates that his word has power and authority to speak into every and any situation.
Well we see Simon’s response – ‘But because you say so, I will let down the net.’ Simon might disagree with Jesus but he could and he would obey. Again there is a simple but important lesson for us all here. There were many reasons for Simon to argue against doing what Christ had commanded. Simon knew the best time to fish was at night. Simon knew that they had toiled all night in this very spot and with no success. The nets had been cleaned and tidied away. If they cast the nets over the side then they would have to clean them all over again. Lots of reasons for Simon not to obey. Knowing all of this he still obeyed. Remember that when the time comes in your life and everything in your head and your heart tells you one thing and the Word of God commands the very opposite.
Verses 6-7 - The result was miraculous. Simon knew that this was a miracle because he had toiled all night and caught nothing. The amount of fish almost breaks their net and when they call John and James their boat also strains under the weight of the catch. The key to this miraculous catch was obedience in spite of evidence to the contrary. When it seemed futile. When they had cast their nets in that place before. When their seemed no prospect of success still Simon obeyed. Learn from that dear friends. When to your heart and head it seems hopeless, futile, without the prospect of success still obey when God commands you to do something. When you have done it many times before without any joy or answer and God commands you to do it once more – obey. Obedience is the key to this miracle. Jesus had shown Simon that what he thought was empty was in fact full of fish – all it required was to trust and to obey.
You see in verse 5 there was failure to catch anything. In verse 5 there is also faith to obey Christ. In verse 6 the result is nets filled to overflowing. Then in verse 7 there is fellowship with James and John. Simon called for them to share in this blessing of abundance. He called out for the others to share in this miraculous catch. There was no selfish hoarding of the blessing on the part of Simon. You see blessing is secured by being shared. Think about it for a moment. The catch is so large that Simon’s net is in danger of bursting. If he had not called to John and James he would have lost the catch all together. It is only by sharing this blessing with others that he secures it for himself. Learn from that. When God blesses you with abundance, in whatever area of your life, it is not for hoarding but for sharing with others. By sharing with others you will in fact secure it for yourself. By being selfish and trying to keep the blessing to and for yourself you will in fact lose it. Remember that lesson this morning and in the week ahead.
VERSES 8-11 THE CONSEQUENCES
Look at verses 8 and 9. Peter reacts to the miraculous catch as one who is in the presence of Almighty God. His words remind us of other people and their reaction when in the presence of Almighty God. Abraham in Genesis 18.27; Job in chapter 42.6 and Isaiah in his vision in the Temple in Isaiah 6.5. Simon has just experienced the unimaginable grace of God and it drove him to his knees before Jesus. His physical posture was and outward expression of his spiritual posture before Christ. He became aware of his sinfulness before the purity of Christ. Simon confesses his sinfulness before Jesus – he is the first person to do so in the NT. Listen closely to what Simon says to Jesus – READ verse 8. Simon wants Jesus to depart from him – but he doesn’t really. Simon has come to a realisation of the generosity of Christ towards him a sinner. The miraculous catch of fish is just the means of opening Simon’s eyes to who Christ is. Jesus speaks to Simon where he is and he does so by using the very tools of his life’s work to open up his eyes to the spiritual reality of his heart and life. We constantly see that with Christ in the NT. To the women as she draws from the well he speaks of living water. At the Last Supper he takes bread and wine and speaks of his body being broken and his blood being shed for the world. To you and I he will use the familiar to open our eyes to the spiritual reality of our lives – the important thing is we must like Simon be ready to see.
You know it is no accident that at this moment Simon’s eyes are opened to his sinfulness. There is nothing particularly frightening about a shoal of fish caught in a net. Yet Simon is frightened – why? I think that John the Baptist had prepared the heart of Simon for this very moment. We know that Andrew and Simon had heard John the Baptist preach, in fact it would appear that Andrew had been one of his followers. No doubt Simon had heard John preach on many occasions – Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Now before his very eyes the kingdom of God has come – the miraculous catch has opened his eyes to the reality of the one who stands before him. You know in the Synagogue on Somerton Road above the Ark, where the Jews keep their copies of the Torah, is written the following in Hebrew – ‘Know whom before you stand.’ I think that should be written across the doorway of every church building. Simon knew whom before he stood and he knew he was a sinner in the presence of Christ. It would be my prayer this morning that all of us here knew whom before we stood. I would pray our reaction would be the very same as Simon’s. That we would fall to our knees and confess our sinfulness before Christ.
Simon is obviously overwhelmed and frightened because in verse 10 Jesus says ‘Don’t be afraid.’ These words are words of reassurance. Jesus is saying ‘Stop being fearful’ rather than ‘Don’t get scared.’ He seeks to calm Simon’s existing fear at the miraculous catch of fish. There will be other occasions when Jesus has to utter these words to Simon and the other disciples. When he calms the storm. When he comes to them walking on the water. When he is transfigured before their eyes and at the resurrection. On each of those occasions he tells them ‘Don’t be afraid’ calming their fears. On those occasions it makes sense for Jesus to utter these words but a miraculous catch of fish hardly seems anything to be frightened of. Yet the fish are only incidental here. It is what they unveil – the power, the authority and the call of Christ. This is a turning point in the life of Simon, Andrew, James and John as you can see from verse 11. They leave everything – their boats, their nets and the huge haul of fish and follow Christ. This is indeed a frightening moment for them. For a year Simon has followed Jesus and listened to his teaching, witnessed his miracles but now Simon is aware of the call to become not just a follower but a disciple. Simon is aware that whereas to date he has caught fish to kill now he is called to catch men to live. When Jesus speaks those words ‘from now on you will catch men’ it is future tense. Simon from today on, from this moment on you will catch men for the kingdom of God.
Why did Jesus say this to Simon at this point and not before? Allow me for a moment to make a suggestion to you. In order to win people for Christ Simon had to be aware of his own sinfulness and also of the generosity of God’s grace. Simon deserved nothing and received everything. In order to catch men to live Simon needed to be caught himself and commissioned by Christ.
THE CONCLUSION.
Do you remember last Sunday I said a good question to ask when you read a Bible passage or hear a sermon is ‘so what?’ Well ask that question now. So what has this miraculous catch of fish got to say to me this morning? I want to suggest a few things to you. First, I think we all need to hear Christ speaking to us in the familiar things around us. You see if you want to talk to Magi you use a star. If you want to talk to fishermen you use fish. Jesus will use the familiar to you to speak to your heart and soul about himself. Pray that your eyes, ears and soul would be open to hear him speak. Secondly, I think as a church we need to remember we are all called to be fishers of men. We exist to worship God and to win people for Christ. People are very like fish – there are many different types of fish. They have different environments and require different methods and baits in order to catch them. The same is true of people and the gospel. I think as a church there is a call of God here for us to be fishers of men in the year ahead. Thirdly, there is a call here on our lives to ‘know whom before we stand’ and to awaken our souls to the sinfulness of our lives. I pray that we all would fall on our knees before Christ and like Simon confess that we are sinners. Fourthly, there will be occasions in all our lives, and in the life of this church, when our hearts and minds tell us something is impossible, hopeless, futile and without hope of success but God calls us to do it – our response should be obedience. (Fields of Life illustration). Fifthly and finally, and this does not apply to everyone here this morning, but there just maybe someone in here and God is calling you to leave your job and become a full-time worker in his kingdom. Not everyone is called to full-time service for Christ but all are called to service.
So this morning I want to encourage you to be open to the call of God in and on your life. To have eyes and ears open to the voice of Christ in the familiar around us. I want to encourage those of you whom God is calling right now to take that step of faith to obey. Everything around you, maybe even the people around you, are telling you the very opposite but you know his voice and you have heard his call – obey and be blessed. I want to encourage us all as a church to be fishers of men, to share the abundant blessing we have received from God with others.
Amen.
