Fishers of Men
(Luke 5:1-11)
No matter where Jesus went, He always had a multitude following behind Him. His message was deep, surprising, different, and more authoritative than the teaching of the Jewish religious leaders. Even the officials that were sent to arrest Jesus returned without Him, declaring, “No one ever spoke like this man!” (John 7:32-46).
“...he sat down and taught the people from the boat” (5:1-3). Jesus took advantage of every situation as a stage from which to teach whomever would listen. He taught at a wedding reception (John 2:1-11), while walking through fields of grain (6:1-5; cp Matthew 12:1-8; Mark 2:23-28), in the synagogues (4:16; etc.), on the mountainsides (Matthew 5:1-2; Mark 13:3-5; etc.), or in any other place where he found people.
In Luke 5, Jesus found Himself at the seaside, closely followed by the crowd. It is possible that some of these people had been following Him from Nazareth, where He preached in the synagogue and affirmed that He was the fulfillment of one of the Messianic passages from the book of Isaiah! (see Luke 4:14-30). Others perhaps had come from Capernaum, where Jesus had miraculously cured many people and had cast out many demons (Luke 4:31-41). Still others may have come from the cities of Judea, where Jesus had proclaimed “the gospel of the kingdom of God” (Luke 4:42-44). Because of all that they had seen and heard, they were now “pressing in on him to hear the word of God” (5:1). And, as was His custom, Jesus taught them.
“Put out into the deep…” (5:4). After teaching the multitude, Jesus turned the focus of His teaching toward the group of His own disciples. There is a real need both for public and private teaching. To the multitudes, Jesus laid down the basics of the teaching of the kingdom of God, as in His famous “sermon on the mount” (see Matthew 5:1 - 7:29). But in the hours that He was more alone with a smaller number of His disciples, He uncovered some of the more profound mysteries behind the will of God (see, for example, Mark 4:10-20). These men in particular had already decided that they would follow Jesus more closely (see John 1:35-42). Now, however, Jesus called them to follow Him in a special way, which would lead Him to being able to form them into His apostles. For this reason, He separated them from the crowd so that He could instruct them more intimately and more deeply by means of an “active” parable of fishing, in which they themselves would play the main part.
“...let down your nets for a catch” (5:4). Peter, Andrew, James and John were professional fishermen, earning their living in the career that they had learned and been practicing on this very lake. On the day that Jesus arrived to teach them, they had already spent the very long before on a frustrating fishing expedition that had yielded nothing. When Jesus asked them to cast their nets into the water again, Simon Peter quickly reacted, saying, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing!” (5:5). After all, who was this carpenter who was trying to teach four professional fishermen how to fish? He obviously didn’t know that it is better to fish at night instead of during the day! He obviously didn’t realize that the fish were in another part of the lake, seeing as Peter and the others with him had fished all night long without finding any fish at all in this place!
However, Peter already knew Jesus. It was this carpenter that Peter had seen cast out a demon in the synagogue in Capernaum using only the power of His word (4:36). After that, it was this same carpenter that had cured his mother-in-law and many other people (4:38-41). Because he knew Jesus and the power of His word, Peter stopped himself in the midst of his objection, and said, “But at your word I will let down the nets” (5:5).
“…when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish” (5:6). When Peter stopped trusting in his own experience and in his own wisdom, he listened to Jesus and the result was incredible! They brought in so many fish that the nets were at the point of breaking (5:6). Because of the enormous quantity of fish, Peter and Andrew called out for help from their business partners, James and John (5:7). When they had come, the men filled both boats so full of fish that “they began to sink”! (5:7)
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (5:8). Peter’s reaction clearly indicates that he believed he was in the presence of Deity. Several centuries earlier when the Lord had appeared to Isaiah to commission him to teach Israel, the prophet had a very similar reaction, saying: “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!” (Isaiah 6:5). Upon seeing the miracle of this amazing catch – something that none of these professional fishermen had ever seen – Simon Peter bowed at Jesus’ knees, worshiping Him.
“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men” (5:10-11). Without a doubt, seeing a miracle such as this one was a fearsome sight. But Jesus, calming Peter and the other disciples, explained the true significance of this parable in which they had participated. In the same way that they had been trained to catch fish, if they would follow Jesus’ instructions He would train them to become “fishers” of men. Amazed at the power of Jesus’ words, “they left everything and followed him” (5:11).
General observations about “fishing” for men
The extremely important work of preaching the gospel to the world did not come to an end with the death of Jesus and His apostles. In fact, Jesus said that His death and resurrection were only a couple of the important steps in the plan of God for salvation. Another equally necessary step in His plan would be the preaching of this good news “to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (see Luke 24:44-47). Therefore, this step of the work will continue until the Lord should return. This being the case, what can we learn from that miraculous day of fishing about the preaching of the gospel?
This kind of “fishing” is done with a net rather than with bait and a hook (5:4-6). Many people treat “preaching the gospel” as though they were fishermen with well-baited hooks. They prepare their “bait” to attract the greatest number of people possible – and once these people have swallowed the bait and the hook is deeply in them, it is often impossible to free them from it. Many promise physical “riches” or “blessings” to those who frequent their assemblies, especially if these are faithfully paying their tithes and offerings. Others may offer “cures” or “release” from “generational curses” or “demonic influences”, while yet others may claim to be the only ones who have access to the word of truth and its proper interpretation. With so many options of “bait” in the water, hearing the “gospel” ends up being just a search for whatever sounds good to the ears of the seeker (see 2 Timothy 4:3-4).
But Jesus taught the preaching of the gospel using the image of a dragnet. Once while He was teaching about the kingdom of heaven, He said: “the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous...” (Matthew 13:47-49). Preaching the gospel is not about “attracting” people with flashy doctrines and great promises. Rather, there is a need to cast out the same net of the gospel over all people, trusting that the gospel itself “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...” (Romans 1:16).
Clearly then, it is not up to the “fisherman” to decide when and where to “fish” nor what “bait” he will use. The one who preaches the gospel must preach at all times and “to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15; see also 2 Timothy 4:1-2). If the whole gospel is preached in truth, it will bring people in to the Lord, just as a dragnet brings fish into the boat. Note that this is exactly the technique the apostle Paul employed in his work of the gospel: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). As a good “fisher” of men, Paul declared his simple intentions: "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2).
Our “fishing” will only be truly successful if we do it at Jesus’ word (5:5). As the fishing apostles learned, Christ is the key. Without Him they caught nothing, even though they used all of their effort and customary resources. But with Him, as they cast out their net only one time they caught infinitely more than they had ever seen caught. Our experience, our ideas, our ways of reaching this lost world are nothing without Him. Influential leaders and even entire mega-churches have produced many works and programs “in the name of Jesus” that have nothing to do with Him and which do not help people with their real need of being freed from the ravages of sin (see Matthew 7:21-23; 23:15; also see Colossians 2:20-23).
Jesus said: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). In this way, Christians are not all the people who have learned all the minute details of the doctrine of Christ’s church. Christians are people who, upon hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus, submit themselves to obeying Him in all things. Those who were converted on the day of Pentecost, for example, knew precious little of the specific doctrines that would be delivered to the church. After all, most of those doctrines had not yet even been revealed. However, after confessing their repentance and being baptized, these newly-converted souls “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching...” (Acts 2:37-42). Later, the apostles would continue to teach them, saying, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling...” (Philippians 2:12), “like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation...” (1 Peter 2:2), “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...” (2 Peter 3:18), and many other similar exhortations.
Being a “fisher of men” requires a change of “profession” (5:10-11). No matter what the Christian does to earn his living, his main “profession” ought to be his work in throwing out the gospel dragnet. As we are buying our groceries, let us cast out the net to the shelf stockers and the cashiers. At school, at work, or as we take our recreation, let us continually throw out the net, telling people “we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
- Carl D. Ballard