In The Word
Read: Luke 5:1-11
The First Disciples
5 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat. 4 Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon responded and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking. 8 But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and likewise also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching people.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Fishing in the Lake of Galilee could be very frustrating, as we can see from this story; they fished all night to no avail. It must have been more frustrating when some teacher named Jesus wanted to use these same fishing vessels as a microphone for speaking to the people. I’m sure you’ve noticed how your voice can carry much further over water so this helped Jesus address a very large crowd. In the crowd, but located on the boat, was Peter, the owner of this fishing business with the two brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee. In all, five of Jesus’ disciples were fishermen, including Peter, James, John, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, and Nathanael.
I love Peter though; he spoke his mind honestly, even if it would get him in trouble. You always knew what Peter was thinking because he always spoke what was on his mind. When he fell to his knees and asked Jesus to depart, he repented, “I’m a sinful man.” It reminds me of my own experience when I accepted Christ. At that moment, I realized I was a sinner in need of a Savior. Embarrassed, I, like Peter, asked Jesus to leave me. I didn’t deserve this deliverance. But Jesus changed me; He made me a new creation, and I was never the same. You can see that same impression left on these poor fishermen. Being around Jesus changed them to the point that they left everything behind to follow Him (Luke 5:11). They became fishers of men! Are you a fisher of men? Take time to share the gospel of Jesus.