Luke 5 commlentary

LUKE 5 COMMLENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of
Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding
around him and listening to the word of God.
BARNES, "The people pressed upon his - Multitudes came to hear. There
were times in the life of our Saviour when thousands were anxious to hear him, and
when many, as we have no reason to doubt, became his true followers. Indeed, it is
not possible to tell what “might” have been his success, had not the Pharisees and
scribes, and those who were in office, opposed him, and taken measures to draw the
people away from his ministry; “for the common people heard him gladly,” Mar_
12:37.
The Lake of Gennesaret - Called also the Sea of Galilee and the Sea of Tiberias.
“Gennesaret was the more ancient name of the lake, taken from a small territory or
plain of that name on its western borders. See Num_34:11; Jos_19:35, where, after
the Hebrew orthography, it is called Chinnereth” (Owen). The plain lying between
Capernaum and Tiberias is said by Dr. Thomson (“The Land and the Book,” vol. i. p.
536) to be a little longer than thirty, and not quite twenty furlongs in breadth. It is
described by Josephus as being, in his time, universally fertile. “Its nature is
wonderful as well as its beauty. Its soil is so fruitful that all sorts of trees can grow
upon it, and the inhabitants accordingly plant all sorts of trees there; for the
temperature of the air is so well mixed that it agrees very well with those several
sorts; particularly walnuts, which require the coldest air, flourish there in vast plenty.
One may call this the ambition of nature, where it forces those plants which are
naturally enemies to one another to agree together. It is a happy conjunction of the
seasons, as if every one laid claim to this country; for it not only nourishes different
sorts of autumnal fruits beyond people’s expectations, but preserves them a great
while. It supplies people with the principal fruits; with grapes and figs continually
during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits, as they become ripe, through
the whole year; for, besides the good temperature of the air, it is also watered from a
most fertile fountain.”
Dr. Thomson describes it now as “preeminently fruitful in thorns.” This was the
region of the early toils of our Redeemer. Here he performed some of his first and
most amazing miracles; here he selected his disciples; and here, on the shores of this
little and retired lake, among people of poverty and inured to the privations of
fishermen, he laid the foundation of a religion which is yet to spread through all the
world, and which has already blessed millions of guilty and miserable people, and
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translated them to heaven.
CLARKE, "The people pressed upon him - There was a glorious prospect of
a plentiful harvest, but how few of these blades came to full corn in the ear! To hear
with diligence and affection is well; but a preacher of the Gospel may expect that, out
of crowds of hearers, only a few, comparatively, will fully receive the truth, and hold
out to the end.
To hear the word of God - Του λογον του Θεου, The doctrine of God, or, the
heavenly doctrine.
The lake of Gennesaret - Called also the sea of Galilee, Mat_4:18, and Mar_
1:16; and the sea of Tiberias, Joh_6:1. It was, according to Josephus, forty furlongs in
breadth, and one hundred and forty in length. No synagogue could have contained
the multitudes who attended our Lord’s ministry; and therefore he was obliged to
preach in the open air. But this also some of the most eminent rabbins were in the
habit of doing; though among some of their brethren it was not deemed reputable.
GILL, "And it came to pass, that as the people pressed upon him,.... As
Christ went through Galilee, and preached in the synagogues there, great crowds of
people attended on him, and they followed him wherever he went; and so large were
their numbers, and so very eager were they to see him, and hear him, that they were
even troublesome to him, and bore hard upon him, and were ready to press him
down, though they had no ill design upon him, but only
to hear the word of God; the scriptures of the Old Testament explained, and the
doctrines of the Gospel preached; and which were preached by him, as never were
before or since, and in such a manner as were not by the Scribes and Pharisees; and
both the matter and manner of his ministry drew a vast concourse of people after
him:
he stood by the lake of Gennesaret; the same with the sea of Chinnereth, Num_
34:11 where the Targums of Onkelos, Jonathan, and the Jerusalem, call it, ‫דגנוסר‬ ‫,ימא‬
"the sea of Geausar" or "Gennesaret": and so it is elsewhere called (a), and is the
same which is called the sea of Galilee, and of Tiberias, Joh_6:1 and is, by other
writers (b), as here, called the lake of Gennesaret, and said to be sixteen miles long,
and six broad. Josephus says (c), it is forty furlongs broad, and an hundred long. The
Jews say (d), that
"the holy, blessed God created seven seas, but chose none of them all, but the sea of
Gennesaret.''
And indeed, it was a place chosen by Christ, and honoured, and made famous by him,
by his preaching at it, his miracles upon it, and showing himself there after his
resurrection.
HENRY, "This passage of story fell, in order of time, before the two miracles we
had in the close of the foregoing chapter, and is the same with that which was more
briefly related by Matthew and Mark, of Christ's calling Peter and Andrew to be
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fishers of men, Mat_4:18, and Mar_1:16. They had not related this miraculous
draught of fishes at that time, having only in view the calling of his disciples; but
Luke gives us that story as one of the many signs which Jesus did in the presence of
his disciples, which had not been written in the foregoing books, Joh_20:30, Joh_
20:31. Observe here,
I. What vast crowds attended Christ's preaching: The people pressed upon him to
hear the word of God (Luk_5:1), insomuch that no house would contain them, but he
was forced to draw them out to the strand, that they might be reminded of the
promise made to Abraham, that his seed should be as the sand upon the sea shore
(Gen_22:17), and yet of them but a remnant shall be saved, Rom_9:27. The people
flocked about him (so the word signifies); they showed respect to his preaching,
though not without some rudeness to his person, which was very excusable, for they
pressed upon him. Some would reckon this a discredit to him, to be thus cried up by
the vulgar, when none of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him; but he
reckoned it an honour to him, for their souls were as precious as the souls of the
grandees, and it is his aim to bring not so much the mighty as the many sons to God.
It was foretold concerning him that to him shall the gathering of the people be.
Christ was a popular preacher; and though he was able, at twelve, to dispute with the
doctors, yet he chose, at thirty, to preach to the capacity of the vulgar. See how the
people relished good preaching, though under all external disadvantages: they
pressed to hear the word of God; they could perceive it to be the word of God, by the
divine power and evidence that went along with it, and therefore they coveted to hear
it.
II. What poor conveniences Christ had for preaching: He stood by the lake of
Gennesareth (Luk_5:1), upon a level with the crowd, so that they could neither see
him nor hear him; he was lost among them, and, every one striving to get near him,
he was crowded, and in danger of being crowded into the water: what must he do?
JAMISON, "Luk_5:1-11. Miraculous draught of fishes - Call of Peter, James, and
John.
Not their first call, however, recorded in Joh_1:35-42; nor their second, recorded
in Mat_4:18-22; but their third and last before their appointment to the apostleship.
That these calls were all distinct and progressive, seems quite plain. (Similar stages
are observable in other eminent servants of Christ.)
SBC 1-11, "Fishers of Men.
I. This passage reminds us that discipleship comes before apostleship. Peter had
been, for at least some months, a docile learner in the school of Christ before he was
called here to forsake all, and follow Him as an Apostle. They who would teach others
about the Lord must first be acquainted with Him themselves.
II. That the knowledge of self, obtained through the discovery of Christ, is one of the
main elements of power in seeking to benefit others. It is not a little remarkable that
when God has called some of His greatest servants to signal service He has begun by
giving them a thorough revelation of themselves, through the unveiling to them of
Himself. Thus, when He appeared to Moses at the bush, the first effect was that
Moses trembled and durst not behold, and the ultimate issue was that he cried, "O
my Lord, I am not eloquent:... but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." Peter
recognised the deity of Jesus through the miracle; but the light of that Godhead did,
at the same time, flash into his own heart, and reveal him unto himself as he had
never had himself revealed unto him before. Then came the Master’s "Fear not," with
its soothing influence; and thus, through his discovery of himself, and his knowledge
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of his Lord, he was prepared for his apostolic service.
III. That the work of the Christian ministry demands the concentration of the whole
man upon it. These first Apostles "forsook all, and followed Christ." This was their
response to the call to active and official service by the Lord. Their ordination came
later, but their acceptance of the call was now, and was signalised by their withdrawal
from their ordinary pursuits.
IV. That the higher life of the ministry lifts into itself, and utilises all the experiences
of the lower life that preceded it. "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
This phrase tells us (1) that if we would catch men we must use the right kind of net;
(2) that we must follow men to their haunts if we would win them for Christ; (3) that
we ought to improve special seasons of opportunity.
W. M. Taylor, Peter the Apostle, p. 36.
CALVIN, "Luke 5:1.He stood near the lake. Matthew and Mark, according to
the usual custom of their language, call it the sea of Galilee. The proper name of
this lake among the ancient Hebrews was ‫,כנרת‬ (Chinnereth;) (338) but, when the
language became corrupted, the word was changed to Gennesaret. Profane
authors call it Gennesar; and that part, which lay towards Galilee, was called by
them the sea of Galilee. The bank, which adjoined to Tiberias, received its name
from that city. Its breadth and situation will be more appropriately discussed in
another place. Let us now come to the fact here related.
Luke says, that Christ entered into a ship which belonged to Peter, and withdrew
to a moderate distance from the land, that he might more conveniently address
from it the multitudes, who flocked from various places to hear him; and that,
after discharging the office of teaching, he exhibited a proof of his divine power
by a miracle. It was no unusual thing, indeed, that fishers cast their nets, on
many occasions, with little advantage: and that all their fruitless toil was
afterwards recompensed by one successful throw. But it was proved to be a
miracle by this circumstance, that they had taken nothing during the whole
night, (which, however, is more suitable for catching fish,) and that suddenly a
great multitude of fishes was collected into their nets, sufficient to fill the ships.
Peter and his companions, therefore, readily conclude that a take, so far beyond
the ordinary quantity, was not accidental, but was bestowed on them by a divine
interposition.
EBC, "THE CALLING OF THE FOUR.
WHEN Peter and his companions had the interview with Jesus by the Jordan, and
were summoned to follow Him, it was the designation, rather than the appointment,
to the Apostleship. They did accompany Him to Cana, and thence to Capernaum; but
here their paths diverged for a time, Jesus passing on alone to Nazareth, while the
novitiate disciples fall back again into the routine of secular life. Now, however, His
mission is fairly inaugurated, and He must attach them permanently to His person.
He must lay His hand, where His thoughts have long been, upon the future, making
provision for the stability and permanence of His work, that so the kingdom may
survive and flourish when the Ascension clouds have made the King Himself
invisible.
St. Matthew and St. Mark insert their abridged narrative of the call before the healing
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of the demoniac and the cure of Peter s mother-in-law; and most expositors think
that St. Luke’s setting "in order," in this case at least, is wrong; that he has preferred
to have a chronological inaccuracy, so that His miracles may be gathered into related
groups. But that our Evangelist is in error is by no means certain; indeed, we are
inclined to think that the balance of probability is on the side of his arrangement.
How else shall we account for the crowds who now press upon Jesus so
importunately and with such Galilean ardour? It was not the rumour of His Judaean
miracles which had awoke this tempest of excitement, for the journey to Jerusalem
was not yet taken. And what else could it be, if the miraculous draught of fishes was
the first of the Capernaum miracles? But suppose that we retain the order of St.
Luke, that the call followed closely upon that memorable Sabbath, then the crowds
fall into the story naturally; it is the multitude which had gathered about the door
when the Sabbath sun had set, putting an after-glow upon the hills, and on whose
sick He wrought His miracles of healing. Nor does the fact that Jesus went to be a
guest in Peter’s house require us to invert the order of St. Luke; for the casual
acquaintance by the Jordan had since ripened into intimacy, so that Peter would
naturally offer hospitality to his Master on His coming to Capernaum. Again, too,
going back to the Sabbath in the synagogue, we read how they were astonished at His
doctrine; "for His word was with authority;" and when that astonishment was
heightened into amazement, as they saw the demon cowed and silenced, this was
their exclamation, "What a word is this!" And does not Peter refer to this, when the
same voice that commanded the demon now commands them to "Let down the nets,"
and he answers, "At Thy word I will"? It certainly seems as if the "word " of the sea-
shore were an echo from the synagogue, and so a "word" that justifies the order of
our Evangelist.
It was probably still early in the morning for the days of Jesus began back at the
dawn, and very often before when He sought the quiet of the sea-shore, possibly to
find a still hour for devotion, or perhaps to see how His friends had fared with their
all-night fishing. Little quiet, however, could He find, for from Capernaum and
Bethsaida comes a hurrying and intrusive crowd, surging around Him with the swirl
and roar of confused voices, and pressing inconveniently near. Not that the crowd
was hostile; it was a friendly but inquisitive multitude, eager, not so much to see a
repetition of His miracles, as to hear Him speak, in those rare, sweet accents, "the
word of God." The expression characterizes the whole teaching of Jesus. Though His
words were meant for earth, for human ears and for human hearts, there was no
earthliness about them. On the topics in which man is most exercised and garrulous,
such as local or national events, Jesus is strangely silent. He scarcely gives them a
passing thought; for what were the events of the day to Him who was "before
Abraham," and who saw the two eternities? what to Him was the gossip of the hour,
how Rome s armies marched and fought, or how "the dogs of faction" bayed? To His
mind these were but as dust caught in the eddies of the wind. The thoughts of Jesus
were high. Like the figures of the prophet’s vision, they had feet indeed, so that they
could alight and rest awhile on earthly things though even here they only touched
earth at points which were common to humanity, and they were winged, too, having
the sweep of the lower spaces and of the highest heavens. And so there was a
heavenliness upon the words of Jesus, and a sweetness, as if celestial harmonies were
imprisoned within them. They set men looking upwards, and listening; for the
heavens seemed nearer as He spoke, and they were no longer dumb. And not only did
the words of Jesus bring to men a clearer revelation of God, correcting the hard views
which man, in his fears and his sins, had formed of Him, but men felt the Divineness
of His speech; that Jesus was the Bearer of a new evangel, God s latest message of
hope and love. And He was the Bearer of such a message; He was Himself that
Evangel, the Word of God incarnate, that men might hear of heavenly things in the
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common accents of earthly speech.
Nor was Jesus loth to deliver His message; He needed no constraining to speak of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Only let Him see the listening heart, the
void of a sincere longing, and His speech distilled as the dew. And so no time was to
Him inopportune; the break of day, the noon, the night were all alike to Him. No
place was out of harmony with His message the Temple-court, the synagogue, the
domestic hearth, the mountain, the lake-shore; He consecrated all alike with the
music of His speech. Nay, even upon the cross, amid its agonies, He opens His lips
once more, though parched with terrible thirst, to speak peace within a penitent soul,
and to open for it the gate of Paradise.
Drawn up on the shore, close by the water’s edge, are two boats, empty now, for
Simon and his partners are busy washing their nets, after their night of fruitless toil.
Seeking for freer space than the pushing crowd will allow Him, and also wanting a
point of vantage, where His voice will command a wider range of listeners, Jesus gets
into Simon s boat, and requests him to put out a little from the land. "And He sat
down, and taught the multitudes out of the boat," assuming the posture of the
teacher, even though the occasion partook so largely of the impromptu character.
When He dispensed the material bread He made the multitudes "sit down;" but when
He dispensed the living bread, the heavenly manna, He left the multitudes standing,
while He Himself sat down, so claiming the authority of a Master, as His posture
emphasized His words. It is somewhat singular that when our Evangelist has been so
careful and minute in his description of the scene, giving us a sort of photograph of
that lake side group, with bits of artistic colouring thrown in, that then he should
omit entirely the subject-matter of the discourse. But so he does, and we try in vain
to fill up the blank. Did He, as at Nazareth, turn the lamps of prophecy full upon
Himself, and tell them how the "great Light" had at last risen upon Galilee of the
nations? or did He let His speech reflect the shimmer of the lake, as He told in
parable how the kingdom of heaven was "like unto a net that was cast into the sea,
and gathered of every kind"? Possibly He did, but His words, whatever they were,
"like the pipes of Pan, died with the ears and hearts of those who heard them."
"When He had left speaking," having dismissed the multitude with His benediction,
He turns to give to His future disciples, Peter and Andrew, a private lesson. "Put out
into the deep," He said, including Andrew now in His plural imperative, "and let
down your nets for a draught." It was a commanding voice, altogether different in its
tone from the last words He addressed to Peter, when He "requested" him to put out
a little from the land. Then He spoke as the Friend, possibly the Guest, with a certain
amount of deference; now He steps up to a very throne of power, a throne which in
Peter’s life He never more abdicates. Simon recognizes the altered conditions, that a
Higher Will is now in the boat, where hitherto his own will has been supreme; and
saluting Him as "Master," he says, "We toiled all night, and took nothing; but at Thy
word I will let down the nets." He does not demur; he does not hesitate one moment.
Though himself weary with his night-long labours, and though the command of the
Master went directly against his nautical experiences, he sinks his thoughts and his
doubts in the word of his Lord. It is true he speaks of the failure of the night, how
they have taken nothing; but instead of making that a plea for hesitancy and doubt, it
is the foil to make his unquestioning faith stand out in bolder relief. Peter was the
man of impulse, the man of action, with a swift-beating heart and an ever-ready
hand. To his forward-stepping mind decision was easy and immediate; and so,
almost before the command was completed, his swift lips had made answer, "I will let
down the nets." It was the language of a prompt and full obedience. It showed that
Simon s nature was responsive and genuine, that when a Christly word struck upon
his soul it set his whole being vibrating, and drove out all meaner thoughts. He had
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learned to obey, which was the first lesson of discipleship; and having learned to
obey, he was there fore fit to rule, qualified for leadership, and worthy of being
entrusted with the keys of the kingdom.
And how much is missed in life through feebleness of resolve, a lack of decision! How
many are the invertebrate souls, lacking in will and void of purpose, who, instead of
piercing waves and conquering the flow of adverse tides, like the medusae, can only
drift, all limp and languid, in the current of circumstance I Such men do not make
apostles; they are but ciphers of flesh and blood, of no value by themselves, and only
of any worth as they are attached to the unit of some stronger will. A poor broken
thing is a life spent in the subjunctive mood, among the "mights" and "shoulds,"
where the "I will " waits upon" I would ". That is the truest, worthiest life that is
divided between the indicative and the imperative. As in shaking pebbles the smaller
ones drop down to the bottom, their place determined by their size, so in the shaking
together of human lives, in the rub and jostle of the world, the strong wills invariably
come to the top.
And how much do even Christians lose, through their partial or their slow obedience!
How we hesitate and question, when our duty is simply to obey! How we cling to our
own ways, modes, and wills, when the Christ is commanding us forward to some
higher service! How strangely we forget that in the grammar of life the "Thou wiliest"
should be the first person, and the "I will" a far-off second! When the soldier hears
the word of command he becomes deaf to all other voices, even the voice of danger,
or the voice of death itself; and when Christ speaks to us His word should completely
fill the soul, leaving no room for hesitancy, no place for doubt. Said the mother to the
servants of Cana, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." That "whatsoever" is the line
of duty, and the line of beauty too. He who makes Christ s will his will, who does
implicitly "whatsoever He saith," will find a Cana anywhere, where life s water turns
to wine, and where life s common things are exalted into sacraments. He who walks
up to the light will surely walk in the light.
We can imagine with what alacrity Simon obeys the Master s word, and how the
disappointment of the night and all sense of fatigue are lost in the exhilaration of the
new hopes. Seconded by the more quiet Andrew, who catches the enthusiasm of his
brother’s faith, he pulls out into deep water, where they let down the nets.
Immediately they enclosed "a great multitude" of fishes, a weight altogether beyond
their power to lift; and as they saw the nets beginning to give way with the strain,
Peter "beckoned" to his partners, James and John, whose boat, probably, was still
drawn up on the shore. Coming to their assistance, together they secured the spoil,
completely filling the two boats, until they were in danger of sinking with the over
weight.
Here, then, we find a miracle of a new order. Hitherto, in the narrative of our
Evangelist, Jesus has shown His supernatural power only in connection with
humanity, driving away the ills and diseases which preyed upon the human body and
the human soul. And not even here did Jesus make use of that power randomly,
making it common and cheap; it was called forth by the constraint of a great need
and a great desire. Now, however, there is neither the desire nor the need. It was not
the first time, nor was it to be the last, that Peter and Andrew had spent a night in
fruitless toil. That was a lesson they had early to learn, and which they were never
allowed long to forget. They had been quite content to leave their boat, as indeed they
had intended, on the sands, until the evening should recall them to their task. But
Jesus volunteers His help, and works a miracle whether of omnipotence, or
omniscience, or of both, it matters not, and not either to relieve some present
distress, or to still some pain, but that He might fill the empty boats with fishes. We
must not, however, assess the value of the miracle at the market-price of the take, for
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evidently Jesus had some ulterior motive and design. As the leaden types, lying
detached and meaningless in the "case," can be arranged into words and be made to
voice the very highest thought, so these boats and oars, nets and fish are but so many
characters, the Divine "code" as we may call it, spelling out, first to these fishermen,
and then to mankind in general, the deep thought and purpose of Christ. Can we
discover that meaning? We think we may.
In the first place, the miracle shows us the supremacy of Christ. We may almost read
the Divineness of Christ s mission in the manner of its manifestation. Had Jesus been
man only, His thoughts running on human lines, and His plans built after human
models, He would have arranged for another Epiphany at the beginning of His
ministry, showing His credentials at the first, and announcing in full the purpose of
His mission. That would have been the way of man, fond as he is of surprises and
sudden transitions; but such is not the way of God. The forces of heaven do not move
forward in leaps and somersaults; their advances are gradual and rhythmic.
Evolution, and not revolution, is the Divine law, in the realm of matter and of mind
alike. The dawn must precede the day. And just so the life of the Divine Son is
manifested. He who is the "Light of the world" comes into that world softly as a
sunrise, lighting up little by little the horizon of His disciples thought, lest a
revelation which was too full and too sudden should only dazzle and blind them. So
far they have seen Him exercise His power over diseases and demons, or, as at Cana,
over inorganic matter; now they see that power moving out in new directions. Jesus
sets up His throne to face the sea, the sea with which they were so familiar, and over
which they claimed some sort of lordship. But even here, upon their own element,
Jesus is supreme. He sees what they do not; He knows these deeps, filling up with
His omniscience the blanks they seek to fill with their random guesses. Here,
hitherto, their wills have been all-powerful; they could take their boats and cast their
nets just when and where they would; but now they feel the touch of a Higher Will,
and Christ s word fills their hearts, impelling them onward, even as their boats were
driven of the wind. Jesus now assumes the command. His Will, like a magnet,
attracts to itself and controls their lesser wills; and as His word now launches out the
boat and casts the nets, so shortly, at that same "word," will boats and nets, and the
sea itself, be left behind.
And did not that Divine Will move beneath the water as well as above it, controlling
the movements of the shoal of fishes, as on the surface it was controlling the
thoughts and moving the hands of the fishermen? It is true that in Gennesaret, as in
our modern seas, the fish sometimes moved in such dense shoals that an enormous
"take" would be an event purely natural, a wonder indeed, but no miracle. Possibly it
was so here, in which case the narrative would resolve itself into a miracle of
omniscience, as Jesus saw, what even the trained eves of the fishermen had not seen,
the movements of the shoal, then regulating His commands, so making the oars
above and the fins below strike the water in unison. But was this all? Evidently not, to
Peter’s mind, at any rate. Had it been all to him, a purely natural phenomenon, or
had he seen in it only the prescience of Christ, a vision somewhat clearer and farther
than his own, it would not have created such feelings of surprise and awe. He might
still have wondered, but he scarcely would have worshipped. But Peter feels himself
in the presence of a Power that knows no limit, One who has supreme authority over
diseases and demons, and who now commands even the fishes of the sea. In this
sudden wealth of spoil he reads the majesty and glory of the new-found Christ, whose
word, spoken or unspoken, is omnipotent, alike in the heights above and in the
depths beneath. And so the moment his thoughts are disengaged from the pressing
task he prostrates himself at the feet of Jesus, crying with awe-stricken speech,
"Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" We are not, perhaps, to interpret
8

this literally, for Peter s lips were apt to become tremulous with the excitement of the
moment, and to say words which in a cooler mood he would recall, or at least modify.
So here, it surely was not his meaning that "the Lord," as he now calls Jesus, should
leave him; for how indeed should He depart, now that they are afloat upon the deep,
far from land? But such had been the revelation of the power and holiness of Jesus,
borne in by the miracle upon Peter s soul, that he felt himself thrown back, morally
and in every way, to an infinite distance from Christ. His boat was unworthy to carry,
as the house of the centurion was unworthy to receive, such infinite perfections as
now he saw in Jesus. It was an apocalypse indeed, revealing, together with the purity
and power of Christ, the littleness, the nothingness of his sinful self; that, as Elijah
covered his face when the LORD passed by, so Peter feels as if he ought to draw the
veil of an infinite distance around himself the distance which would ever be between
him and the LORD, were not His mercy and His love just as infinite as His power.
The fuller meaning of the miracle, however, becomes apparent when we interpret it
in the light of the call which immediately followed. Reading the sudden fear which
has come over Peter s soul, and which has thrown his speech somewhat into
confusion, Jesus first stills the agitation of his heart by a word of assurance and of
cheer. "Fear not," He says, for "from henceforth thou shalt catch men." It will be
observed that St. Luke puts the commission of Christ in the singular number, as
addressed to Peter alone, while St. Matthew and St. Mark put it in the plural, as
including Andrew as well: "I will make you to become fishers of men." The difference,
however, is but immaterial, and possibly the reason why St. Luke introduces the
Apostle Peter with such a frequent nomination for "Simon" is a familiar name in
these early chapters making his call so emphatic and prominent, was because in the
partisan times which came but too early in the Church the Gentile Christians, for
whom our Evangelist is writing, might think unworthily and speak disparagingly of
him who was the Apostle of the Circumcision. Be this as it may, Simon and Andrew
are now summoned to, and commissioned for, a higher service. That "henceforth"
strikes across their life like a high watershed, severing the old from the new, their
future from their past, and throwing all the currents of their thoughts and plans into
different and opposite directions. They are to be "fishers of men," and Jesus, who so
delights in giving object-lessons to His disciples, uses the miracle as a sort of
background, on which He may write their commission in large and lasting
characters; it is the Divine seal upon their credentials.
Not that they understood the full purport of His words at once. The phrase "fishers of
men" was one of those seed thoughts which needed pondering in the heart; it would
gradually unfold itself in the after months of discipleship, ripening at last in the
summer heat and summer light of the Pentecost. They were now to be fishers of the
higher art, their quest the souls of men. This must now be the one object, the
supreme aim of their life, a life now ennobled by a higher call. Plans, journeys,
thoughts, and words, all must bear the stamp of their great commission, which is to
"catch men," not unto death, however, as the fish expire when taken from their native
element, but unto life for such is the meaning of the word. And to "take them alive" is
to save them; it is to take them out of an element which stifles and destroys, and to
draw them, by the constraints of truth and love, within the kingdom of heaven, which
kingdom is righteousness and life, even eternal life.
But if the full meaning of the Master s words grows upon them an aftermath to be
harvested in later months enough is understood to make the line of present duty
plain. That " henceforth" is clear, sharp, and imperative. It leaves room neither for
excuse nor postponement. And so immediately, "when they had brought their boats
to land, they left all and followed Him," to learn by following how they too might be
winners of souls, and in a lesser, lower sense, saviours of men.
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The story of St. Luke closes somewhat abruptly, with no further reference to Simon’s
partners; and having "beckoned" them into his central scene, and filled their boat,
then, as in a dissolving-view, the pen of our Evangelist draws around them the haze
of silence, and they disappear. The other Synoptists, however, fill up the blank,
telling how Jesus came to them, probably later in the day, for they were mending the
nets, which had been tangled and somewhat torn with the weight of spoil they had
just taken. Speaking no word of explanation, and giving no word of promise, He
simply says, with that commanding voice of His, "Follow Me," thus putting Himself
above all associations and all relationships, as Leader and Lord. James and John
recognize the call, for which doubtless they had been prepared, as being for
themselves alone, and instantly leaving the father, the "hired servants," and the half-
mended nets, and breaking utterly with their past, they follow Jesus, giving to Him,
with the exception of one dark, hesitating hour, a life-long devotion. And forsaking
all, the four disciples found all. They exchanged a dead self for a living Christ, earth
for heaven. Following the Lord fully, with no side-glances at self or selfish gain at any
rate after the enduement and the enlightenment of Pentecost they found in the
presence and friendship of the Lord the "hundredfold" in the present life. Allying
themselves with Christ, they too rose with the rising Sun. Obscure fishermen, they
wrote their names among the immortals as the first Apostles of the new faith, bearers
of the "keys" of the kingdom. Following Christ, they led the world; and as the Light
that rose over Galilee of the nations becomes ever more intense and bright, so it
makes ever more intense and vivid the shadows of these Galilean fishermen, as it
throws them across all lands and times.
And such even now is the truest and noblest life. The life which is "hid with Christ" is
the life that shines the farthest and that tells the most. Whether in the more quiet
paths and scenes of discipleship or in the more responsible and public duties of the
apostolate, Jesus demands of us a true, whole souled, and life-long devotion. And,
here indeed, the paradox is true, for by losing life we find it, even the life more
abundant; for
"Men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things."
Nay, they may attain to the highest things, even to the highest heavens.
BARCLAY, "THE CONDITIONS OF A MIRACLE (Luke 5:1-11)
5:1-11 Jesus was standing on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret while the
crowds pressed in upon him to listen to the word of God. He saw two boats
riding close to the shore. the fishermen had disembarked from them and were
washing their nets. He embarked on one of the boats, which belonged to Simon,
and asked him to push out a little from the land. He sat down and continued to
teach the crowds from the boat. When he stopped speaking, he said to Simon,
"Push out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon
answered, "Master, we have toiled all night long and we caught nothing; but, if
you say so, I will let down the nets." When they had done so they enclosed a
great crowd of fishes; their nets were torn with the numbers; so they signalled to
their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and they
rifled both the boats so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this he
fell at Jesus' knees. "Leave me, Lord," he said, "because I am a sinful man."
Wonder gripped him and all who were with him at the number of fishes they had
caught. It was the same with James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were partners
with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "From now on you will be catching men." So
they brought the boats to land and they left everything and followed him.
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The famous sheet of water in Galilee is called by three names--the Sea of Galilee,
the Sea of Tiberias and the Lake of Gennesaret. It is thirteen miles long by eight
miles wide. It lies in a dip in the earth's surface and is 680 feet below sea level.
That fact gives it an almost tropical climate. Nowadays it is not very populous
but in the days of Jesus it had nine townships clustered round its shores, none of
fewer than 15,000 people.
Gennesaret is really the name of the lovely plain on the west side of the lake, a
most fertile piece of land. The Jews loved to play with derivations, and they had
three derivations for Gennesaret all of which show how beautiful it was.
(i) From kinnowr (Hebrew #3658), which means a harp, either because "its fruit
is as sweet as the sound of a harp" or because "the voice of its waves is pleasant
as the voice of the harp,"
(ii) From gan (Hebrew #1588), a garden, and sar (Hebrew #8269), a prince--
hence "the prince of gardens."
(iii) From gan (Hebrew #1588), a garden, and 'osher (Hebrew #6239), riches--
hence "the garden of riches."
We are here confronted with a turning point in the career of Jesus. Last time we
heard him preach he was in the synagogue; now he is at the lakeside. True, he
will be back in the synagogue again; but the time is coming when the door of the
synagogue will be shut to him and his church will be the lakeside and the open
road, and his pulpit a boat. He would go anywhere where men would listen to
him. "Our societies," said John Wesley, "were formed from those who were
wandering upon the dark mountains, that belonged to no Christian church; but
were awakened by the preaching of the Methodists, who had pursued them
through the wilderness of this world to the High-ways and the Hedges--to the
Markets and the Fairs--to the Hills and the Dales--who set up the Standard of the
Cross in the Streets and Lanes of the Cities, in the Villages, in the Barns, and
Farmers' Kitchens, etc.--and all this done in such a way, and to such an extent, as
never had been done before since the Apostolic age." "I love a commodious
room," said Wesley, "a soft cushion and a handsome pulpit, but field preaching
saves souls." When the synagogue was shut Jesus took to the open road.
There is in this story what we might call a list of the conditions of a miracle.
(i) There is the eye that sees. There is no need to think that Jesus created a shoal
of fishes for the occasion. In the Sea of Galilee there were phenomenal shoals
which covered the sea as if it was solid for as much as an acre. Most likely Jesus'
keen eye saw just such a shoal and his keen sight made it look like a miracle. We
need the eye that really sees. Many people saw steam raise the lid of a kettle; only
James Watt went on to think of a steam engine. Many people saw an apple fall;
only Isaac Newton went on to think out the law of gravity. The earth is full of
miracles for the eye that sees.
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(ii) There is the spirit that will make an effort. If Jesus said it, tired as he was
Peter was prepared to try again. For most people the disaster of life is that they
give up just one effort too soon.
(iii) There is the spirit which will attempt what seems hopeless. The night was
past and that was the time for fishing. All the circumstances were unfavourable,
but Peter said, "Let circumstances be what they may, if you say so, we will try
again." Too often we wait because the time is not opportune. If we wait for a
perfect set of circumstances, we will never begin at all. If we want a miracle, we
must take Jesus at his word when he bids us attempt the impossible.
BENSON, "Luke 5:1-10. As the people pressed upon him, with great eagerness,
to hear the word of God — Insomuch that no house could contain them: they
perceived Christ’s word to be the word of God, by the divine power and evidence
that accompanied it, and therefore they were eager to hear it. It seems the
sermons which Jesus had preached in his last tour through the country had
made a great impression on the minds of the people who heard him; for they
either followed him to Capernaum, or came thither soon after his return in great
numbers, in expectation of receiving still further instruction from him. He stood
by the lake of Gennesaret — Elsewhere called the sea of Galilee, Mark 1:16; and
the sea of Tiberias, John 6:1; being distinguished by these names, because it was
situated on the borders of Galilee, and the city of Tiberias lay on the western
shore of it. The name Gennesaret seems to be a corruption of the word
Cinnereth, the name by which this lake was called in the Old Testament. See note
on Matthew 4:13. It appears from Mark 1:16, that Jesus had been walking on
the banks of this lake. And he saw two ships — Two small vessels, as the word
πλοια, frequently occurring in the gospels, evidently means, though in the
common versions rendered ships. They were a sort of large fishing-boats, which
Josephus calls σκαφαι, observing that there were about two hundred and thirty
of them on the lake, and four or five men to each. Standing by the side of the
lake, or aground near the edge of the lake, as Dr. Campbell renders εστωτα
παρα την λιμνην, observing that the vessels are said to be, not εν τη λιμνη, in the
lake, namely, at anchor, but παρα την λιμνην, at, or beside the lake. But the
fishermen were gone out of them — After the labour of a very unsuccessful
night; and were washing their nets — Namely, in the sea, as they stood on the
shore. And he entered into one of the ships — Namely, Simon’s — With whom,
as well as with his brother Andrew, he had formed some acquaintance on the
banks of Jordan, while John was baptizing there. See John 1:37-42 : and prayed
that he would thrust out a little from the land — Jesus desired this, that he might
avoid the crowd, and at the same time be more conveniently heard. And he
taught the people out of the ship — The subject of his discourse at this time is not
mentioned by the evangelist; he introduces the transaction only because it was
followed by an extraordinary miracle, which he is going to relate. When he had
left speaking, he said unto Simon — Who was the owner of the boat, and his own
disciple; Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught —
Christ intended by the multitude of fishes, which he would make Simon catch, to
show him the success of his future preaching, even in cases where little success
was reasonably to be expected. And Simon said, We have toiled all the night and
taken nothing — A circumstance this, which “one would have thought,” says
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Henry, “should have excused them from hearing the sermon; but such love had
they to the word of God, that it was more reviving and refreshing to them than
the softest slumbers.”
Nevertheless, at thy word — In obedience to it, and dependance on it; I will let
down the net — Though they had toiled to no purpose all night, yet at Christ’s
command they are willing to renew their toil, knowing, that by relying on him,
their strength should be renewed as work was renewed upon their hands.
Observe, reader, we must not presently quit the callings in which we are
engaged, because we have not the success in them which we promised ourselves.
The ministers of the gospel in particular must continue to let down their nets,
though they have, perhaps, toiled long, and caught nothing. They must persevere
unwearied in their labours, though they see not the success of them. And in this
they must have an eye to the word of Christ, and a dependance thereupon. We
are then likely to have success, when we follow the conduct of Christ’s word.
And they enclosed a great multitude of fishes — The net was no sooner let down,
than such a shoal of fishes ran into it, that it was in danger of breaking, or rather
did break in many parts. How vast was that power which brought such a
multitude of fishes into the net! But how much greater and more apparently
divine was the energy which, by the ministration of one of these illiterate men,
converted at once a much greater number of souls, and turned the despisers and
murderers of Christ into his adorers! And they beckoned to their partners which
were in the other ship — Namely, James and John, who, it seems, were at such a
distance from them, that they were not within call; that they should come and
help them — To secure this vast draught of fishes, and bring them safe to the
shore. Such a draught had, doubtless, never been seen in the lake before.
Wherefore it could not miss being acknowledged plainly miraculous, by all the
fishermen present, especially as they had toiled in that very place to no purpose
the whole preceding night, a season much more favourable than the daytime for
catching fish in such clear waters. Peter in particular was so struck with the
miracle, that he could not forbear expressing his astonishment in the most lively
manner, both by words and gestures: he fell down at Jesus’s knees — In
amazement and confusion; saying, in deep self-abasement, Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord — And therefore utterly unworthy to be in thy
presence. He believed the holy God was peculiarly present with the person who
could work such a miracle; and a consciousness of sin made him afraid to
continue in his presence, lest some infirmity or offence should expose him to
some more than ordinary punishment. Observe here, reader, 1st, Peter’s
acknowledgment was very just, and one which it becomes us all to make, I am a
sinful man, O Lord: for even the best of men are sinful men, and should be ready
upon all occasions to own it, and especially to own it to Jesus Christ; for to whom
else but to him, who came into the world to save sinners, should sinful men apply
themselves? 2d, His inference from it was not just: if we be sinful men, as indeed
we are, we should rather say, “Lord, for that very reason, while we own
ourselves most unworthy of thy presence, we most importunately entreat it:
Come unto me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man, and if thou stand at a distance
from me, I perish! Come and recover my heart from the tyranny of sin; come
and possess it, and fix it for thyself.” But, considering what reasons sinful men
have before the holy Lord God to dread his wrath, Peter may well be excused in
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crying out, on a sudden, under a sense of his sinfulness and vileness, Depart from
me, O Lord. Though Peter was the only person who spake on this occasion, the
rest were not unaffected. James and John, who were partners with him — Were
also struck with astonishment, and, doubtless, were also humbled before him.
But Jesus encouraged them all, and especially Simon, saying, Fear not: from
henceforth thou shalt catch men — Instead of doing thee any harm, I from this
time design to employ thee in much nobler work, in which I will give thee such
happy success, that thou shalt captivate men, in greater abundance than those
fishes thou hast now caught: enclosing them in the net of the gospel, and drawing
them out of the gulf of ignorance, sin, and misery, to the land of life eternal. The
original expression here is very emphatical, ανθρωπους εση ζωγρων, Thou shalt
be employed in catching men alive: it is spoken in allusion to those fishes and
beasts that are caught, not to be killed, but to be put into ponds and parks.
Thus by a signal miracle our Lord, 1st, Showed his dominion in the seas as well
as on the dry land; and over its wealth as well as over its waves; and that he was
that Son of man, under whose feet all things were put. 2d, He confirmed the
doctrine he had just preached out of Peter’s ship, and proved that he was at least
a preacher come from God. 3d, He repaid Peter for the loan of his boat; and
manifested that his gospel now, as his ark formerly, in the house of Obed-Edom,
would be sure to make ample amends for its kind entertainment; and that
Christ’s recompenses for services done to his name would be abundant, yea,
superabundant. And lastly, he hereby gave a specimen to those who were to be
his ambassadors to the world, of the success of their embassy; that though they
might for a time, and in some particular places, toil and catch nothing, yet, that
they should be made the instruments of enclosing many in the gospel net, and
bringing them to Christ and salvation, present and eternal.
COFFMAN, "Events narrated in this chapter are the wonderful draught of
fishes (Luke 5:1-11), the healing of a leper (Luke 5:12-16), the cure of the man
carried by four men (Luke 5:17-26), the call of Matthew (Luke 5:27-28),
complaints by the Pharisees and following discussion (Luke 5:29-31). The call of
some of the apostles is also woven into the above narratives.
Now it came to pass, while the multitude pressed upon him and heard the word
of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and he saw two boats
standing by the lake: but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing
their nets. (Luke 5:1-2)
THE WONDERFUL CATCH OF FISH
The dramatic scene here is emphasized by the last two clauses. It had been an
unsuccessful night of fishing, and the men who were about to be called to the
apostleship were cleaning up the gear and getting ready to store it against the
next fishing trip. With marvelous insight, Jesus accomplished several things at
once. By using one of the boats as a pulpit, he could avoid the press of the
throng; and, by means of the great catch a little later, he could provide further
insight for the men about to be called to accompany him as apostles. Luke did
not record the sermon Jesus preached on that occasion; and thus we should look
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to what Jesus did, rather than to the unrecorded message. Like the apostle John,
Luke recognized the deeply spiritual overtones of such an event as this. Of
course, it is incorrect to suppose that this miracle was the same as the one John
recorded and which took place after Jesus' resurrection.
NISBET, "ON HEARING SERMONS
‘The people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God.’
Luke 5:1
This eagerness of the people to hear Christ is full of instruction, and both of
encouragement and caution to all in every age who preach and who hear the
Word of Grace.
I. Motive.—Some desired to hear Christ from mixed and even unworthy motives;
some came from curiosity, impelled by the desire of knowing something new;
some came for bread, or for healing, or for some other form of temporal aid;
some came to cavil, to catch Him in His words, to betray Him. But some came to
hear Christ because their hearts felt the charm of His words and the Divine
power of His message. Still does the Divine Word prove its power by drawing the
hearts of men unto itself.
II. Method.—To hear it profitably men must listen to it—
(a) With reverence, as to a word higher than that of man.
(b) With attention, as to what is of vital interest and concern.
(c) With candour, as prepared to weigh all that is said, although it may be
opposed to their prejudices.
(d) With prayer, that the Spirit may accompany the message to the heart.
(e) With frequency, as remembering that not one lesson, not many lessons, can
exhaust the riches of heavenly truth.
III. Purpose.—The purpose for which the Word of God should be heard is
essentially spiritual.
(a) To appropriate it in faith. They truly hear who truly believe.
(b) To obey it with cheerfulness and diligence. ‘Blessed are they who hear the
word of God, and do it!’
Illustrations
(1) ‘Speaking of the plain of Gennesareth, Josephus says: “One may call this
place the ambition of Nature, where it forces those plants that are naturally
enemies to one another to agree together; it is a happy contention of the seasons,
as if each of them laid claim to this country, for it not only nourishes different
sorts of autumnal fruits beyond men’s expectation, but preserves them a great
15

while. It supplies men with the principal fruits, grapes and figs, continually
during ten months of the year, and the rest of the fruits as they ripen together
throughout the whole year.”’
(2) ‘It was no brilliant lecturer, no mere fascinating improviser that gathered
that eager throng. Imperfectly as He may have been understood to the full extent
of His teaching, all felt that He was a teacher of quite another order from any
they had ever known. It was nothing less than the Word of God that men
crowded to hear from the lips of Christ; and the craving which drew men after
Him then was one which has never passed away; it still works mightily in human
hearts; now, as of old, through many an avenue of approach, men are pressing
upon Him for satisfaction of that self-same craving; and the time is assuredly
coming, notwithstanding adverse signs, when the pressure shall be more intense
yet—nay, when the words once whispered in hatred and alarm, shall be literally
true: “Behold! the world is gone after Him.”’
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE MODERN SERMON
The text serves to suggest thoughts af a general kind.
I. It opens up the whole question of religious appeal and Christian preaching.—
What is there, we may ask, in common between the eagerness with which men
pressed of old upon Christ Himself, and that with which they will flock to listen
to the teacher who preaches about Christ? Doubtless the disparity is great,
indeed, between the teaching of the Divine Master and that of the worthiest
individual who bears His commission. Yet what men seek to gather from the
imperfect utterances of His ministers is what they sought from Him—it is the
Word of God.
II. Another consideration is that preaching, in the original sense of the word, is a
thing now unknown in Christian lands.—To preach in the language of the New
Testament means to proclaim Christ as a Saviour to those who never before
heard of Him. The modern sermon is a new means of grace. It is one that has
grown up in the Church of Christ in answer to the instinctive demands of
believers; it is to satisfy the need which every Christian feels of having the chords
continually touched which link Divine truth to his common life. For more than a
generation the demand for sermons has been steadily growing. The people have
truly pressed upon’ the ministers of the Gospel ‘to hear the word of God.’ It is a
great mistake to imagine that the clergy have invented this want. It is the people
who call for sermons, and their ministers with revived zeal have set themselves to
meet the demand; notwithstanding charges of dulness, sameness, and emptiness
which have been levelled against preachers, the clergy know full well that the
omission of the sermon would be generally regarded as a loss. It should be
remembered that preaching must, for the most part, be all that it is sometimes
censured for being, commonplace and repetition. The preacher may, and should,
exercise his skill in clothing his great message with freshness, and in diversifying
the application of truth; to bring out of his treasure ‘things new and old’; to face
the intellectual difficulties, the moral perils, the social problems of his time; but
for all that, one theme alone must be paramount—he has to preach Christ in all
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His fullness, and to bring the ‘mind of Christ’ to bear to consecrate the present,
and to keep supreme the interests of the soul, to point ever to that unseen world
to which it belongs, and for which it is to prepare.
III. But what is it that gives to preaching its attractiveness still in a day when
there are so many influences at work which tend to discredit and invalidate it? Is
it not because there is that in the individual hearer which must always contribute
to the effect of a sermon? Every hearer has a history of his own. Many can testify
that the sermons which have helped them have not been those which a mere
critic would have pronounced remarkable; indeed, the preacher’s words may
have been lost upon the majority of his congregation, and yet some hearts there,
whose soil God has prepared, at some critical point in their life’s history,
perhaps, have heard words which just met the sorrow or the doubt or the fear
which held possession of them. No wonder, if those who have gone through such
an experience, believe it possible, even through the weak and faltering utterances
of man, to hear the very Word of God.
—Rev. Canon Duckworth.
Illustration
‘The vision must precede the message, and the message declare the vision. The
age calls for preachers who are seers, men who with pure hearts see God, who
“behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world,” who discern
“the signs of the times,” who with anointed eyes see under the surface of things,
and with open vision watch the movements of men in the light of the Incarnate
Christ. The age calls for preachers who are prophets as well as seers. Men who
speak what they know, and testify what they have seen, whose preaching may
not be with enticing words of men’s wisdom, but is in demonstration of the Spirit
and of power, who will not hesitate to declare the whole counsel of God, and who
scorn to apologise for preaching the full Gospel of Christ. The general
reinstatement of preaching as a Divine institution suited to modern needs would
issue in a widespread readjustment of the Church to the age. The people will
always come to hear, if only the clergy have always something worth hearing to
say. The Gospel of Christ is still the power of God unto salvation, and still the
cry is heard, “What must I do to be saved?”’
(THIRD OUTLINE)
CONCENTRATIVE CHRISTIANITY
The text tells us that the people ‘pressed’ to listen to the gracious words of
Christ. It tells little of their motives.
I. Those of our time, too, can press to hear the Word of God. Of diffusive religion
we have abundance; a concentrative Christianity is what we require. And to
believe it—to commune with our own hearts and be still—is the finest
preparative for external usefulness.
II. There are two ways in which the revelation of the will of God through Christ
may be presented to our minds.
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(a) We may know it as a mass of doctrines and commands offered to our
acceptance as beings possessed of reasonable faculties, and demanding from our
understandings a simple assent to these truths.
(b) We may know it in such a sense and degree as that it becomes the prevailing
principle of all our actions and the presiding director of our inmost thoughts, the
soul of our souls, the fountain of our moral being, the central force of the whole
system of life and conduct. To which of these classes does our acquaintance with
the Word of God belong?
Illustration
‘Archbishop Davidson in his Visitation Charge has a telling passage on
preaching. “If it be,” he says, “that we are enabled by painstaking study and
elaborate preparation and care to produce that which will be pointed and pithy,
and make itself felt as a direct message from God to the human soul, in ten
minutes, then be it so, and thank God. But if it be merely that we think people
are pleased and satisfied now with the ten minutes rather than with the little
longer time which used to be more customary; if God’s people so like it that
therefore we can do with it, and say a few words, as it is called, leaving the big
thought of the responsibility of the teacher to God and his fellow-men to be
discharged in a lighter way than before, then surely we are missing some of the
very largest part of the trust which God has laid upon us in a day when
education is wider and our own reading ought to be more deep and thorough.
Facilities for obtaining knowledge are taken advantage of by everybody, and
people who are preaching should now utter words worth hearing, because the
result of elaborate and painstaking care.”’
BURKITT, "Here observe, 1. That our Saviour used the sea as well as the land
in his passage from place to place to preach the gospel; and the reasons why he
did so might probably be these:
1. To show Nature's intent in making of the sea: namely, to be sailed upon, as the
land to be walked upon.
2. That Christ might take occasion to manifest his Deity, in working miracles
upon the sea: namely, by calming of the waves and stilling of the winds.
3. It might be to comfort sea-faring men in their distresses, and to encourage
them to pray to such a Saviour as had an experiemental knowledge of the
dangers of the sea: it were well if sailors would consider this, and instead of
inuring themselves to the language of hell when they go down into the deep,
would direct their prayer unto Christ, and look up to him; who now in heaven
has the remembrance of what he himself endured and underwent here on earth,
and on the sea.
Observe, 2. The circumstance of time, when Christ used to put forth to sea: it
was usually after he had wrought some extraordinary miracle, which set them on
admiring and commending of him; as after he had fed so many thousands, with a
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few barley loaves and fishes, presently he put forth to sea, shunning thereby all
popularity and vain-glorious applause from the multitude which he was never
ambitious of, but industriously avoided.
Observe, 3. That after our Saviour's resurrection, we never find him sailing any
more upon the seas. For such a fluctuating and turbulent condition, which
necessarily attends sea voyages, was utterly inconsistent with the constancy,
stability, and perpetuity, of Christ's estate when risen from the grave. The firm
land better agreeing with his fixed state, he keeps upon it, till his ascension into
heaven.
Observe, 4. That Christ scruples not to preach to the people in, and out of the
ship: He sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Sometimes we find our
holy Lord preaching upon a mountain, sometimes in a ship, sometimes in a
house, as often as may be in a synagogue. He that laid hold of all seasons for
preaching the gospel, never scrupled any place which conveniency offered to
preach in; well knowing that it is the ordinance that sanctifies the place, and not
the place the ordinance.
CONSTABLE, "Verses 1-3
These verses give the setting for the incident. Again Luke pointed out that the
crowd was listening to the word of God (Luke 5:1; cf. Luke 4:32; cf. Luke 4:36).
The people were so interested that they pressed upon Jesus. Jesus put some
distance between them and Himself by teaching from a boat not far off shore.
Luke described the Sea of Galilee as a lake, as most of His readers would have
thought of it. Gennesaret was the town and plain on its northwest coast from
which it received its name.
Luke's characteristic attention to detail is obvious in that he referred to two
boats, setting the stage for Luke 5:7. Evidently the fishermen had used large
dragnets (Gr. diktau) when they had fished all night, which Zebedee, James, and
John were now washing and mending (Matthew 4:21; Mark 1:19; Luke 5:2).
Peter and Andrew were using a smaller round casting net (Gr. amphibleston),
throwing it into the water from close to shore (Matthew 4:18; Mark 1:16).
"It was a busy scene; for, among the many industries by the Lake of Galilee, that
of fishing was not only the most generally pursued, but perhaps the most
lucrative." [Note: Edersheim, 1:473.]
PETT, "In this chapter Jesus reveals His power and authority, first in His
calling of some of His disciples for a life long commitment; then by cleansing a
skin diseased man, by touching him and remaining clean; by forgiving the sins of
a paralytic as the Son of Man; by His calling of outcasts as The Physician; and
finally by declaring that His disciples cannot fast because the promised
Bridegroom is with them. This idea of revealing His authority and power
continues into chapter 6.
Verse 1
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‘Now it came about, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of
God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.’
The crowds continued to gather around Jesus in order to hear ‘the word of God’,
the truth of God taught by Jesus, as He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
They were so eager that they were pressing in on Him and making it difficult for
Him to speak in comfort and safety.
Gennesaret was a region south of Capernaum whose name had become attached
to the Sea of Galilee. The lake is know as Gennesaret in outside sources, and is
seven miles (eleven kilometres) wide and thirteen miles (twenty one kilometres)
long. It is liable to sudden storms because of the wind swirling through the
surrounding hills, and is six hundred feet (211 metres) below sea level, being
bountifully supplied with fish, and in Jesus’ day its shores were dotted with
towns.
The crowds had gathered to hear ‘the word of God.’ The spreading of this word,
and its effectiveness, is a theme of Luke and Acts. It is the word concerning the
Kingly Rule of God and in Acts includes the proclamation of the name of Jesus
Christ. The popularity of it among the ordinary people is brought out here.
‘Gennesaret.’ The lake is called that only here in the New Testament. It suggests
that Luke obtained this story from a local who thought of the Lake in those
terms. Peter, James and John clearly did not see it as a story to be spread
around. They would think that it could only fully be appreciated by fishermen,
and by recounting it they may have thought that they would be seen as putting
themselves in a position of superiority to those whose calls were less spectacular.
Verses 1-11
Jesus Reveals His Authority Over Both Fish and Fishermen and Calls the
Fishermen To Fish Men (5:1-11).
The first incident in which Jesus’ Messianic authority is revealed is in the calling
of fishermen to follow Him in lifetime commitment, with no offer of earthly
reward, for the purpose of ‘taking men alive’. This will fulfil the prophecy of
Jeremiah 16:16 concerning the last days. ‘Behold I will send for many fishermen,
says the Lord, and they will fish them’, but it is also evidence of Jesus’ supreme
authority to call men at His bidding.
The words of Jeremiah did primarily have judgment in mind, but always when
God judged men were also won to righteousness. And these Apostles too will,
even while taking men alive for Christ, be the cause of judgment on thoe who
refuse.
The story here parallels the calling of the four, Peter, Andrew, James and John
in Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22 to be disciples. These were men who were
already acquainted with Him and had been disciples of John the Baptiser (John
1:35-42). They had probably accompanied Him back to Galilee. But He had not
at that stage called them to follow Him. There the incident is in a slightly
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different order, coming before the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, and is more
abbreviated. But this merely brings out that the Gospels are not intended to be in
strict chronological order. Their order is determined by how will best present the
ideas that they want to present. Had Luke had it earlier it would have spoiled the
pattern of chapter 4.
Only Luke tells us about the remarkable incident of the fishes. Mark had wanted
to concentrate on the authority that Jesus was revealing, and Matthew follows
Mark. But Luke not only wants to bring that out, but also wants to bring out His
power over nature and His fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. The gathering
of the scattered children of Israel were to be gathered by ‘fishermen’ fishing for
them (Jeremiah 16:16). Thus He will act to cause the ‘taking of men alive’ by
fishermen, revealing Himself again as the introducer of the last days, for His
disciples were being called in order to carry out God’s purposes for the last days.
It could well be that Peter did not want to broadcast this story, which he might
have seen as glorifying himself and suggesting that he was superior to others,
which would explain why Mark did not know of it. Luke appears to have
obtained the details from a local (who calls the Lake Gennesaret).
The passage may be analysed as follows:
a Now it came about, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of
God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret (Luke 5:1).
b And he saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of
them, and were washing their nets (Luke 5:2).
c And he entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put
out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes out of the
boat (Luke 5:3).
d And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep,
and let down your nets for a draught” (Luke 5:4).
e And Simon answered and said, “Master, we toiled all night, and took nothing:
but at (on the strength of) your word I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5).
f And when they had done this, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and
their nets were breaking (Luke 5:6).
e And they beckoned to those associated with them in the other boat, that they
should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the boats, so that
they began to sink (Luke 5:7).
d But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).
c For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the draught of the fishes
which they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who
were partners with Simon (Luke 5:9-10 a).
b And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be overawed, from now on you will be taking
men alive” (Luke 5:10 b).
a And when they had brought their boats to land, they left all, and followed him
(Luke 5:11).
Note that in ‘a’ the crowds were pressing Him on the land to hear the word of
God, and in the parallel the disciples also come to the land to follow Him. In ‘b’
they had ceased fishing and were washing their nets despondently because
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fishing had failed them, and in the parallel they are to rather have the
replacement joy of taking men alive. In ‘c’ they obey Jesus and do His will, and
in the parallel they are amazed at the reward that they receive. In ‘d’ they are
commanded to launch out into the deep and let down their nets, and in the
parallel Peter has launched so deep that what has happened as a result of
obeying Jesus makes him stricken with guilt over his sinfulness. In ‘e’ they have
caught nothing, and in the parallel have caught so much that they have to call for
their associates. And central to all is that when they obeyed Jesus they enclosed a
great multitude of fish.
BI, "And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon Him to hear the Word of
God
The gospel and the masses
What could have been the wonderful secret power by which the great Prophet of
Galilee drew all men after Him?
1. One simple and very intelligent element in it was the way in which he
recognized the wholeness of human nature, that, at the bottom, peer did not
differ from peasant, nor monarch from villager.
2. And not only did He recognize the wholeness of human nature, hut also its
many diversified needs.
3. He was sinless, and yet He never had a harsh word for the sinners—provided
they were not hypocrites.
4. He had the tenderest feelings for those who enjoyed fewest opportunities.
5. He recognized the natural or social wants which are common to all men.
Feeding five thousand; making wine at wedding.
6. He disdained no man.
APPLICATION. Oh that God would give us grace to preach fully, faithfully, wisely,
lovingly this gospel in the spirit, and with the simplicity and abounding sympathy
with which it was first preached in the cities and on the mountain slopes and by the
lake shores of Galilee; and then I believe the people would be found pressing to hear
it as they pressed then. (Bishop Fraser.)
The Word of God
I. THE WORD OF GOD THAT IS NOW PREACHED AMONG US.
II. THE EXISTING URGENCY TO HEAR IT. Of diffusive religion we have
abundance; a concentrative Christianity is what we require.
III. THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ITS FAVOURED, AND TOO OFTEN ITS FORGETFUL
HEARERS. TWO great classes; those who know the revelation of the will of God
through Christ as a mass of doctrines and commands demanding from our
understandings a simple assent to their truth; and those who know it in such a sense
and degree, as that it becomes the pervading principle of all their actions. Beware of
the Christianity of the formalist. When rightly received, “the Word of God is quick
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” (W. A. Butler, M. A.)
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To hear the Word of God
One of the finest conceivable pictures presented in this verse—people pressing to
hear the Word of God! They often pressed to see Christ’s miracles, and to listen to
His parables, with more or less of mere curiosity; but in this case the motive was
spiritual and pure. Why do people attend the sanctuary? To hear the word of man?
Then will there be debate, opposition, doubt, or at best, admiration, fickle and
selfish. The remedy is partly in the hands of ministers themselves. When they insist
upon delivering the message of God without any admixture of human speculation,
their spiritual reverence and earnestness may carry a holy contagion amongst the
people. God’s Word should always be supreme in God’s house. “Them that honour
Me, I will honour.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
The Lake of Gennesaret
It is the centre of the ministry of our Lord; it is not too much to say of it what Dean
Stanley has said, “It is the most sacred sheet of water that the earth contains.” The
Rabbins say, “I have created seven seas, saith the Lord, but out of them I have chosen
none but the sea of Gennesaret.” In the day of our Lord, it was a scene of teeming life
as well as the centre of a peculiarly hushed and hallowed solitude. No doubt, as
compared with many quarters of the globe, it was secluded; but still its shores and its
waves were the way of traffic. It was situated in the midst of the Jordan valley, or the
great thoroughfare from Babylon and Damascus into Palestine; hence it was “the way
of the sea beyond Jordan.” Along its banks a wondrous vegetation spread, and full of
especially beautiful birds and flowers and fruits. What a scene it must have
presented—fishermen by hundreds on the Lake; in hamlets around the numerous
shipbuilders; and the sails and boats of pleasure flying before the frequent gusts from
the mountains. There was no other spot which would so instantly have been a
conductor to the words of our Lord. There is a Divine providence in even the very
spot itself. The dwellers of the Sea of Galilee were free from most of the strong
prejudices which, in the south of Palestine, raised a bar to Christ’s reception. There
were the people of Zabulon and Nephthalim, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. They had sat in darkness; but for that very reason they saw
more clearly the great light when it came to them in the region of the shadow of
death. There He came, to that spot, to preach the gospel to the poor, the weary, and
the heavy laden, to seek and to save that which was lost. Where could He find what
He sought so readily as in the ceaseless turmoil of those busy waters and teeming
villages? Roman soldiers, centurions quartered with their slaves; here, too, the
palaces of the princes. Hardy boatmen, publicans, and tax-collectors sitting at the
receipt of custom, women who were sinners from neighbouring Gentile cities and
villages. Thus all was prepared to concentrate and give effect to the power of His
teaching by the Lake. (E. Paxton Hood.)
Description of the lake
The Sea of Galilee is shaped like a pear, with a width at the broadest part of 6.75
miles, and a length of 121; miles; that is, it is about the same length as our own
Windermere, but considerably broader, though in the clear air of Palestine it looks
somewhat smaller. Nothing can exceed the bright clearness of the water, which it is
delightful to watch as it runs in small waves over the shingle. Its taste, moreover, is
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sweet, except near the hot springs and at Tiberias, where it is polluted by the
sewerage of the town. There is much more level ground on the eastern side than the
western, yet the western side was always, in Bible times, much more thickly peopled
by the Hebrews than the other; partly from the fact that “beyond Jordan” was almost
a foreign country; partly because the land above the lake on the east was exposed to
the Arabs; and in some measure also because it always had a large intermixture of
heathen population. (Geikie’s “Holy Land and the Bible.”)
Description of the surrounding scenery
The original population of the shores of the lake was Sidonian, and when Tyre and
Sidon were founded on the shores of the Mediterranean they moved westward, but
the town of Bethsidon still retained the name given it by its first inhabitants. The
richest part of the shores was at the north-west, where is a luxuriant plain of half-
moon shape, walled out from the north and west winds by mountains, and exposed
to the sun. This was where the princes and the nobles had their country residences,
and the gardens were filled with all kinds of flowers and fruit. The lake was called by
its first colonists, Cenuereth, or the Harp, from its shape. The Jews thought so highly
of its beauty that they said, “God created seven seas—but for Himself He elected but
one, and that the Lake Gennesareth”; and again, “It is the Gate of Paradise.”
Josephus says, “It is a district where Nature seems to have constrained herself to
create an eternal spring, and to gather into one spot the products of every one.” To
the present day the date-palm, citrons, pomegranate, indigo, rice, sugar-cane, grow
there; cotton, balsams, vines, thrive; the purple grapes are as big as plums, and the
bunches weigh twelve pounds. Here also the fig-tree yields her fruit throughout the
year, ripening every month. The Jews call Gennesareth the Garden Lake, and if there
were any place in Palestine that could recall the lost Paradise, it was this fruitful,
beautiful tract, watered with its five streams. At Chammath, about two miles south of
Tiberias, are hot springs, of old much used for baths, and half an hour’s walk above
Tiberias a cold spring of beautiful water bursts out of the mountain side, and pours
down to the lake in five or six streams. At Tabigha also are hot springs, that gush
streaming down into the blue waters of the lake. Now the neglect of mismanagement
of the Turkish Government have led to the devastation of this beautiful corner of the
world, and many of the foreign plants once introduced into it have died out, or are
disappearing. We can only guess what a garden of delight it must have been in the
time of our Lord, when the aqueducts were in working order, and canals carried
water to all the gardens and fields. (S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)
Attractiveness of the true preacher
Let a man be a true preacher, really uttering the truth through his own personality,
and it is strange how men will gather to listen to him. We hear that the day of the
pulpit is past, and then some morning the voice of a true preacher is heard in the
land, and all the streets are full of men crowding to hear him, just exactly as were the
streets of Constantinople when Chrysostum was going to preach at the Church of the
Apostles, or the streets of London when Latimer was bravely telling the truth at St.
Paul’s. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)
The personal power inpreaching
The nameless and potent charm of intense personality cannot all go down into a dead
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book. Truth in personality is where the hidings of power are. We look in vain along
the pages of Whitefield for the secret of his mighty effectiveness. We search the
famous sermon of Edwards, and wonder what there was in it that moved men so. It
was not the sermon on the printed page; it was the sermon in the living preacher.
While men are men, a living man before living men will always be more than white
paper and black ink. And therein will for evermore lie the supremest possibilities of
pulpit power, which no competing press, however enterprising and ubiquitous, can
rival. The Founder of Christianity made no mistake when He staked its triumphal
progress down through all ages, and its victorious consummation at “the end of the
“world,” on “the foolishness of preaching.” He chose the agency in full view of the
marvels of these later centuries, and the pulpit is not therefore likely to be despoiled
of its peculiar glory and made impotent to its work by any device born of the
inventive genius of man. (Dr. Herrick Johnson, of Chicago.)
A remarkable pulpit
I have seen in different countries some very wonderful pulpits, some of them
exquisitely carved in stone or wood, some of them richly inlaid with the choicest
mosaics, some of them illustrating scenes from the Bible. Perhaps the loveliest pulpit
I have ever seen is in a place where you would least expect to find it. In Italy you often
see places that are called Baptisteries—that is, places built specially for the baptism of
children. In the old city of Pisa there is a most lovely Baptistery, and in it the most
beautiful pulpit, which every one who sees greatly admires; but, strange to say, it
cannot be used, because there is such a wonderful echo in the building that the
preacher’s voice could not be heard. If you speak quite softly in it you hear a sound as
of a great choir right up in the roof, and so the pulpit can only be admired and not
used. But the pulpit from which Christ preached on this occasion was a very simple
one; it was not richly carved, nor beautifully decorated, nor of massive form. It was
only a tiny boat resting upon the bosom of a lake. (W. A. Herder.)
The preaching of Christ
The form of the preaching of Jesus was essentially Jewish. The Oriental mind does
not work in the same way as the mind of the West. Our thinking and speaking, when
at their best, are fluent, expansive, closely reasoned. The kind of discourse which we
admire is one which takes up an important subject, divides it out into different
branches, treats it fully under each of the heads, closely articulates part to part, and
closes with a moving appeal to the feelings, so as to sway the will to some practical
result. The Oriental mind, on the contrary, loves to brood long on a single point, to
turn it round and round, to gather up all the truth about it into a focus, and pour it
forth in a few pointed and memorable words. It is concise, epigrammatic, oracular. A
Western speaker’s discourse is a systematic structure, or like a chain in which link is
firmly knit to link; an Oriental’s is like the sky at night, full of innumerable burning
points shining forth from a dark background. Such was the form of the teaching of
Jesus. It consisted of numerous sayings, every one of which contained the greatest
possible amount of truth in the smallest possible compass, and was expressed in
language so concise and pointed as to stick in the memory like an arrow. Read them,
and you will find that every one of them, as you ponder it, sucks the mind in and in
like a whirlpool, till it is lost in the depths. You will find, too, that there are very few
of them which you do not know by heart. They have found their way into the memory
of Christendom as no other words have done. Even before the meaning has been
apprehended, the perfect, proverb-like expression lodges itself fast in the mind.
25

(James Stalker.)
Attention to the Word of God
I. The circumstance mentioned in the first verse of the text was A NATURAL
CONSEQUENCE OF OUR LORD’S OFFICE AND CHARACTER. “The people pressed
upon Him to hear the Word of God.” Jesus Christ was “that Prophet which should
come into the world.” He brought down a message of mercy from heaven to earth; a
message of pardon for the guilty, of life to the dead, and of salvation to those who
were utterly and eternally lost. They were astonished at His doctrine; for He taught
them as one having authority. They “ pressed upon Him to hear the Word of God.”
And surely it is not too much for us to expect to witness a continuance of the same
spirit. If God has indeed sent His Son and His servants to communicate an authentic
revelation of His will to man, these teachers must be listened to by all who
understand their own character and circumstances, and the great ends for which they
live.
II. Such AN ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD IS MATTER OF ABSOLUTE
AND UNIVERSAL DUTY AND OBLIGATION. We are all bound to receive Divine
instruction, and to receive it in the mode contemplated in the text. The law of Moses
directed that, at stated seasons, there were to be holy convocations of the people;
when they were to be collected in masses, to engage in holy duties, to enjoy holy
delights, to receive holy light and power, and thereby to be filled for those high and
holy ends for which they existed as a separate people. In the gospel, Christians are
commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. They are to
“exhort one another.” Along with these commands, there are “given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises.” “In all places where I record My name I will
come unto thee, and I will bless thee” (Exo_20:24; Mat_18:20). We are bound to
give this attendance on the word and worship of God, because He requires it. We are
bound to do this, because we ourselves have need of it. If the highest archangel in
heaven were commanded to frequent religious assemblies, as a learner, and as a
worshipper, he would not refuse. This was done by Him who has received “a name
which is above every name.” As the Mediator, Jesus Christ was subject to the Father;
and He testified that subjection by a devout regard for His ordinances. He was a
stated attendant on the services of the Temple. But we are not merely creatures: we
are also sinners. We are not only subject to our Maker’s authority; we need our
Maker’s mercy. If we would obtain His blessing, we must seek it in the way of His
own appointment. In any other way He has not promised it; in any other way we have
no right to expect it. It does not mean that the vulgar and illiterate must go to
Church, but that men of science and literature are at liberty to stay away. A man may
be as great a philosopher as Socrates or Plato; but then he is a creature and a sinner.
He must therefore attend to his Creator’s word; he must kneel at his Creator’s feet.
Neither can political rank at all free us from this great obligation. A man may be a
lord, a duke, a king, or an emperor; yet he must imitate the example of Him who is
Lord of lords, and King of kings. No man is excused on the ground of poverty and
meanness. It may mortify him excessively to exhibit his rags before a large and
respectable congregation; but Christ hath left us an example that we should tread in
His steps. His piety and poverty were great and manifest. The plea of a high and
refined spirituality of mind will be equally unavailing. It is useless to say, “I have no
need to observe the mere forms of piety, since I enjoy its spirit and its power.”
III. The men of bustle and business are sometimes disposed to look upon all this
attendance on the Word of God AS SO MUCH LOST TIME, AND AN
INCONVENIENT INTERFERENCE WITH THE CONCERNS OF LIFE. If such
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excuses could ever be seasonable, they might have been urged by the fishermen of
Galilee, on the occasion referred to in the text. They had toiled all the night before,
and caught nothing. They were now in the act of washing their nets, in order at the
earliest opportunity to go to sea again and make another attempt. Several of them, it
is probable, had families dependent on their industry and success. Under such
circumstances they might have said, “Lord, we have no time to hear sermons now. It
is impossible for us to comply with your request, and to spare our boat for preaching
purposes at present. We must follow our employment, or our debts cannot be paid,
nor our children’s wants supplied.” But not a word of objection or excuse was heard.
What follows proves that in the end they suffered no loss. Know, therefore, that there
is a providence; a blessing of the Lord which maketh rich.
IV. THE WORD OF GOD DESERVES TO BE IMPLICITLY BELIEVED AND
OBEYED. We may always venture to carry out its instructions into practical effect in
the face of every difficulty and discouragement. But Peter reasoned on a different
principle, and came to a different conclusion. He called Jesus “Master,” and was
consistent with himself. Many of us talk like servants while we act like masters. We
say, “Lord, Lord,” but do not the things which He enjoins. But Peter understood his
duty better. When the Master commands, the servant’s business is, not to argue, but
to obey.
V. THAT WORD DESERVES OUR ATTENTION ON ACCOUNT OF ITS POWER TO
REACH AND CONTROL THE HUMAN HEART. The Author of the Bible knows what
is in man. He can speak to the heart of His own creatures. His Word touches the
hidden springs of thought and feeling, and thus turns us about whithersoever He will
(Heb_4:12). Peter found this by experience. The sermon was heard, and such was the
silent and secret but powerful effect of Divine truth upon his heart, that he saw his
unutterable guilt and depravity as in the light of open day; and became so agitated
with grief and terror, that, in the end, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, exclaiming,
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luk_5:8). You will soon be brought
to the same temper, if you listen to the same Teacher.
VI. IT IS NOT INTENDED, HOWEVER, TO INTIMATE THAT THIS MATCHLESS
WORD WILL INTRODUCE US TO A REST AND PEACE, WHICH IMPLIES AN
EXEMPTION FROM WORLDLY CALAMITIES. When the disciples were favoured
with the immediate presence of Christ, and were in the very act of receiving a
miraculous blessing at His hands, we scarcely expected to hear anything of a broken
net and a sinking boat. Yet both these inconveniences were experienced on this
memorable occasion. The afflictions of a good man only tend to heighten his
gratitude, by more abundant displays of the Divine faithfulness and love. It was
wonderful that the net should be suffered to break; but it was more wonderful that,
after this accident, the fishes were not lost. It was wonderful that the boat should be
suffered to begin to sink; but it was more wonderful that, in such a state, they should
all come safe to land. God often reduces His people to the last extremities, and then
shows them His salvation. The vessel which bears the saints to glory is often in a
leaky and sinking state. All hope of being saved is not unfrequently taken away. Yet,
while they have an ear to hear, and a heart to obey, they continue to float.
VII. THE BENEFITS ARISING FROM. AN ATTENTION TO THE WORD OF GOD
ARE NOT CONFINED TO OURSELVES; THEY EXTEND TO OTHERS. While
attention to the Word of God teaches us the duty of instructing others, it also gives us
the disposition to make the attempt. Piety and charity are inseparably connected.
(Samuel Jackson.)
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The attractive power of the gospel
Jesus as a preacher “drew.” What was the attraction? He used no rhetorical device to
produce an effect. His method was startling in its novelty. He did not follow the
customs of His age. Though claiming to be a religious teacher, He did net adopt the
conventional role of a priest or scribe. But to really appreciate the spirit of the
Preacher we must understand His doctrine. The message He brought men made it
imperative that His attitude towards them should be that of large-hearted sympathy.
Now, there are some things I want you to see as the result of this exposition.
1. The first is that the gospel of Christ, when proclaimed in the proper spirit,
never fails to touch the heart. In a sermon of Bishop Fraser’s I read the following
story: A well-known Anglican Bishop was announced to preach in a certain
church. A tradesman in the parish, the leader of a set of Atheists, made up his
mind to go and hear him. He listened attentively, and after the sermon he said to
some one, “If that bishop had argued, I would have fought with him; but there
was no arguing about him; he preached to us simply about the love of God, and
that touched me.” Let the gospel be preached with the simplicity and sympathy
with which it was first preached in Galilee, and people will still be found pressing
to hear.
2. The next thing I want you to see is, that the gospel and spirit of Christ are the
powers that have been refining and elevating society ever since He lived and
taught. Slowly, almost insensibly, the gospel has been making its way in society.
3. The last thing I want you to see is, that the gospel and spirit of Jesus alone
have the power to make humanity noble and good. What a principle this is on
which to base individual, social, and political life—God is the Father of all men
and has given His Son to redeem them from death; all men are the sons of God,
bound to obey Him with loving and filial spirit; each man owes to every other
man the duties of a brother. Were that principle realized the happiness of the
world would far surpass the dreams of the most ardent socialist. Getting rich by
methods that injure others would be unknown. (S. If. Hamilton, D. D.)
2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left
there by the fishermen, who were washing their
nets.
BARNES, "Two ships - The ships used on so small a lake were probably no more
than fishing-boats without decks, and easily drawn up on the beach. Josephus says
there were 230 of them on the lake, attended by four or five men each. That they
were small is also clear from the account commonly given of them. A single large
draught of fishes endangered them and came near sinking them.
Standing by the lake - Anchored by the lake, or drawn up upon the beach.
28

CLARKE, "Two ships - ∆υο πλοια, Two vessels, It is highly improper to term
these ships. They appear to have been only such small boats as are used to manage
nets on flat smooth beaches: one end of the net is attached to the shore; the
fishermen row out, and drop the net as they go, making a kind of semicircle from the
shore; they return, and bring the rope attached to the other end with them, and then
the net is hauled on shore; and, as it was sunk with weights to the bottom, and
floated with corks at the top, all the fish in that compass were included, and drawn to
shore.
GILL, "And saw two ships standing by the lake,.... Or two fishing boats; which
were, as the Arabic version renders it, "detained by anchors at the shore of the lake";
the one belonging to Peter and Andrew, and the other to Zebedee, and his two sons,
James and John:
but the fishermen were gone out of them; that is, either the above persons, or
their servants:
and were washing their nets; on shore; they having gathered a great deal of soil
and filthiness, but had caught no fish; and therefore were cleansing their nets, in
order to lay them up, finding it to be in vain to make any further attempts with them
at present; and which considered, makes the following miracle the more illustrious.
HENRY, "It does not appear that his hearers had any contrivance to give him
advantage, but there were two ships, or fishing boats, brought ashore, one belonging
to Simon and Andrew, the other to Zebedee and his sons, Luk_5:2. At first, Christ
saw Peter and Andrew fishing at some distance (so Matthew tells us, Mat_4:18); but
he waited till they came to land, and till the fishermen, that is, the servants, were
gone out of them having washed their nets, and thrown them by for that time: so
Christ entered into that ship that belonged to Simon, and begged of him that he
would lend it him for a pulpit; and, though he might have commanded him, yet, for
love's sake, he rather prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land,
which would be the worse for his being heard, but Christ would have it so, that he
might the better be seen; and it is his being lifted up that draws men to him. Wisdom
cries in the top of high places, Pro_8:2. It intimates that Christ had a strong voice
(strong indeed, for he made the dead to hear it), and that he did not desire to favour
himself. There he sat down, and taught the people the good knowledge of the Lord.
PETT, "So with the crowds pressing Him so hard Jesus looked around Him and
saw two boats moored by the shore, but they were empty, for the fishermen had
disembarked and some were washing and mending their nets (diktau), while
others were fishing from the shore with casting nets (amphibleston). The owners
were in partnership together and had a satisfactory little business. But on this
particular day they were not happy men. They and their crews had fished all
night and had caught nothing. Jesus, however recognised that He knew them. He
had met them when they were disciples of John the Baptiser and He and they
had come back to Galilee together.
The fruitlessness of their mission is reflected in Mark where we are told that they
were casting their nets. These were casting nets which were used from the shore
by someone standing in the water. Thus it would appear that while some were
29

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