Luke 5:1-11 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
Peter’s name was Simon, and he fished on the Sea of Galilee. John’s Gospel records the first time he met Jesus: his brother Andrew had already followed Jesus, went and found his brother, and “He brought him to Jesus” (John 1:42). Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (John 1:42). The passage then explains: “which is by interpretation, Peter” (John 1:42).
Luke’s Gospel also records that Jesus “entered into Simon’s house” (Luke 4:38). Simon’s mother-in-law had a high fever, and Jesus “stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her” (Luke 4:39).
So when this lesson begins, Simon already knows Jesus. On this day, Jesus borrows his boat.
1Now while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
2He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
3He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
5Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night and caught nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.”
6When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking.
7They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
8But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”
9For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught;
10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
11When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
A borrowed boat. The crowd pressed on Jesus and “heard the word of God” (v. 1). Jesus got into Simon’s boat and “asked him to put out a little from the land” (v. 3), then sat and taught the crowds from the boat. At the start of this day, all Simon did was a small thing: he lent his boat.
All night. When Jesus had finished, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch” (v. 4). Simon was a fisherman, and he told the plain truth: “we worked all night and caught nothing” (v. 5). But he went on: “but at your word I will let down the net” (v. 5). The passage does not say how much he believed; it says only that he did it.
A breaking net. “They caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking” (v. 6). Their partners came and “filled both boats, so that they began to sink” (v. 7). The passage does not credit Simon’s skill or good timing for this catch; it records it right after a word from Jesus.
Depart from me. When Simon saw the catch, he did not first see to the fish. He “fell down at Jesus’ knees” (v. 8) and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord” (v. 8). A little earlier he called Jesus ‘Master’ (v. 5); now he calls him ‘Lord’ (v. 8). The passage does not say which sin he had in mind. It records only that, in front of Jesus, he saw himself.
Don’t be afraid. Jesus did not leave. He said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive” (v. 10). Simon spoke about what kind of man he was; Jesus answered with what he would do next.
They left everything. “When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him” (v. 11). What they left included the catch that had just filled both boats.
Only the beginning. On this day Simon said ‘depart from me,’ and Jesus called him to follow. In the lessons ahead, this man will sink in the water, will say, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt 16:16), and on one night will deny Jesus three times (Luke 22:54–62). When Jesus called him, none of this had happened yet.
In the Old Testament, when the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord, he said something very similar: “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips” (Isa 6:5).
Simon was not reciting Isaiah. But anyone who has read the Old Testament will recognize it: when people come near to God, the first thing they often see is themselves.
Perhaps you too have ‘worked all night’: a job, a relationship, something done for God, worked at for a long time, and the net is empty.
This lesson does not promise that your next net will be full. What it shows you is something else: Simon said before Jesus, “I am a sinful man” (v. 8), and Jesus did not walk away. Later in the same chapter, Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Luke 5:32).
This week: Choose one small thing you have always felt ‘there’s no point doing.’ Like Simon’s “at your word I will let down the net” (v. 5), do it once this week. Then write down what was going through your mind as you did it.
Scripture: World English Bible.