The scene of Jesus’ public ministry continues to shift, as He preaches throughout the region of Galilee (Lk 4:14,44). In the opening phrases recorded in the fourth chapter He traveled from Nazareth, to Capernaum, to the home of Peter’s mother-in-law, and then to a secluded place in order to pray, where He announced His intention to “preach the kingdom of God to the other cities” of Galilee as well (Lk 4:43). Now we find Him by the “lake of Gennesaret,” the Gentile name for the Sea of Galilee, which also went by the name of the Sea of Tiberius. Its name was sometimes determined by whichever city was in closest proximity.²

¹On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, (Lk 5:1 ESV) Cross references:

1. Luke 5:1 : Num 34:11; Deut 3:17; Josh 12:3; John 6:1; Matt 14:34

Jesus had been going from synagogue to synagogue, but now we find Him at lakeshore. The lake of Gennasaret (Sea of Galilee) was 700 feet below sea level, and measured 13 miles by 7 miles, and as noted before, was the center of a thriving fishing industry. “Today it is mostly deserted,” notes Barclay. “Then it had nine towns clustered around its shore, none of which had fewer than 15,000 people.”[1]

We’re not told why Jesus was teaching there rather than in a synagogue. It may be that the crowd had become too large and He was forced into the open air. Or, perhaps He had begun teaching a small group by the seashore, but word spread and the numbers grew until “the crowd was pressing in on Him.” This is the context in which Jesus issues His first call to His disciples to follow Him. We see in the process of their summons a pattern of Christ’s call to His disciples all through the centuries, to leave all, and follow Him.

Proclamation

The call of the disciples occurs in the context of the ministry of the word. Jesus’ amazing and powerful word was the theme throughout the fourth chapter. His priority of preaching emphasized the bracketing of His early public ministry by the summaries of 4:15 and 4:43, 44. Preaching and teaching is what Jesus came to do and is doing as we find Him lakeside. The multitude was “pressing” Jesus, hungry “to hear the word of God.” So eager were they, that Jesus found it necessary to commandeer one of the boats of the fishermen who had returned from a night of fishing.

and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them, and were washing their nets. (Lk 5:2)

The fishermen were cleaning their nets, a necessary post-outing ritual, and so their boats were not being used.

And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the multitudes from the boat. (Lk 5:3)

The deep inlets along the shoreline of Capernaum form a natural amphitheater. The voice carries, the water functioning as a sounding board of sorts, to the slopes of the inlet and can clearly be heard. Jesus “sat down,” taking the customary posture for preaching or teaching. He then “taught the people from the boat.”

The call of the disciples doesn’t take place in a vacuum. It was preceeded by broad exposure to Jesus’ teaching and preaching. From John’s gospel we learn that they had seen Jesus at His baptism (Jn 1:40,41); they were with Him at Cana of Galilee (Jn 2:2); and perhaps in Samaria and His early ministry in Judea, depending on the timetable (Jn 4:2). They were under His ministry in Capernaum (4:31-41), but they had not yet been called to be His disciples. The point that Luke is making is that the call to the disciples, and their readiness to receive it, occurs in the context of Jesus’ teaching (didasko). The word of God is softening their hearts and shaping their response.

As we have seen, Jesus’ teaching was amazing to the people (4:32). They were astonished by its authority and its power. (4:36) His word chases devils and casts out demons. It heals the sick and startles the nation (4 :14). Multitudes pursue Him wherever He goes (4:42; 5:1). This word is transforming fishermen and tax collectors. The crowd is “pressing Him,” Luke tells us, that they might “hear the word of God.”

All the good that Jesus does even today takes place through his word. How does the Kingdom of God move forward? By the word. Sinners are transformed, converts made, servants of Christ formed by His gospel word. We are born again, which Jesus says we “must” be, by the “living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet 1:23-25; cf. Jn 3:3). Christ regenerates His people through His “living and active” and powerful word (Heb 4:12). We grow strong and mature by “the pure milk of the word” (1 Pet 2:2). We grow holy, Jesus says, as we are sanctified by the truth of God’s word (Jn 17:17). We come to have true faith and experience growing trust in God “by hearing the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). We have seen this before but it bears repeating. The word of God is the key to spiritual progress. Perhaps the first sign of genuine spiritual growth is a desire, a hunger for that word. My own personal testimony is that I knew God’s hand was upon me when I discovered an insatiable hunger for the word of God. One day I didn’t have that hunger. The next day I did. Job treasures God’s word more than his “necessary food” (Job 23:12). If one wants to be used by God and useful to God it begins with the ministry of God’s word, breaking down our idols and lusts, piercing through our defenses and objections, and capturing our hearts. “O how I love Thy law,” we say with the Psalmist (Ps 119:97). The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16). The crowd, Luke tells us “was pressing in on Him to hear the Word of God.”

Illumination

The word of God, in connection with the work of the Holy Spirit, brings about a moment of insight, when the fundamental things, the eternal things, the spiritual realities become decisively clear. The insight is crucial to the disciple’s call. Here’s how it happened back then.

And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." (Lk 5:4, ESV)

If Jesus were an ordinary person, He clearly would be intruding into a realm outside of His competence. He is addressing fishermen about fishing. He’s a carpenter and a preacher. He tells those who’ve already engaged in a frustrating night of fruitless fishing to stop cleaning their nets, go out to the “deep” water, where the fish normally aren’t, in daylight, when they normally are not feeding, and recast. Further, the nets used at night, “trammel nets,” were visible to fish during the day and consequently avoidable. If Jesus were an ordinary person, we’d think He knew nothing at all about fishing.

Once when preaching on a Sunday night I was listing various forms of entertainment that can become idols, attempting to cover in the process the cultural spectrum. Ad libbing as I went, I referred to the golf course and the bowling alley, the rock concert and the symphony orchestra, college football and NASDAQ. A tiny something in me registered that I had said something not quite right. Afterwards I found myself surrounded by a herd of good ole’ Georgia boys. One of them spoke up, “Uh, Terry, its NASCAR, not NASDAQ.” I groaned. Another of the “boys,” who may be noted for his outstanding ability to smirk, shook his head and finally said, “You’ll never be one of us.” This threatens to be a similar “you don’t get it,” moment, and would have become one if Jesus were an ordinary person. “Are you really going to tell us how to fish?”

And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." (Lk 5:5)

“Master” (epistata), says Peter, “we toiled all night and took nothing.” Morris hears what is certainly an “implied rebuke” in Peter’s words.[2] Fishermen know when to fish. They are experts. They know what they are doing. Jesus knows religion. They know fishing. “But at your word,” he says, “I will let down the nets.” Peter is assigning blame in advance so that when the fishing exercise that Jesus orders proves futile Jesus, not Peter, will be at fault.

Still, Peter is enough of a disciple at this point to know that “His word was not to be ignored on any subject,” as Morris explains. “Peter might not agree but he could obey.”[3] He was willing to walk by faith not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). He lets down his nets because Jesus tells him to do so.

What happens?

And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. (Lk 5:6,7)

The catch was of a “large number,” a “great quantity” (NASV), so vast that the nets began to break. They call for their colleagues (metochos), or “business partners,” as Green renders the sense.[4] Their boats even begin to sink from the weight of the fish. They had never seen anything like it. They were “astonished.” (v. 9)  This catch was of such scope that it could not be explained by naturalistic criteria. It implied Jesus’ “complete dominion over the animal creation” says J. C. Ryle.[5]

This proves too much for Peter. The miraculous catch provides the occasion for his breakthrough moment. He realized that with Jesus he was way out of his depth.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." (Lk 5:8)

His reaction is twofold. He is beginning to understand who Jesus is, and understanding this, understand who he is. Peter realizes he’s not dealing with an ordinary person. “O Lord,” he says. This is no mere polite address. Peter falls at Jesus’ “knees,” or “feet” (NASV), a posture of humble submission. He has begun to recognize the uniqueness of Jesus. This is no ordinary preacher. He may not yet recognize Jesus’ full identity, but he knows He is in contact with the divine God. Peter feels awe, even terror. He experiences “fear of His majesty,” as Calvin puts it.[6] “Peter . . . knew what this haul implied,” explains Morris. “Peter . . . reacted as one in the presence of God.” [7] It was a moment of “personal epiphany,” as Milne calls it.[8] His response reminds us of other great saints in the presence of God: Abraham (Gen 18:27); Moses (Ex 3:11); Job (Job 42:6); Isaiah (Isa 6:5); and later, the Apostle John (Rev 1:17). They bow. They fall on their faces. Fear overcomes them. Peter has “discovered the Holy One of God,” as Gooding understands it.[9]

This grasp Christ’s greatness  floods Peter with a sense of his own sinfulness. “I am a sinful man,” he says. “Peter recognized the hand of God and that drove him to realize his own sinfulness,” says Morris.[10] “Peter saw himself in the light of Jesus,” explains Milne, “and what he saw horrified him.”[11] He sees not a single offense but himself as a sinful person. “Not what he has done so much as what he is, is what disturbs the future apostle of Jesus,” continues Milne.[12] “Depart from me,” he says. Peter senses his unworthiness even to be in the same boat with Jesus.[13]

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. (Lk 5:9,10a)

Luke says they were “astonished” or “wondered” (thambos). “Amazement had seized them” (NASV) Marshall attributes this, combined with fear, as arising from “recognition of the presence of the divine” and with this recognition, an awareness “of his own inadequacy.”[14] James and John join with Peter in this same perception, this foundation insight to all useful ministry. They and we must come to see the glory of Christ, to perceive His beauty, His wisdom, His power, His holiness, and with that, our own depravity, if we are to serve Christ fruitfully. “I am a sinful man,” “I am unworthy of Your presence. I cannot stand in Your presence. I need grace. I need forgiveness. I need a Mediator. I need a Savior. Lord have mercy.”[15]

Transformation

And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

 (Lk 5:10b)

The result of Jesus’ call is transformation. “Do not be afraid” is an expression used for calming an existing fear, their fear of the divine that they just had experienced. “From now on,” or “henceforth” (KJV), says Jesus, your life will be different. A “turning point has been reached,” notes Morris,[16] a “break with the past,” says Green.[17] From now on there will be a new life with a new vocation. Hereafter they will be “catching men” or be “fishers of men” (Mt 4:19), the former (“catching”) being a term used of war and hunting, “to catch alive” being the sense. Jesus not only will not depart from Peter but instead promises a close disciple/master relationship and a new direction in life. When one becomes a disciple of Christ everthing changes. We become new creations. The old passes away and all becomes new (2 Cor 5:17). We are raised up in newness of life (Rom 6:4). We are “born again” (Jn 3:3ff). We may not change our vocations and locations, as did these first disciples. However, our approach to our vocation changes. Hereafter even in our so-called secular work “it is the Lord Christ whom (we)  serve.” (Col. 3:24).

Their response?

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Lk 5:11)

“They left everything.” “They left the greatest catch they had seen in all their lives,” Morris reminds us. “They followed Him,” meaning, “they became disciples in the fullest sense.” [18]

The call of the disciples is not in the end, unique to them or that of a spiritual elite. It is the response required of us all. We are not all called to gospel ministry. We pray that many would be. It is our hope that God would raise up scores of young people to follow the call of Jesus to the ministry and mission field, that they might be “fishers of men.” Yet we are all called to leave everything. Nothing can be more important than Christ and His kingdom––not food, not shelter, not family, not employment, not success, not fame, not fortune, not even life. Jesus says we must all take up our crosses and follow Him, and lose our life if we would find it (Mt 16:24).

This, then, is how the first disciples were made and all disciples are made. The process begins with the ministry of the word. Through the word and the circumstances of life the glory of Christ comes to be understood, and with that, one’s own sinfulness and unworthiness. Humbled and broken, we are in a position to be of useful service to Christ and His kingdom. Will we then leave everything and follow Jesus, without conditions, without bargaining, without reservations? This is the response for which Jesus calls. It is up to us how we will respond.