Voices on the Gospel
1. From “Living with Jesus Project”
The call of the first disciples appears, naturally, early on in the ministry of Jesus. Up to this point, the main events have been Jesus’ baptism (3:21-22), his temptation in the wilderness (4:1-13), his inaugural sermon and rejection at Nazareth (4:16-30), and a series of healings (4:31-41). More immediately, there is a series of events that includes his going to a deserted place to be alone, his being sought out by crowds of people, and his teaching in synagogues (4:42-44).
Peter is the only named disciple who reacts in a dramatic fashion to the miraculous event …
In the third-person narrative in which the author directly speaks to his audience, Jesus (even the risen Jesus of John’s narrative) is referred to simply as “Jesus”; Peter and Peter alone addresses Jesus as “Lord” …
The other fishermen share in the action of catching the fish … but neither on sea nor on land do they (apart from the beloved disciple in John 21:15-17) say anything once the miracle begins.
At the end of each story, Jesus directly or indirectly issues a summons to Peter to follow him …
The abundant catch of fish symbolizes in each story the future misionary work and the resultant success of Peter and the other disciples. A further idea symbolized in each story is that the disciples, left to themselves in the night of this world, are doomed to failure. With Jesus’ help and direction, they are granted startling success.
2. Ralph Milton
In this story, Simon (aka Peter) wins the lottery. He’s been out there all night working his butt off, and catches almost nothing. Then Jesus tells him to try again and they fill up the boat.
Peter’s a bit like a guy who wins the lottery, but then never goes to cash in the winning ticket. Peter doesn’t take that haul of fish to the market to sell so he doesn’t benefit from the bonanza. He and his partners, James and John, just leave everything there and follow Jesus. Which makes no economic sense.
These three men go stumbling over their nets and boats and follow Jesus, and the crowd that saw all this witnessed a sermon in action that was more powerful than the one Jesus preached. Luke doesn’t tell us a thing that Jesus said in that sermon. Nor does he say whether Simon and his buds were paying attention. He tells us what they did.
And we’re still talking about it!
3. Dennis Bratcher
Matthew and Mark both place the calling of the first disciples, especially the “inner circle” of disciples (Peter, Andrew, James, John), before Jesus began his Galilean ministry (Mt 4:18-22, Mk 1:16-20). However, Luke places this after Jesus has attracted huge crowds of people by his activity in Capernaum and his teaching throughout Galilee.
Also, the location of the calling of the three is slightly different in Luke (Andrew is not mentioned here in Luke; see 6:14). In both Matthew and Mark, Jesus was walking “by the sea of Galilee” (Mt. 4:18, Mk. 1:16), when he saw Peter and Andrew fishing and called them to follow. There is no mention of a crowd, and the only boat mentioned is in reference to James and John who were also called to follow (Mt. 4:21, Mk. 1:19). Even though Peter and Andrew are still fishing when Jesus encounters them, there is no mention of any catch of fish.
In the third scene (vv. 8-11 the significance of Luke’s reordering of the chronology of Jesus’ calling of the disciples becomes significant. In the other Gospels, the disciples were called to follow Jesus, and they responded to that call, based simply on the fact that he had asked them. Here in Luke, the calling of the three men who would later form the “inner circle” of the Twelve is in response to the experience and recognition of the power of Jesus in their midst, as well as the need for help in landing the “fish.”
That response is carefully recounted here in the figure of Peter. Simon’s first reaction at seeing the large catch of fish was the realization that he was in the presence of no ordinary person, and no ordinary power (note the people’s comment in 5:26: “we have seen strange things today”). Like the Israelites who could not believe in God or Moses until they saw the bodies of the Egyptians lying on the seashore (Ex 14:30-31), so Simon does not come to the point of recognizing the power of Jesus until he sees the fish in the nets.
Jesus had confronted Peter with his own inadequacies in the very area that defined who he was as a person, his vocation. The distance between the power of God through the One who stood before him contrasted with his own inadequacies pushed Peter to self-examination and confession. Again, this picks up a recurring theme from the Old Testament. Moses confessed his impotence, especially his inability to speak well, as he stood before the burning bush (Ex 3:11-4:17, esp. 4:10). As God came to Solomon in a dream, he admitted that he was not wise enough to govern God’s people (1 King 3:7-9). And at God’s call Jeremiah recognized the inadequacy of his youth (Jer 1:6).
Peter was humbled here in the one area of life where he should be in control. His reaction was to push Jesus away so that he would not have to face his own failure and inadequacy: “Go away from me Lord!” It is always easier to push away, or kill, those who bring us face to face with ourselves than it is to face the truth of who we are. This recalls the reaction of the people of Nazareth to Jesus, and anticipates not only the path of Jesus through Luke to the crucifixion but also of the disciples themselves through Acts. Yet in this moment of humiliation, Peter is able to come face to face with himself and confess, “I am a sinful man.” It is this confession that marks a turning point in Simon’s life, and becomes the definition of faithful response to Jesus (cf. 5:32).
Jesus responded, not with condemnation, but the assurance “Don’t be afraid” (v. 10). As Peter lay at Jesus’ feet, reduced to the humility of a child, Jesus responded with the grace and love of a parent reassuring a child who has lost all confidence in themselves that they still have value and worth. In that moment Jesus redefined who Peter was. He would no longer be the fisherman on the Sea of Galilee catching fish for a living, but he would now be living to fish for men. The event here was far more than a miracle of fish; it was nothing less than an encounter with God that forever changed who Peter and the other men in the boats would be. And it became symbolic of the mission of God’s people in the new world of the church. Their value and worth would no longer be defined by their own efforts and success at their vocation, but would be defined by the power of God at work in their lives in carrying out his work in the world.