Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
Luke 5:1-11
Dear God, it’s interesting what Luke leaves out of the story that we get other places. First off, where’s Andrew? He should be here. Also, where are James’ and John’s father and his hired men? It’s also interesting that Luke puts the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law before this story.
But there are a couple of details here that I think are new. Luke says that James and John were Simon’s partners in fishing. So were Simon and Andrew part of Zebedee’s staff or did they just like each other and go out to fish alongside each other? I guess we’ll never know this side of heaven.
I want to look at both Simon and John in this story. In the end, they both follow, but whatever John said or was thinking is not seen as worthy of being recorded. He made the same sacrifice of his life that Simon did—maybe even more so if he gave up any part of his father’s wealth. But Simon’s words and heart are humble. You would think he would say, “You are obviously awesome and out there doing something good. I’m in!” Or even, “You’re obviously awesome, but you’re asking too much. I’m can’t.” But that wasn’t was he said. He immediately, humbly, was self-aware and confessed it to Jesus: “…he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’” In other words, “Jesus, I appreciate the offer, but you don’t know who I am or what I’ve done. I am not Godly. I am a poor, dirty, profane fisherman. I have no business hooking up with a prophet and you really don’t want to hook up with me—trust me on this.”
The ability to objectively look at your own sin and confess it is a great gift. It’s something I hope I’m able to do. It’s something I hope I passed on to my children, at least at some level. Peter didn’t have any illusions about himself, and he was comfortable enough in his own skin to tell this amazing stranger the truth.
Father, thank you for the example my own earthly father has given me in humility. Help me to continue to absorb it and to pass it to my own children. Also, live through me so that when others are with me they might feel safe and in a place where they can be free to come face-to-face with who they are, give that to you, and embrace the freedom you have for them beyond it.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen
Emails to God 