Luke 5:1-11 Follow Me

Luke 5:1-11 Evidently Jesus drew such a large crowd that they couldn't all hear Him speak so He needed to be separated from them. He already had been to Simon's house so He asked to borrow Simon's boat to use as a speaking platform, and he taught the crowd from a short distance off shore. After this He told Simon to go out into deep water and let down his nets. Simon's response seems to have been something like, "You are a carpenter and I am a fisherman. We've tried but they aren't biting today. But You are obviously speaking for God so I will do as you say." Most likely Simon was seeing Jesus as one of the prophets, like Elijah. But when they caught a huge haul with the nets that in Simon's professional opinion was not going to happen, Simon came to realize that Jesus was truly Lord. Symbolically he first had to get help to bring in the catch, because the haul was so great, and had to deal with the boats almost sinking because there were so many fish. Then he was in great fear because he realized he was in the presence of God.

         Being in the presence of God ought to inspire this same reverential fear in all of us. Perhaps we haven't seen a miracle quite like this, but we have probably seen miracles of one sort or another in our daily life. God is holy and we are sinful. Being in the presence of God ought to cause us to react as Simon did. But Jesus' response is reassuring. He didn't say 'fear not'; He didn't say 'Your sins are forgiven'; He told Simon to follow Him and He would be fishing for and catching men. In other words, 'Join in My work'.

         Simon, James, and John left everything and followed Jesus. There is no discussion of provision for their families. They must have left their boats and nets at the side of the sea. We know that at least on one occasion they returned to fishing (John 21:3-11). On that occasion, Jesus repeated the sign of bringing fish for them to catch when they had caught nothing after fishing all night. What does all this mean? Perhaps one simple observation: we have a profession and there is nothing wrong with that. But Jesus' call has priority. He is not unaware that we need to provide for our families, and He will bless our professional calling to the extent necessary to meet our earthly obligations. But His call to follow Him has priority.