seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Luke 5:1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
First of all, according to the footnotes, the Lake of Gennesaret is also known as the Sea of Galilee. Now, check out verse 5. The first thing Simon said to Jesus really sounds sarcastic to me. "Sure buddy, we've been working all night but because you say so, we'll work another few hours.... anything for a stranger".
The sarcasm [if it was sarcasm] was turned on him though.... Jesus put him right over a huge hungry school of fish. There was more than enough fish for Simon and the Zebedee boys. See, verse 10, there they are. They were Simon's partners before they met Jesus.
Dr. Luke, the man who wrote this Gospel, was just reporting how Jesus wanted to heal the sick and feed the poor. His family probably thought He was insane because He could have had a nice respectable job as the local rabbi or priest or even a carpenter, instead He chose to be a traveling healer. Turns out, Jesus could take care of Himself. When He ran out of land, He hopped into a boat!
Dr. Luke, the man who wrote this Gospel, talked about large crowds. Jesus was being crowded right out into the water. He stood in Simon's boat to preach because the crowd was pressing. I guess the fish were a payment for services rendered. I guess it's like He was "renting" the boat. But then they all just left two boats full of fish! What sense does that make? That's a lot of fish to off load! They just walked away!
Maybe they left them for the crowd to distribute. Maybe this is not only a big fish story, but it's also the first mass feeding. Jesus said He wanted to feed the poor. Two boatloads of fish is a huge start.
Now I was told Jesus told them they were fishing from the wrong side of the boat. I think it's in John's Gospel. I was told the fishermen in that day would only put their nets in from the side of the boat facing shore. There were monsters off the other side, they were told. We're talking about people who would have learned or thought the earth was flat. This is not modern days.
So the way I heard it, Jesus told them to put their nets out on the wrong side of the boat and Simon gave Him grief over that.... then when Simon hauled in the nets, they were bursting. The idea of fishing off the wrong side of the boat can be written into a lot of different sermons.
At any rate, I find it ironic this morning that Simon and the Zebedee boys were fishing off the wrong side of the boat.
It's a fish tail!
