Study Questions

Luke 5:1-11

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.

The Lake of Gennesaret is another name for the Sea of Galilee. Some people speculate that Luke minimized the sea to a lake because he had travelled further and studied more than the other Gospel writers. What’s more, Luke was writing to Theophilus, a presumably educated man who would regard tiny Galilee as a drop in the bucket. At eight miles wide and fourteen miles long, the Lake of Gennesaret does look impressive to the average Israeli. Compared to the massive Mediterranean Sea or the large Black Sea, the Sea of Galilee is puny.

1. Have you ever had this kind of experience? The Space Needle seems pretty short since they erected the Columbia Tower. Running five miles feels pretty easy after running a marathon.

Luke has previously dropped Simon’s name. Read Luke 4:38-39. Jesus visited Simon’s house. Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law. Before the advent of Advil or Tylenol, Jesus saved the woman from a high fever. Strictly speaking, the Gospel of Luke never directly tells us that Jesus and Simon met before the miracle at the Lake of Gennesaret. I think it’s a safe assumption that Simon-Peter knew who Jesus was before he let the carpenter’s son commandeer his fishing boat.

Do you think Jesus knew Simon before the miracle at the lake? Some people speculate that Jesus was actually the cousin of Simon and Andrew, and perhaps even James and John! That’s far more than the Bible reveals, but it certainly explains their quick friendship. It certainly might help explain why Andrew was also a disciple of Jesus’ relative John the Baptist. Call it an intriguing theory, but don’t place much stock in it.

Jesus sits down to speak in the boat. This is the posture of a teacher or rabbi. Some scholars suggest that putting out into the waters would have improved the acoustics for Jesus’ sermon. In the days before electrically amplified sound, public speakers had to do more than just say wise words. Preachers had to project their voice so that crowds of people could hear. Jesus once spoke to five thousand men, plus women and children. Jesus was a powerful speaker!

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.”

Luke employs a Greek word that means linen trammel nets. These nets were invisible when fishing in the deep waters at night. The trammel nets would be clearly visible during the day. The nets only worked properly at night. Peter and his team were exhausted from fishing all night long. They wanted to wash and repair their nets so they could get some much-deserved sleep. After all, they had to work again at sundown.

Simon calls Jesus “master.” I wish that some, brave English Bible would translate this word as “captain.” After all, Jesus is commandeering Simon-Peter’s ship. My grandfather was the skipper of a fishing boat. Let me tell you, he did not want to share the wheel! Simon-Peter obeys the son of a carpenter, skips his nap, calls him “captain,” and goes fishing when his nets were totally visible to the fish! “My captain, my captain!” Simon-Peter’s demonstrates remarkable faith!

1. When have you seen someone demonstrate great faith like this even when they didn’t have a rational explanation?
2. Where is God asking you to step out in faith right now?
3. Peter also walked on water, until his doubts overcame his faith. What does it mean that such a hero of faith sank from time to time?

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!”

There are eighteen species of fish in Galilee. Ten of those fish have commercial value. The biggest fish in the lake are catfish. They can grow to four-feet long and twenty-five pounds, but catfish are not kosher. A good Jew should have tossed them back. Was Simon a sinner because he didn’t follow the ceremonial law and enjoyed eating catfish? Simon and his friends were possibly after the Kinneret sardine, a tiny fish that was active at night. These might have been the same, small fish that Jesus used to feed the multitudes. There were also musht in the waters. They are sometimes called tilapia galilee, or even St. Peter’s fish. Musht grow to eighteen inches long and four and a half pounds. They are also quite delicious! Maybe Peter had whole school or even a whole university of sardines! Maybe there was something for everybody in the net! Whatever they were, they were bursting the nets and sinking the boat.

1. When has God given you more than you bargained for?
2. How did you respond to God’s abundant grace?

James and John came to save the day. Presumably Andrew was there too. Perhaps even Zebedee sailed out to pull in the fish. They filled two boats with fish and barely made it back to shore. Simon-Peter declared, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

What was Simon’s sin? Scholars suggest that he might have been a superstitious fisherman, that he is referring to his life in semi-pagan Galilee, that fisherman in the First Century were a despised bunch, or that he was some kind of a criminal. I spent my childhood summers in the fishing village of Westport, Washington. There was a lot of alcoholism, prostitution, violence, stealing, and cussing on the streets of Westport. There are too many options to consider, and too little evidence in the Bible. All we need to know is that Peter compared himself to Jesus and realized he fell far short of God’s servant.

It’s helpful to realize that the prophets spoke like Peter when they encountered God. Isaiah 6:5 declares, “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” Peter might just be humbled by the holiness of Jesus.

1. When have you encountered God so powerfully, that you were humbled like Peter? Do you think Peter really wants Jesus to go away, or is he just ashamed like Adam and Eve in the garden? Pray for the forgiveness of sins and for God to use your gifts in the world.

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.

I was reading the scholarship on today’s scripture and I came up with a new theory. Right now it is just a question, please don’t take it as a conclusive answer. One scholar mentioned that fishermen shared their catch with family, business partners, the tax collector, and loan collectors. It got me thinking that Peter, Andrew, James, and John might have been previously waiting to join Jesus’ ministry, but they were stuck at home because of the loan they took out for their boat.

Have you heard the old joke about boat ownership? What’s the second best day of boat ownership? The day you buy the boat. What’s the best day of boat ownership? The day you sell your boat! I’ve never owned a boat, so I cannot verify the punch line. I have enough experience with l fishermen to realize that they keep upgrading their boats to catch more fish to afford buying a better boat! I suggest that maybe Jesus set Peter, Andrew, James, and John free from an economically disadvantageous situation by giving them enough fish to pay off all their debts.

Consider Luke 4:18 originally found in Isaiah 61,“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”

This verse is the mission statement of the Gospel of Luke. Maybe fishing for men was the good news that poor Peter needed to hear. Maybe this was their release from captivity. Maybe this was the oppressed going free. As I say, this is just a working theory, but it might explain why Andrew was also described as a disciple of John the Baptist (John 1:35-42). Maybe these guys were just waiting to be liberated from their job so they could do ministry.

Given the choice, most Christians would rather go fishing than evangelize people.

1. Why do you think this is? Shouldn’t we be excited about sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ? Were Peter, Andrew, James, and John particularly gifted for evangelism? Did Jesus take roughhewn guys and make them into evangelists? What does this story inspire you to do in the name of Jesus?

Peter, Andrew, James, and John leave everything behind to follow Jesus. They treat their valuable possessions with utter contempt. Jesus is more important to them than wealth or security. Not everyone has faith like that, but it certainly was part of Peter, Andrew, James, and John’s discipleship.

1. What do you think Jesus is asking you to leave behind in order to follow in his footsteps?
2. Pray that God might give you the courage to drop the nets that entangle you so you can follow in the footsteps of the Son of God.