It will be remarked that the account of the call of Simon and of the rest of his companions, at the lake of Gennesaret, is given not only more fully in Luke than in any other evangelist but in a totally different connection. In Matthew and Mark we find it mentioned immediately after our Lord began to preach, when John was reported to be put into prison. The first thing named then is when Jesus was “walking by the sea of Galilee, be saw two brethren, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers; and he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Both in Matt. 4 and in Mark 1 the account is given in general terms. We have far more detail in Luke. Is this an accident? Contrariwise, it is the fruit of a gracious design of God. Luke had the task confided to him more than any other of bringing out God's grace toward man and in man. Along with this he had also to lay bare the working of man's conscience and heart, especially under the operation of the Spirit of God.
The Lord then is shown us calling Simon not at the time when it actually occurred, but in connection with the development of this great purpose—calling men to be associated with Himself. Hence this notice of their call, which had taken place some time before, is reserved till the opening and character of His own ministry have been fully set before us; His reading at Nazareth with grace and nothing but grace to man—not judgment as yet, for He stopped before it; His subsequent comment when they began to show their unbelief, even after their confession of the gracious words which had proceeded out of His mouth; His proof from the law that the unbelief of Israel turns the stream of grace toward the Gentiles, the intimation of what God was going to do now and their subsequent deadly wrath and indignation; then His course in the power of the Holy Ghost, but above all, His word with power, not nevertheless without mighty works, as in dealing with Satan's dominion over man and all the physical consequences of it, the healing of all diseases and the casting out of demons. But especially He preached the kingdom of God, and that far and wide, fame among men being only an additional reason for moving elsewhere.
Thus it is man by the power of the Holy Ghost, entirely above Satanic working and human weakness, delivering mankind and ministering the word of God as the sole means of spiritual strength and association with God, as the Spirit is the source of all that is good and great according to God. But even this is not enough for His grace; He would associate men with Himself in good. Hence in the next scene before us, the Holy Spirit skews us the Lord calling others. He rejoices in the habitable part of His earth, and, His delights are with the sons of men; He associated them with Himself. It was not only for men's pardon that He came, but for salvation and all its fruits. Simon Peter, being the more prominent of those now called, is brought into the foreground. If he is to help others, he must be first helped himself; and man cannot be truly helped without raising the question of sin and settling it in the heart, as well as by Christ outside ourselves.
The Lord now effects this. Standing by the lake, He sees two ships there, and the fishermen engaged in washing their nets, when the people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God. So he enters “into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and asked him to thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the crowd out of the ship. But when he ceased speaking, he said to Simon, Thrust out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft.”
The work must be carried within. Even the word may seem to fail, but it may be followed up by some act or way on God's part in order to drive it home to the heart. He tells Simon therefore to thrust out and let down the net for a haul. A seaman is apt to think that he understands his own business best; and Simon answered saying, “Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” Thus, feeble as his faith might have been at this time, it was real. He bows to One who naturally could not be considered to know anything of a fisherman's work, but Peter has confidence that He is Messiah and learns that He is this and far more, that He had the mind and grace of God. It would be now shown whether He had all power at His command. Simon had reason to know that He had divine energy as to men on earth; but now there was a new thing, One who had dominion over the fish of the sea. Sin had greatly hindered the exercise and even proof of the large dominion which was originally granted to them. But here was the repairer of all breaches: in Peter's ship was the Second man, the Lord from heaven. “And when they had thus done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes.” The failure of human resources, as they are, to avail themselves of the blessing, is made manifest. Their net brake, and they beckoned unto their partners in the other ship to come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that they were sinking. The help of man is as vain as man himself, even for the blessing of God. The day was coming when the net should not break, no matter how large the fishes nor how great the variety. But this is reserved for another age, when the Second man shall reign in righteousness and power. Here we see the feebleness of this age.
“When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and they that were with him, at the draft of the fishes which they had taken.” Now comes the deep moral result for Peter's heart. The greatness of the Lord's grace as well as His power brought his sinfulness more than ever before his soul. A strange moral inconsistency follows. He casts himself at the Lord's feet and says, “Depart from me.” But he does not depart from Jesus. Rather does he fall down as near to Jesus as he can; yet he says, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” He confesses his unfitness for the presence of the Lord, yet would not lose Him for all worlds—goes to Him, yet feels and owns that He might justly go away from such a sinner. Thus the Lord, who knew the heart, did that which was eminently calculated to act upon Simon, who knew the powerlessness of man as he is to do what the Lord had done. They had all shown how unable they were; they had “toiled the whole night, and taken nothing.” But the Lord not only knew all but could do all; and this brings up sin on Simon's conscience.
But, further, the Lord's answer thereon was, “Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt be catching men.” He banishes the fear so natural to the heart where sin is, which is even increased at first by the action of the Spirit of God. The Holy Ghost only removes fear by the revelation of Christ, His work, and His word. His operation is to make us know what is calculated to produce fear as well as to lead us to Him who alone by His grace can banish it. The effect of the state of the first man when rightly viewed is to fill with intense fear and horror: as to himself he could not but fear; from Christ he hears, “Fear not.” And who is entitled to be heard? “My sheep hear my voice; and I know them, and they follow me.” It is blessed to learn from God that our sinfulness, while not only naturally but even spiritually it ought to produce torment, is met and fear is cast out by the perfect love of God in Christ. Our Lord, on the ground of that great redemption which He was about to bring in by His blood, was entitled righteously to say, “Fear not.” This was the divine way of forming one that was afterward to become a fisher of men. He must be in the experience of the blessing of grace himself before he was fit to be the witness of it to others.
“And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all and followed him.” Such was the power of grace; it made all things little in comparison of Christ, and of what Christ becomes to the man who believes in Him.