Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him (Luke 5:1-11 – NRSV).
Introductory notes
General
Mark – on whom both Matthew and Luke generally depend – has the calling of the first four disciples at the beginning of his Gospel – see Mark 1:16-20. Matthew follows Mark closely – see Matthew 4:18-22. But Luke places the calling here in chapter 5, after he has introduced us to the ministry of Jesus – see Luke 4:14-44. This allows Luke to expand Mark’s account to “reveal something of Jesus’ prophetic power, as well as of Peter’s faith and future role” (Luke Timothy Johnson, The Gospel of Luke, Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1991, 89).
Luke is in some respects closer to John than the other two synoptists in this instance. Luke also situates the calling within the context of the miraculous catch of fish, reminiscent of the post-resurrection account found in John 21:1-16. “Today commentators more rightly regard the Lucan and Johannine scenes as accounts of the same miracle” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke I–IX: introduction, translation, and notes, New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008, 561). Indeed, the subsequent exchange between Jesus and Peter in the post-resurrection Johannine passage is (somewhat) echoed here in Luke.
Specific
the word of God: This phrase appears once in Mark – see 7:13 – and once in John – see 10:35 – but apart from that it is almost peculiar to Luke. Luke uses it four times in his Gospel – see 5:1; 8:11, 21; 11:28 – and fourteen times in Acts – see 4:31; 6:2, 7; 8:14; 11:1; 12:24(?); 13:5, 7, 44, 46, 48; 16:32; 17:13; 18:11. Joseph Fitzmyer notes: “In most of the instances in Acts the phrase denotes the Christian message as preached by the apostles; here Luke uses it of Jesus’ own preaching. Thus, he roots the Christian community’s proclamation in the teaching of Jesus himself. But, as the phrase suggests, the ultimate root of this preaching/teaching is God himself, for the phrase means ‘God’s word’ or ‘the word coming from God’ (a subjective genitive or genitive of author) rather than ‘the word telling about God’ (objective genitive)” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, op cit, 565).
the lake of Gennesaret: “Gennesaret is the Greek name of a small, fertile, and heavily populated district west of the lake that some writers refer to as the Sea of Galilee; it lay south of Capernaum. From the district the name was extended to the lake. Other evangelists refer to it as a ‘sea’ (thalassa—the term used of it also in the LXX of Num 34:11; Josh 12:3). Luke uses the more proper name, ‘lake’ (limnē), which is also used by Josephus Ant. 18.2,1 § 28)” (Ibid).
Simon answered, Master: Equivalent to “Lord” (Kyrios) in v.8. Luke is the only Gospel writer to use this term of Jesus. As in the other three Gospels, Simon is a spokesperson for the disciples – see as Simon in 6:14; 22:31; 24:34; and as Peter in 6:14; 8:45, 51; 9:20, 28, 32–33; 12:41; 18:28; 22:8, 34, 54–61; 24:12) and throughout Acts 1–12.
Go away from me, Lord: This is perhaps an experience the medieval guides would later describe as compunction – a complex mixture of fear and remorse on the one hand, and joy and delight on the other. The gift of tears was seen as a normal manifestation of compunction. It is reminiscent of Isaiah’s experience – see Isaiah 6:5. Note also the response of “sinners” in Luke’s Gospel – see 5:30, 32; 7:34, 39; 15:1–2, 7, 10; 18:13; 19:7.
Do not be afraid: Peter is a “type” of the Christian. N T Wright observes: “Do you know what the most frequent command in the Bible turns out to be? What instruction, what order, is given, again and again, by God, by angels, by Jesus, by prophets and apostles? What do you think—‘Be good’? ‘Be holy, for I am holy’? Or, negatively, ‘Don’t sin’? ‘Don’t be immoral’? No. The most frequent command in the Bible is: ‘Don’t be afraid.’” (N T Wright, Following Jesus: Biblical Reflections on Discipleship, SPCK, 1994, 56.)
The unfamiliar
In today’s Gospel – Luke 5:1-11 – the opening gambit describes a scene that would have been familiar to all those present: “Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret …. ” However, the unfamiliar encroaches on the familiar when Jesus says to Simon, “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter resists. He tries to reclaim the familiar: “‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.’” A decisive moment then comes: “Simon answered, ‘Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’” In that moment, Simon finds himself in the unfamiliar.
This movement, beyond the familiar into the unfamiliar, originates in Jesus but needs Simon’s response. Luke has told us Jesus speaks “the word of God.” Later, at the Transfiguration, Luke will remind us again of Jesus’ authority: “‘This is my Son, the Chosen one. Listen to him’” (9:35). So when Peter hears Jesus speak he is moved. He knows there is something more than he has ever experienced happening here.
This is one of a number of moments of “reversal” in Luke’s Gospel, when the familiar opens into the unfamiliar. See, for example, Mary’s Hymn of Praise (The Magnificat) (1:46-55), the Beatitudes (6:20-21) and most especially the “life-emerging-through-death” theme that is central to Luke and each of the other Gospels. The human response is pivotal to whether or not this “reversal” attains its proper end. Peter’s, “If you say so . . .” echoes Mary’s “Let it happen . . .” (1:38 – NJB).
The fact is, we do need some familiarity to maintain our sanity. However, that familiarity is a means not an end. Within our familiar and taken for granted worlds, if we are attentive, we will often hear Jesus say: “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
The familiar is of our making, the unfamiliar holds God’s yet-to-be revealed gifts.
Discipleship demands an openness to the unfamiliar. This implies trust in the one summoning them “into the deep water.” They will, of course, have the remnants of their familiar worlds within them to the end – expectations, assumptions, prejudices and so on. Discipleship is a process of constant discovery and learning. This necessarily involves the breaking open of the familiar – a process that can be as frightening as it is liberating.
The true disciple, moment by moment, surrenders to this graced emergence.
The familiar, can seduce us with a promise of control. When we think we are in charge, our anxiety is assuaged. We feel good! That state, however, is a fiction. What Jesus offers is not a fiction. Nor is it a feel-good experience. It is the fulfilment of the heart’s deepest yearning, the actualization of our best possibilities as creatures made in the image and likeness of God. Expect the unfamiliar to be promise not threat, a place of grace and freedom.