GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 5:8-10a
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man.” 9 For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
A minor historical point that we learn here and other places is that Peter’s fishing business employed his brother Andrew (Matthew 4:18), Zebedee (Matthew 4:21-22), Zebedee’s sons James and John, and some other hired men (Mark 1:20). This catch of fish meant a great deal of money to their families and success for their business.
A much more important theological point that we learn here is that this catch of fish struck Peter’s conscience at once, and suddenly his business and the money he might make meant nothing to him at all. He had realized how sinful he was.
The Bible teaches us and demonstrates again and again that sinful man cannot stand before our Holy God. All mankind is sinful, and all mankind is subject to eternal damnation. Paul’s words are excellent and clear: “Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19). The Smalcald Articles explain: “This, then, is the thunderbolt of God by which he strikes in a heap [hurls to the ground] both manifest sinners and false saints (hypocrites), and suffers no one to be in the right (declares no one righteous), but drives them altogether to terror and despair. This is the hammer, as Jeremiah says (Jer. 23:29): ‘Is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock into pieces?’ This is not ‘active contrition’ or manufactured repentance, but ‘passive contrition’ (torture of conscience), true sorrow of heart, suffering, and sensation of death” (Smalcald Articles, part III, article II “Of Repentance”).
Active contrition has some value when we reason in our minds that we are sinful, and say as much with our mouths as we worship God and ask his forgiveness. But passive contrition is unreasonable. It isn’t something we can explain. Passive contrition just comes at us like a thunderbolt when the word of God preaches the law to us and we realize some of the depth of our sin. The more we listen, the further down into the threatening depths of hell we realize we should plummet, and we see just how guilty we are. We begin to say with Peter, “Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man!”
But God has been compassionate. God is faithful as well as just. God let the spikes that would have fastened us to our guilt fasten him to the cross, instead, and he took the penalty and the pain and endured the torture of hell in our place. This is the grace of God; this is the message Jesus had come into the world to proclaim. By being shown the seriousness of his own sins, Peter was being prepared to share the joy of the gospel. He said, “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Peter 3:18). He knew that he himself was one of the unrighteous, and the wise man agrees: We were all part of the unrighteous mass of humanity, left in despair and in need to rescue. And Peter had more to say about Jesus. “He was put to death in the body but made alive” (1 Peter 3:18b), and his resurrection was only the first of many. We all will rise because Christ rose. We are lifted out of the depth of hell’s danger, not only back up to earth once again, but far above—much farther above than the danger ever threatened to drag us below. We are whisked by the embrace of Christ all the way into the promised chambers of heaven, where we will live in joy and welcoming peace. And we will never, ever say, “Go away from me, Lord,” because he says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota