GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 5:10b-11
Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will catch people.”
From a doctrinal point of view, we have leapt from the very beginning of Christian doctrine (or dogmatics) to the other end, in a single conversation. Peter’s plea to be removed from the presence of the Lord in verse 8 shows us the need for the gospel and the grace of our saving God. Jesus’ reply absolved Peter of his sins, and then did more: Jesus called this fisherman into his service as a disciple and an apostle. But Jesus hadn’t overstepped anything or skipped any of Peter’s training. Jesus showed that everyone who would be a minister of the gospel must have a genuine understanding of what the gospel is, and he must also have a divine call into the public ministry.
Peter’s terror over his sinfulness was met by the ultimate response from God: “Don’t be afraid.” The present middle imperative used by Jesus showed that his comfort was lasting and constant: “Stop fearing; you no longer have anything to fear.” Jesus was telling Peter that his sins were forgiven. Only that could end his fear; the only true cure for the fear of hell is the rescue of the absolution.
Next, Jesus promised Simon Peter that he would “catch people.” The word he used is zogreo (ζωγρέω), “to capture alive.” Werner Franzmann said, “Fish caught in a net are killed…people caught the gospel-net are never killed, but the gospel saves them from death and bestows everlasting life” (Bible History Commentary Volume I, p. 165).
11 After they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Luke does not record the first time that Peter and his companions were called by Jesus to be his disciples. John tells us that this had happened long before, but that they kept up their “day jobs” of fishing for a living (John 1:35-51). That was in about the summer of Jesus’ first year of ministry—probably 26 AD. Now it was a year later, early in the summer of 27. Although the whole group of Twelve Disciples was not yet established, four men now left everything to follow Jesus full-time: Peter, Andrew, James, and John.
Jesus did not ask them to give up everything to follow him; they did it voluntarily. What will you give up, you who are already following Jesus? Whatever is untrue, whatever is not noble, whatever is not right, whatever is not pure, whatever is unlovely, whatever is not admirable—let go of such things. “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice” (Philippians 4:9). And the God of peace will be with you.
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