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Bible Reading: Luke 5:1-11

Key Passage: And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. Luke 5:5-6 ESV

Shivering as burning stings tortured my body from a new illness, I lay on our vinyl-covered mattress crying out to God, “Why? Please, take this away!” No comfort from my husband’s warm body curled around me—no safety under our warm covers. I was laid bare — literally — in the presence of the Lord. Did He care? Was He even there? I later learned that He did care and He was indeed there with me. He was with me in the cold. In the shower at 2 am. In my pain and fear.

Two years later, I remembered a particular tapestry and a sermon my late husband preached the year before he died. So I pulled it out and snapped a photo of it stretched out on our shower rod. Captivated, I envisioned Don mesmerized when an elder gifted it to him after winning it at a Chinese auction. Don had preached a sermon on our passage one Sunday, and the man, remembering Don’s sermon, put all his tickets in the basket for that tapestry. He triumphantly came to Wednesday night Bible study, this gift from God in hand for Don. I believe God wanted him to remember how He was with him in the final stages of terminal colon cancer. With these scenes in mind, we approach Luke 5:1-11 today for our Bible study.

Tapestry Gifted to Don. Charlaine W. Martin, 2010.

Exhausted Frustration

Jesus happened to teach by the shores of Capernaum on Lake Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. Why do I say, happened? Keep this in mind as we continue. Galilee was a region in Israel during Jesus’s time. The Sea of Galilee was, and is today, a freshwater lake located north of the Dead Sea, a salty lake, situated between Nazareth and Decapolis in the northern region of Israel during Roman occupation.[1] Peter and his brothers had a fishing business in Capernaum on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was Peter’s family’s hometown. I can tell you that after visiting Israel in 2017, the Sea of Galilee is known for excellent, large fish!

Our tour guide, a Messianic Jew, told us that fishermen would salt their catch on the shore and then sell it for income. Of course, they took some home to their families.

Jesus stood teaching a large crowd on the shore, but it was so large that people pressed in to see and hear Him better. Seeing the empty boats by the water, He evidently decided that going out in one would give them a better view so they could hear His teachings. The water was a great acoustical backdrop for His message. [2] Jesus sat down in one without asking permission and asked Simon, who later is known as Peter, to push it out on the water. So he did.

Interestingly, Simon did what Jesus asked. Why? We don’t know. Maybe he’d heard about this new Rabbi in the area. Had he heard him teach? The Bible text doesn’t say. What we do learn from our Bible passage is that Peter and his crew, including his brothers, came back empty-netted after an overnight fishing expedition. Exhausted and concerned that there was no food for their families, no income, and possibly a disappointing report to give Dad, Zebedee, they stood there cleaning nets, putting everything away, and heading home for some rest. Can you see the turmoil churning in Simon’s head while he worked to put everything away to go home and sleep? Yet Simon granted Jesus’s request.

Do you think Jesus was there by accident, coincidence, or divine appointment? Remember: everything Jesus did had a purpose, as you discover as you read all four Gospel accounts. After He finished teaching, possibly as a reward for using their boat, or to get their attention, He told them to take the boats out into the deep and let the nets down on the other side. Other side? We aren’t sure why Jesus said that except that they must have been fishing out there at night where Jesus wanted them to go. Fish tend to hide from predators and feed where they can do so safely. [3]They may have had the nets out on one side of the boat, but Jesus said, “…on the other side of the boat.” I think Jesus reveals His knowledge of their middle-of-the-night exasperation.[4][5][6]

He definitely knew their immediate concerns. Peter, in his fatigued despair, said, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Perhaps Peter figured that He’d find out when they came out with no fish, like last night. Master indicates respect for Jesus’s status as a Teacher. Certainly Peter overheard His teaching as he scrubbed and examined his nets. Maybe, again, he knew of Jesus’s early reputation as a Rabbi. The word toiled means to work hard in the NLT. In the AMP, it states, “…worked hard all night [to the point of exhaustion]…” Now do you get a fuller view of Simon’s state of mind? For all we know, they encountered a storm on the lake, a common occurrence. But again, we don’t know. It also makes sense, because they had no fish for all their trouble. Yet, Simon says, “…But at your word I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5 ESV) He reluctantly agreed.[7][8]

Jesus Boat, Museum at Kibutz Ginosaur. Charlaine Martin, 2017.

Peter’s obedience, despite his explanation for why he didn’t want to do this favor, was met with…A SURPRISE! When they put their nets down on the other side of the boat away from shallow water, their boats began to sink! With renewed strength, he and his brothers worked fervently to pull their abundant catch into the boats. The nets began to tear under the weight. What in the world did Jesus do? Did He know where the fish were hanging out? Did He send the fish to the nets, with their movement hidden in the dark, deep blue of the water? This passage doesn’t tell us. What we do know is that they had more fish than what they usually hauled in from a long night of fishing. When God blesses, He blesses big! Now He had these men’s attention.

Suddenly, Simon has an epiphany: Woe to me, I am a sinful man and unworthy of what Jesus just did for me. He drops down amid the fish, at Jesus’s knees, who also was surrounded by floppy, wiggling fish. “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”(Luke 5:8 ESV) In Simon’s humility, he acknowledges Jesus’s deity and feels unworthy to be in Jesus’s presence. His inadequacy shows up when he denies Jesus three times (Matthew 28, Mark 14, Luke 22, John 18). In John, everyone around them, including his brothers, was stunned at what they just witnessed. Did Jesus get up and leave them where they were? No. Instead, He calls them, “Come, follow me.” Did they hesitate? Did they make excuses that they couldn’t leave the business their dad had worked so hard to build? No. They immediately left everything and followed Jesus everywhere He went.

If you look in John 6, you will notice who speaks up about who Jesus is, and who among the disciples remained. After Jesus fed 5,000 men and their families while teaching, healing, and doing other miracles –lunch a miracle all its own- crumbs and scraps were left over from just five loaves and two fish. As people left after being confronted about their selfish unbelief, a bunch of people left. Jesus asked His disciples, “Are you going to leave me too?”Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, thatyou arethe Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69 ESV) That incredible statement of faith came from three years’ experience living and working with Jesus. That first direct encounter with Jesus reflects in Simon Peter’s unwavering faith by continuing to follow Jesus. His tremendous faith helped build the Church in the 1st century A.D. after Jesus’s death and resurrection.

In John 21, Peter gave up and went back to fishing, yet Jesus meets him in his despair over his failure, referring to him as Simon, his old identity. He restores Peter to his original call to fish for people, as He initially called him to do, to build the Kingdom of God. That initial encounter with Jesus had a lasting impact, as we see in Acts and 1 and 2 Peter. You can even visit his house, which became a church and now has a church built over where his home church stood.[1]

Peter’s house, turned church in Capernaum, Israel. Charlaine Martin, 2017.

Peter was the first disciple called to follow Jesus and, when questioned about what he believed about Jesus, never hesitated to say he believed Jesus was the Holy One of God, the Messiah. It all began with his first encounter with Jesus at the Sea of Galilee.

If you are struggling with a situation right now, it might seem like God doesn’t care. Yet He speaks to us through sermons, Bible studies, and devotions while we grumble about our situation. He comes closer to us and asks us to do something, yet we make excuses based on our struggle. He’s patiently waiting for us to let Him come into our boat with us. Blessings come when we do. May we fall on our spiritual knees to praise Him for who He is as He redirects our thoughts and lives.

Questions for Reflection:

1. Where are you in your relationship with Jesus Christ? Do you know about Him in the peripheral areas of your life? Do you interact with Him to some degree while still trying to work things out yourself?
2. Have you welcomed Him into your boat in life to use as He wills? Will you let Him take over and care for your needs?
3. How do you handle stress, concern, and frustration? Do you ruminate over it, or do you approach our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, about it?
4. Has He redirected your life to reach people for His Kingdom despite your challenges?

Prayer: Lord, I worry about things that I can’t change or fix myself. Help me look to you for all my needs and concerns. Keep my eyes focused ahead to do what you’ve called me to do. In Jesus ’ Name, Amen.

[1] p.p.1600-1601, NKJV Study Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Copyright 1997, 2007 by Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN.

[2] p. 228. Barker, Kenneth L. & Kohlenberger III, John R, Editors, Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2: New Testament, Copyright 1994 by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI.

[3] p. 1262. Rydelnick, Michael and Vanlaningham, Michael,  General Editors. The Moody Bible Commentary, copyright 2014 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

[4]p.p.1600-1601, NKJV Study Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Copyright 1997, 2007 by Thomas Nelson. Nashville, TN.

[5] p. 228. Barker, Kenneth L. & Kohlenberger III, John R, Editors, Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Volume 2: New Testament. Copyright 1994 by Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, MI.

[6] p. 1262 The Moody Bible Commentary.

[7] MacArthur Study Bible, 2^nd Edition. Copyright 1997, 2006, 2019 by Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN. www.biblegateway.com.

[8] P. 1262, The Moody Bible Commentary.

1] Biblical Archeology, “The House of Peter: The Home of Jesus in Capernaum?” by BAS Staff. June 14, 2026. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/the-house-of-peter-the-home-of-jesus-in-capernaum/