and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
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Luke 5:10-11 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night, and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.” When they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking. They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.” For he was amazed, and all who were with him, at the catch of fish which they had caught; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him. While he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face, and begged him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
Parallel Translations
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and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”
When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything, and followed him.
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and so was also Iames and Iohn the sonnes of zebede which were parteners with Simon. And Iesus sayde vnto Simon: feare not from hence forthe thou shalt catche men.
And they brought the shippes to londe and forsoke all and folowed him.
Show all 3 translations
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And so was also Iames and Iohn the sonnes of Zebedeus, which were companions with Simon. Then Iesus sayde vnto Simon, Feare not: from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
And when they had brought the ships to land, they forsooke all, and followed him.
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Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (19)
- Matthew 4:19 (v10) He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”
- Matthew 13:47 (v10) “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,
- Ezekiel 47:9-10 (v10) It will happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, will live. Then there will be a very great…
- Matthew 4:20 (v11) They immediately left their nets and followed him.
- Matthew 19:27 (v11) Then Peter answered, “Behold, we have left everything, and followed you. What then will we have?”
Show all 19 cross-references
- Mark 1:17 (v10) Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you into fishers for men.”
- Luke 5:28 (v11) He left everything, and rose up and followed him.
- Luke 18:28-30 (v11) Peter said, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left…
- Mark 1:18-25 (v11) Immediately they left their nets, and followed him. Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John, his…
- Mark 10:21 (v11) Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have…
- Matthew 10:37 (v11) He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
- Luke 5:7 (v10) They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they…
- Philippians 3:7-8 (v11) However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ. Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the…
- Mark 10:29-30 (v11) Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or…
- Luke 6:14 (v10) Simon, whom he also named Peter; Andrew, his brother; James; John; Philip; Bartholomew;
- Acts 2:4 (v10) They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.
- 2 Corinthians 8:23 (v10) As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you. As for our brothers, they are the apostles of the assemblies, the glory of Christ.
- Matthew 4:21 (v10) Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father,…
- Matthew 20:20 (v10) Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10 And so was also James, and John, the…
10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
Ver. 10. Thou shalt catch men] {See Trapp on "Mat 4:19"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–11 And so was also James and John, the sons…
And so was also James and John, the sons of Zebedee,.... Who were in the other ship, and had been beckoned to them to come and help them, and did come, and were witnesses of the miracle:
which were partners with Simon; were sharers with him in loss and gain in the fishing trade; these were equally astonished at the miracle, as Simon and his brother, and the men that were in the boat with them, where Jesus was:
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and Jesus said unto Simon; who was at his knees, and expressed his dread of his majesty, and the consternation of mind he was in particularly:
fear not; do not be afraid of me, I shall do thee no harm, nor shall the boats sink, or any damage come to any person, or to the vessels, nor be so much amazed and affrighted, at the multitude of the fish taken:
from henceforth thou shalt catch men; alive, as the word signifies, or "unto life", as the Syriac and Persic versions render it; thou shalt cast the net of the Gospel, and be the happy instrument of drawing many persons out of the depths of sin and misery, in which they are plunged, into the way of life and salvation; and which was greatly verified, in the conversion of three thousand at one cast, under one sermon of his,
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v11 They forsook all and followed him - They had…
They forsook all and followed him - They had followed him before, John i, 43, but not so as to forsake all. Till now, they wrought at their ordinary calling.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Verse 10. Thou shalt catch men.] ανθρωπους εση ζωγρων,…
Verse 10. Thou shalt catch men.] ανθρωπους εση ζωγρων, Thou shalt catch men alive; this is the proper signification of the word. Fear not: these discoveries of God tend to life, not to death; and ye shall become the instruments of life and salvation to a lost world. These fish are taken to be killed and fed on; but those who are converted under your ministry shall be preserved unto eternal life. See Clarke on Mt 4:18, &c., where this subject is considered more at large.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v11 Luk 5:11. And when they had brought their ships…
Luk 5:11. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, &c. — Doubtless, before this the disciples entertained a high idea of their Master, as they believed him to be the Messiah, and had followed him, Joh 1:43; till now, however, they did not forsake all, but continued to work at their ordinary calling. But this miracle of the fishes was such a striking demonstration of his power, that from this time they left their vessels and nets, nay, and all they had in the world, neglecting even the booty they had now taken, and became his constant followers; being henceforward more solicitous to serve the interest of his kingdom, than to advance any secular interests of their own whatever. Observe here, reader, the wonderful choice which Jesus makes of those who were to be the chief ministers in his kingdom! “Surely the same divine power which prevailed on these honest fishermen to leave their little all to follow him, could with equal ease have subdued the hearts of the greatest and wisest of the nation, and have engaged them to have attended him in all his progress through the country, with the exactest observance, and the humblest reverence: but he chose rather to preserve the humble form in which he had at first appeared, that he might thus answer the schemes of Providence, and by the weak things of the world confound them that were mighty.” It must be remembered, however, that he did not “go to call them that stood all the day idle; but, on the contrary, conferred this honour upon honest industry; on them that had been toiling all the night in the proper duties of their station and profession in life. Let us pursue our business with vigilance and resolution; assuring ourselves, that, however mean it be, Christ will graciously accept us in it; and let us fix our dependence on his blessing, as absolutely necessary to our success.” — Doddridge.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Fear not - He calmed their fears. With mildness…
Fear not - He calmed their fears. With mildness and tenderness he stilled all their troubled feelings, and to their surprise announced that henceforward they should be appointed as heralds of salvation.
From henceforth - Hereafter.
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Shalt catch men - Thou shalt be a minister of the gospel, and thy business shall be to win people to the truth that they may be saved.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Jesus Christ answers the thought of St. Peter, that…
Jesus Christ answers the thought of St. Peter, that instead of any loss or evil coming to him, he should, on the contrary, receive a great reward, by being appointed a fisher of men; and, as he had taken so many fishes by the divine assistance, so he should take in his net innumerable souls, not so much by his own industry, as by the divine grace and assistance. (Maldonatus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Simon, fear not--This shows how the Lord read Peter's…
Simon, fear not--This shows how the Lord read Peter's speech. The more highly they deemed Him, ever the more grateful it was to the Redeemer's spirit. Never did they pain Him by manifesting too lofty conceptions of Him.
from henceforth--marking a new stage of their connection with Christ. The last was simply, "I will make you fishers."
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fishers of men--"What wilt thou think, Simon, overwhelmed by this draught of fishes, when I shall bring to thy net what will beggar all this glory?" (See on Mat 4:18.)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. Sons of Zebedee—The children and wife of Zebedee…
10. Sons of Zebedee—The children and wife of Zebedee often occur; but it is in this transaction alone that we catch a glimpse of Zebedee himself.
Mat_4:21. As all the evangelists concur in silently leaving him out, Blunt concludes that he died shortly after, and notes this as one of those “undesigned coincidences” that show that truth is the basis of the Gospel histories. He also acutely conjectures that either James or John was the apostle who desired to be permitted to go and bury his father, namely, Zebedee.
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Julian the Apostate endeavoured to turn the simile of fishing against Christianity; inasmuch as fish were caught from their living element for death. But for the very purpose of avoiding this cavil, or rather from the very intention of a good symbolical meaning, our Lord uses not the word αγρευειν, which signifies simply to capture; but the word ζωγρειν, which signifies to take alive, being compounded of the words alive and capture. So in the Latin, the word servus, signifying servant or slave, is from servare, to preserve, because slaves were generally prisoners of war saved from death for servitude. The same word is used by Paul, 2Ti_2:26 : Taken captive by him at his will. Whatever may be the destiny, therefore, of the literal fish, the souls they symbolize are captured by the spiritual fishermen into the service of the giver of life.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. partners] Here koinonoi, ‘associates’ in profits, &c.
10. partners] Here koinonoi, ‘associates’ in profits, &c.
Fear not] Accordingly, on another occasion, when Peter sees Jesus walking on the sea, so far from crying Depart from me, he cries “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee on the water” (Mat_14:28); and when he saw the Risen Lord standing in the misty morning on the shore of the Lake “he cast himself into the sea” to come to Him (Joh_21:7).
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10. thou shalt catch] Literally, ‘thou shalt be catching alive.’ In Jer_16:16 the fishers draw out men to death, and in Amo_4:2, Hab_1:14, men are “made as the fishes of the sea” by way of punishment. Here the word seems to imply the contrast between the fish that lay glittering there in dead heaps, and men who should be captured not for death (Jas_1:14), but for life. But Satan too captures men alive (2Ti_2:26, the only other passage where the verb occurs). From this and the parable of the seine or haulingnet (Mat_13:47) came the favorite early Christian symbol of the ‘Fish.’ “We little fishes,” says Tertullian, “after our Fish (ΙΧΘΥΣ, i. e. Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἱὸς Σωτήρ) are born in the water (of baptism).” The prophecy was first fulfilled to Peter, when 3000 were converted by his words at the first Pentecost. In a hymn of St Clement of Alexandria we find “O fisher of mortals who are being saved, Enticing pure fish for sweet life from the hostile wave.” Thus, He who “spread the fisher’s net over the palaces of Tyre and Sidon, gave into the fisher’s hand the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” “He caught orators by fishermen, and made out of fishermen his orators.” We find a similar metaphor used by Socrates, Xen. Mem. ii. 6, “Try to be good and to catch the good. I will help you, for I know the art of catching men.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–11 (10) Which were partners with Simon.—The Greek word is…
(10) Which were partners with Simon.—The Greek word is not the same as that in Luk_5:7; that expressing that they were sharers in the work, this a more general partnership in business, as in Phm_1:17.
Thou shalt catch men.—This is St. Luke’s equivalent for the “I will make you fishers of men” in St. Matthew and St. Mark. The word implies that what is caught is taken alive. The only other passage in which it occurs in the New Testament is 2Ti_2:26.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v10 Fear not. A feeling of intense overpowering awe on…
Fear not. A feeling of intense overpowering awe on a sudden came on Simon after listening to the words and seeing this last act of power which so closely affected him. The very fish of his native lake, then, were subject to this strange holy Man! This was no mortal, thought the fisherman, and he fell at the Master"s feet. "Finding as it does its parallel in almost all manifestations of a Divine or even an angelic presence, it (this awful fear) must be owned to contain a mighty, because an instructive, witness for the sinfulness of man"s nature, out of which it comes to pass that any near revelation from the heavenly world fills the children of men, even the holiest among them, with terror and amazement, yea, sometimes with the expectation of death itself" (Archbishop Trench, "Introduction to the Epistles to the Seven Churches"). The same "Fear not" ("Be not afraid") was uttered on like occasions to Isaiah, (Isa_6:7) to Daniel, (Dan_10:12) and several times during the earthly ministry was said to the disciples, and for the last time the reassuring words were spoken by the Redeemer after the Ascension to his own dear follower, John, who could not bear the sight of the glorious majesty of his risen Lord. Thou shalt catch men. The imagery contained in these words of the Master to his fishermen-followers was, of course, drawn from the late scene. Their failure in catching fish, their Teacher"s marvellous success, the net bursting with the great catch of silvery fish; the Lord"s strange prophetic words which accompanied their call to his service, all would in after-years often come up before the disciples in their hours of alternating failure and success in the mighty task he had set them to do. The great Fisherman, Christ; his imitators and servants, fishers; the world of men pictured as fish, were ever favourite images for the pencil, the graving tool, and the pen of the Christian artist and writer of the first ages of the faith. One of the earliest extant hymns, for instance, of the Church, by Clement of Alexandria, dwells on the image. The words are addressed to Christ"Fisher of men, the blest, Out of the world"s unrest, Out of sin"s troubled sea, Taking us, Lord, to thee; Out of the waves of strife With bait of blissful life; Drawing thy nets to shore, With choicest fish, good store. (Hymn of Clement of Alexandria.)
The favourite Christian monogram of the fish, carved on so many tombs in the Catacombs, belongs to the same imagery the icyuv ihsouv cristov yeou uiov swthr i c yuv ..
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men
Luk_5:10
Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men
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Fishing for men
To be good fishermen we must be--
I.
ARDENTLY ENAMOURED OF THE FISHING.
II. INTIMATELY ACQUAINTED WITH THE FISHES. In following the analogy, we may observe that, because of his acquaintance with the fishes, the fisherman knows--
1. Where to fish. A novice would throw in his line anywhere; but not so the fisherman. Fishes of various sorts must be sought in various localities, and in some places you may seek in vain for any. Many a man has toiled all the night and has taken nothing, simply because he has been trying in the wrong place; while others round about him have made a good tide. For one sort he may go to the quiet lake and the gentle stream; for another to the open sea or the deep channel; while for others he has to go out into the great wide ocean. And in our spiritual fishing we must learn where to catch men. We may find opportunities in the quiet lakes of our own domestic circles, or in the pleasant streams of our social friendships. Because of his acquaintance with the fishes, the fisherman also knows--
2. How to fish. Like men, fishes differ very much in their dispositions and habits, so that what would be suitable for catching one class would not be successful with another. For instance: While some must be drawn, others must be driven. I have seen fishermen, after casting their net, row round about it, making as much noise as possible with their oars, in order to frighten the fishes into it; while, in other instances, a bright light has been burned in the boat to allure them, if possible, into the snare. It is exactly so with men. Some are caught in shoals, while others must be caught singly. There are some that never can be taken in a net, and there are others that can never be taken with a line. You must go about it very cautiously. The fish is a shy creature, and many would-be sportsman has driven away all chance of success by his incautious procedure. Almost anybody can cast a net, but it requires an expert to use the line. People can successfully address large assemblies, who are ill at ease when in personal intercourse with the ungodly. This is a work that demands all our skill and care. You may see a wonderful example of this in our Saviours conversation with the woman at the well. I have been in the same boat with several persons, each provided with similar lines, hooks, and bait; and yet some have been as wonderfully successful as others have been strangely unfortunate. The secret, to those who understood fishing, was obvious. The good fisherman, knowing exactly how to manage and tempt his prey, could, with inferior apparatus, secure success; while the novice, with the best patent gear, might sit, and wait and watch in vain. The application is easy. Seek to allure men! Make your Christianity an attractive thing! Surround all you do with the genuine sunshine of the Bible! Reveal Christ, and He will draw all men unto Him. Again, his acquaintance with the fishes will teach the fisherman--
3. When to fish. A word in season, how good it is! Some fishes are to be caught when the tide is high; others, when it is low; and others, when it is slack. Some can be obtained only in cloudy weather, and others may be caught when the sky is clear and bright. For some the daylight is needful, and for others there is no time like the night. And the fit season for approaching men may be equally various. As in fishing, so, as a rule, with men, the best time to seek them is during the slack of the tide. It is not well to make the attempt during either the full swing of the flood, or of the strong rush of the ebb. Indeed, no ordinary lead would carry your bait to where they are. You must seek men when they are quiet. It is worthy of observation that most fishes arc caught best in cloudy weather. When the sky is murky and lowering, then the fisherman puts out to sea. This certainly suggests to us the appropriateness of Christian words in seasons of sorrow.
III. MORALLY QUALIFIED TO BE FISHERMEN. Piety, patience, perseverance, and every Christian grace will be needful in this work. Its difficulties are neither few nor small. (W. H. Burton.)
Catching men alive
Thou shalt catch men. The word catch is different from any word that has been used concerning the fish, and expresses the catching alive of the prey to be caught; so that the phraseology of our Lord seems to carry with it the thought that fishers of men are to toil for living creatures, and that unless they be caught alive they might as well not be caught at all. How well would it be for all those who are called to be fishers of men, to remember that their work is not to fill their boat with fishes which may serve as food for themselves, but to catch living men and make them servants of the Most High God. (Bishop Goodwin.)
Fishers of men
The design of this miracle was twofold. It was intended--
1. To produce an immediate effect upon the minds of Peter and the rest, to deepen their faith in the Master who had called them, and to set forth His power, His watchfulness, His love. But still more--
2. To take effect in the future; it was emphatically a prophetic miracle--to be looked back to and to yield inexhaustible comfort again and again amid the heavy cares and discouraging tasks of the years to come, when the gospel-net had been finally put into their hands, and they had become fishers of men. St. Peter was to translate into spiritual language all that belonged to his old fishermans life. He was to understand that it had been in a homely, but still most real, way a preparation for the new unearthly service to which Christ was calling him. So you may remember the simple shepherd-life of David is set forth in the seventy-eighth Psalm as a preparatory discipline for kingly rule. And so, according to the fancy of an early writer, the trade of tentmaker followed by Saul of Tarsus prefigured the work which lay in store for Paul the apostle, as the maker of tabernacles for the people of God, the founder of Churches all over the known world. (Canon Duckworth.)
The promise that Peter should become a fisher of men was made still more impressive by a great symbolical miracle.
1. The number of fish caught at Jesus word represented the men he should some day take.
2. As he fished all night and caught nothing, so had he afterwards to labour long in Israel without winning a single human soul.
3. So, too, at Jesus word, he put further out into the deep of the great Gentile world, and drew there a great draught.
4. Last of all, there were two boats to fill--the Gentile-Christian and the Jewish Christian Churches. Then the net began to tear, and the opposition of these two sections threatened the Church with a grievous schism. But the draught was brought safely to land, to the confounding of the circumcised Jew, through whose instrumentality this Divine action had been brought about. (B. Weiss.)
Men-catchers
The man who saves souls is like a fisher upon the sea.
1. A fisher is dependent and trustful.
2. He is diligent and persevering.
3. He is intelligent and watchful.
4. He is laborious and self-denying.
5. He is daring--not afraid to venture upon a dangerous sea.
6. He is successful. He is DO fisher who never catches anything. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
There is as much analogy as contrast between the first and second vocations of the sons of Jonas and Zebedee.
1. Like the fisherman, the minister of the gospel must be furnished with a good net, i.e., he must be conversant with the Scriptures, and mighty in them.
2. Like the fisherman, he must be acquainted with the sea, i.e., the world, and not fear to confront its perils in pursuance of his calling.
3. Like the fisherman, he must now mend, now cast his nets.
4. Like the fisherman, he must labour perseveringly, and wait patiently.
5. Like the fisherman, he must enter into the spirit of his vocation, i.e., he must be animated with the enthusiasm of the holy ministry.
6. Like the fisherman, he must dare to expose his life (Act_20:24).
7. Like the fisherman, he must draw in his net after having cast it. (C. Babut, B. D.)
Sympathy a bait
It is a fact of which we can scarcely make too much, that nothing baits the gospelfishermans hook like sympathy. (Dr. J. Clifford.)
Purposeless sermons
Are an insult to God and man. A sermon that aims at anything short of catching men is a mistake. Let us beware of converting means into ends. (Dr. J. Clifford.)
Catching bait
The fisherman, however, thinks far less of his gathering bait than he does of his catching bait, in which he hides his hook. Very numerous are his inventions for winning his prey, and it is by practice that he learns how to adapt his bait to his fish. Scores of things serve as bait, and when he is not actually at work the wise fisherman takes care to seize anything which comes in his way which may be useful when the time comes to cast his lines. We usually carried mussels, whelks, and some of the coarser sorts of fish, which could be used when they were wanted. When the anchor was down the hooks were baited and let down for the benefit of the inhabitants of the deep, and great would have been the disappointment if they had merely swarmed around the delicious morsel, but had refused to partake thereof. A good fisherman actually catches fish. He is not always alike successful, but, as a rule, he has something to show for his trouble. I do not call that man a fisherman whose basket seldom holds a fish; he is sure to tell you of the many bites he had, and of that very big fish which he almost captured; but that is neither here nor there. There are some whose knowledge of terms and phrases, and whose extensive preparations lead you to fear that they will exterminate the fishy race, but as their basket returns empty, they can hardly be so proficient as they seem. The parable hardly needs expounding: great talkers and theorizers are common enough, and there are not a few whose cultured boastfulness is only exceeded by their life-long failure. We cannot take these for our example, nor fall at their feet with reverence for their pretensions. We must have sinners saved. Nothing else will content us: the fisherman must take fish or lose his toil, and we must bring souls to Jesus, or we shall break our hearts with disappointment. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sucking off the bait
Walking to the head of the boat one evening, I saw a line over the side, and must needs hold it. You can feel by your finger whether you have a bite or no, but I was in considerable doubt whether anything was at the other end or not. I thought they were biting, but I was not certain, so I pulled up the long line, and found that the baits were all gone; the fish had sucked them all off, and that was what they were doing when I was in doubt. If you have nothing but a sort of gathering bait, and the fish merely come and suck, but do not take the hook, you will catch no fish; you need killing bait. This often happens in the Sunday-school. A pleasing speaker tells a story, and the children are all listening; he has gathered them; now comes the spiritual lesson, but hardly any of them take notice of it, they have sucked the bait from the hook, and are up and away. A minister in preaching delivers a telling illustration, all the ears in the place are open, but when he comes to the application of it the people have become listless; they like the bait very well, but not the hook; they like the adornment of the tale, but not the point of the moral. This is poor work. The plan is, if you possibly can manage it, so to get the bait on the hook that they cannot suck it off, but must take the hook and all. Do take care, dear friends, when you teach children or grown-up people, that you do not arrange the anecdotes in such a way that they can sort them out, as boys pick the plums from their cakes, or else you will amuse but not benefit. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Over-cautious fishermen
A very zealous revivalist of our acquaintance was wont to say that over-cautious preachers were like fishermen who refuse to cast forth the net for fear they might catch a devil-fish. (From Herveys Manual of Revivals.)
Sinners must be taken out of their native element
We must never be satisfied till we lift sinners out of their native element. That destroys fish, but it saves souls. We long to be the means of lifting sinners out of the water of sin to lay them in the boat at the feet of Jesus. To this end we must enclose them as in a net; we must shut them up under the law, and surround them with the gospel, so that there is no getting out, but they must be captives unto Christ. We must net them with entreaties, encircle them with invitations, and entangle them with prayers. We cannot let them get away to perish in their sin, we must land them at the Saviours feet. This is our design, but we need help from above to accomplish it: we require our Lords direction to know where to cast the net, and the Spirits helping of our infirmity that we may know how to do it. May the Lord teach us to profit, and may we return from our fishing, bringing our fish with us. Amen. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The draught of fishes
This miracle illustrates--
I. THE LOW LEVEL OF A LIFE WITHOUT CHRIST FOR ITS MASTER. Fishing had become to these men the chief end and whole aim of living. Up to this time their life was exceedingly narrow. It had no horizon wider than the sea which held their food and supplied their trade. Thus they would have lived and died, but for the call and commission of Christ. The secular ideal of life always binds men to earth. Only Christ can raise it.
II. THE TRUE RELATION BETWEEN BUSINESS AND RELIGION, Our Lord lived a carpenter before He died a Saviour. Through all His early manhood He consecrated manual toil by His own example, and so He wedded the daily and spiritual life for ever in one. Here He sanctions Simons business, even while crowning it with a higher calling. Our Lord is master both of business and religion; no drudgery is too low or mean to become, when done for Christs sake, the very service of God. How this transfigures the net of the fisher, the miners pick, the grocers scales, the clerks tape: in each of them can be discerned a humble tool for the accomplishment of the Divine will. The servants broom, thus held, becomes a sceptre in the hand that holds it.
III. THE SECULAR LIFE, SUBMITTED TO CHRIST, BECOMES A SCHOOL FOR THE SPIRITUAL LIFE. It was in doing His daily work for Christs sake that Peter took his first and most needed lesson in apostleship--the lesson of humility. And thus it is, through the arts and implements which are the most familiar, that the Lord is always seeking to lift men up from secular to spiritual lives. As the Eastern astrologers were pointed to the Redeemers cradle by a star; as the woman of Samaria, in the very act of drawing water out of Jacobs well, was led to dip and drink of the sweeter waters of life; as Peter, the fisherman, by a surprising draught of fishes was made lowly enough to catch men--so through the humblest art or calling of the daily life, the Lord is reaching down hands to train and mould us for a purer spiritual life and service. The counting-room is no longer narrow, when thus its higher use as schoolroom of the soul is recognized. Dollars and cents no longer degrade men when they learn to read on their face, not the name of Caesar only, but the holier seal and superscription of God. The irritating cares of home cease to fret the housekeepers spirit when she begins to treat them as part of that ministry by which the Lord seeks to make her a more profitable servant.
IV. THE NOBLE SERVICES OF A LIFE CONSECRATED IN ALL ITS ACTIVITIES TO THE LORD. Not all at once; we cannot enter school and graduate the same day. It needs many lessons; line upon line of experience; but success does come at last.
V. PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. The service of the Lord is always the truest service we can render to ourselves. We have all something to give up to become followers of Jesus. Yet give it up! Yours will be a strange experience if the things you give up for Christs sake do not soon look small beside the things you have gained. They will be, in comparison, as the Sea of Galilee to the world, as the worth of a fish to the value of an immortal man.
2. No business on earth is worth following for its own sake. It may be an honest and innocent business; but if it be not also a Christian calling, and that by our own most deliberate choice, it will certainly dwarf the higher nature of him who follows it. It may keep us alive. It may bring us gains. But what are life and wealth worth, in any sober mans estimate, when thus secured? The successes of millionaires have been commonly the worst mistakes of life. There is a higher law reigning over all trades, professions, occupation (1Co_10:31).
3. The climax of all callings is to be a fisher of men. (J. B. Clark.)
The noblest calling
An eminent New England divine, in his last sickness, was asked by a friend, What seems to you now the greatest thing? Not theology, said this prince of theologians; not controversy, again replied this chief of debaters; but, gathering up his last breath to speak the words, while his spirit hovered at the gate of heaven, the greatest thing in the world is to save a soul. He spoke of what he knew, for he had felt the joy of delivering many; and could the witness of all saints, from Peter down to the last ascended, be taken, would it not be the same, the greatest thing on earth is to save a soul? (J. B. Clark. )
The net of a genuine Christian life
You and I may never be heroes of a Pentecost; we are not masters of the great seine, which Peter and John of old, and some modern disciples, shoot out and catch men by the thousands; but have we not some humble hand-net with which we can take a few? Along our coast line, for some years, men have been setting up what they call weirs, consisting of a series of enclosed ponds, connected with each other by openings, and terminating, at last, in a netted fence running far out into the bay. Against this netted fence the fish, in their progress, strike, and, following it down, they are safely enclosed, at last, in the smallest pond where they are easily captured when the tide is out. Like this netted arm, running far out into the busy world, is a genuine Christian life. It has none of the special gifts of a Finney or a Moody, but in the coming and going tides more than one soul is arrested by this standing net of a godly life. Unconsciously guided by the holy barrier in their way, they are drawn into stiller waters, and when the tide goes out at last, many, I believe, will be found taken for Christ, and taken by fishers of men whose chief skill has been to stand, to stand firm and without rent, in the midst of a restless sea. (J. B. Clark.)
Catch men by love
Would you be a fisher of men? And do you ask, How may I succeed? Love is the best pilot, the only wise interpreter. Love men as Christ loved them, and you will not mourn your small skill or limited chance. Love will soon show you your own best way. To catch men without love is as hopeless as to catch fish without a net. Love is the net. There never was a wicked sinner unsoftened by a pure and steadfast love. There never was a wayward scholar who did not reward the faithful, patient love of his teacher. Let our love be only such that we can pray as Christ prayed for men, can weep as Christ wept over them, can bleed as Christ bled for them, can stretch our arms of help as wide as He stretched His on the cross of sacrifice I Then we shall be able to catch men, for so He drew us, and so He is drawing the world to Himself. Fear not, He seems to say to all who love, yet shrink from this holy calling, fear not; love men, and you shall catch them. (J. B. Clark.)
Ministerial lessons
Christs method of training His ministers for their high office was very remarkable. It was by a miracle, especially designed to represent, in a figure, their future office, me that the homely trade in which they were engaged was for ever hallowed to be the emblem of the gathering into the Church of such as should be saved.
1. The unwearied patience and consummate skill, without which the fisherman cannot be successful in alluring his prey, are, no doubt, fit illustrations of that constancy of purpose and that heavenly wisdom which are such important elements in the character of the Christian teacher.
2. And, perhaps, the fact that the four disciples had toiled all night and taken nothing, and yet were ready, at their Masters bidding, again to let down the net for a draught, is recorded as an instance of that unwavering faith in the Divine promise, and that patient continuance in well-doing, which had prepared these simple-minded peasants of Galilee for that office in which the Christian minister has only to obey, while he leaves results in a higher hand, and, even when he fears he has bestowed labour in vain, still to labour on, in reliance upon the assurance that Gods word shall not return to Him void.
3. But perhaps the chief ministerial lesson which our Lord intended to convey to the minds of His apostles was this--that as even the fisherman, in spite of all his skill, must still depend on the power of Him whose is the sea, for He made it, so all the success of the gospel preacher is of the Lord alone. (J. S. Hoare, B. D.)
Fishers of men
I. NONE SHOULD ENTER THE MINISTRY BUT THOSE WHO ARE CALLED OF CHRIST, There are other voices to which young men are apt to listen.
1. There is the voice of the love of a life of literary ease. The young man has a passion for books; his daily toil seems to him mean and degrading; and he fancies that if he were in the ministry he would have nothing to do but to study, and that study would be a lifelong and ever-increasing delight. At the best he becomes a respectable bookworm, who hates preaching, which so greatly interferes with his studies; but he must preach or starve, and so he preaches sermons about the gospel--very learned sermons--which do his hearers about as much real good as would an admirable lecture on the chemistry of food delivered to a number of farm labourers who at the close of a days toil had hurried into a kitchen! hungry for food.
2. There is a voice of the ambition to be respectable, genteel!
3. There is the voice of the love of publicity. Sometimes a little success in delivering half a dozen addresses to a Sunday School, or in making as many speeches in a debating society, turns a young mans brain, and he is sure that his proper place is in the ministry.
4. There is still another voice to which many young men are apt to listen, imagining that it is indeed the voice of Christ calling them to devote themselves to the ministry--the voice of a sincere desire to do good. This desire is quick and powerful in the heart of every young man who has really given himself to Christ. But it is a pitiable mistake to imagine that the call to do good and the call to become a preacher of the gospel is one and the same thing. To none of the voices that I have named should a young man listen when he is debating the question whether he should devote himself to the ministry of the Word. Before he takes that solemn, and in many cases irrevocable step, he should be very sure that it is the voice of Christ that he has heard saying to him, Follow Me, and I will make you a fisher of men.
II. BUT--this is the second fact that should be pondered--WHEN A MAN HAS HEARD THAT CALL HE SHOULD OBEY IT AT ANY COST. It may be that he cannot do so without making sacrifices; like Simon and Andrew, James and John, he may have to leave behind him nets, boats, valuable fishing-tackle, and dear friends; he may have to give up great present advantages, still greater prospective advantages; but like those of whom this narrative speaks to us, he should cheerfully forsake all, and follow Christ. Amos, the herdsman, was as true a prophet of the Lord as Isaiah, although he was reared in a palace. The other young man is in the counting-house; he is the eldest son of the successful head of the firm; he knows that in due time he will be a partner in the firm; he, too, is called, clearly called--he has no doubt that it is Christs voice he hears--yet he hesitates, for the nets and boats that will have to be left are too many and too valuable; he reminds himself of the fact of which of I have reminded you, that it is not in the ministry only that a man can do good, and so, with this excuse, which he knows is for him a lie, he silences the Voice that calls so clearly. And hence comes that fact, which all the Churches deplore, that so few young men come forth from the middle and upper ranks of society to serve our Lord Jesus Christ as preachers of His Word. This was Garibaldis most effective appeal to his fellow-countrymen:--Soldiers, your efforts against overwhelming odds have been unavailing. I have nothing to offer you but hunger, thirst, hardship, death: let all who love their country follow me (July 22, 1849). Such an appeal does Christ address to-day to the sons of our Christian merchants and landowners. (Christian Age.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. Said unto Simon. Not to him alone (Matt.…
10. Said unto Simon. Not to him alone (Matt. 1:19). Simon, Andrew, James and John were all told to become “fishers of men.”
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10–11 5:10 Jesus drew a spiritual analogy between fishing and…
5:10 Jesus drew a spiritual analogy between fishing and seeking people for the Kingdom of God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.