Year C February 7 Luke 5:1-11

5th Sunday after the Epiphany

Luke 5:1-11.

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." (5:5)


Luke's gospel is "an orderly account" of the life of Jesus. We should not confuse 'orderly' with the idea of chronologically correct detail. Luke's gospel is not a diary, nor does it necessarily present events the order that they occurred. Look carefully at the transition words that are used as the story moves from one scene to the next.

From last weeks text (4:21-30) we note that Jesus "went down to Capernaum" (4:31) and taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath. "After leaving the synagogue" (4:38) he went to Simon's house. Then we have a sequence: "As the sun was setting" (40) and "At daybreak" (42). Luke gives no indication of the length of time between Nazareth and Capernaum, but we know that it was at least a week (v.16 cf. v.31). The events of 4:31-4:43 clearly took place in a period of about 24 hours. From there the time frame becomes hazy, and possibly irrelevant. We learn that Jesus "continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea"(44) but have no idea of the length of time involved.

The story then moves to the text for this week, Luke 5:1-11 where Simon, James and John leave everything and follow Jesus. According to Luke's orderly account Jesus has already been at Simon's house, and healed Simon's mother-in-law while he was there. Where did this take place? "beside the lake of Gennesaret" (5:1). When did this take place? "Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake…" (5:1). The geographical markers are clear, the chronological markers are not.

Does it matter? Probably not, but it certainly does not make sense for Simon to leave everything, and later have Jesus visit his house and heal his mother-in-law. For Luke this is an orderly account, for us it makes sense and is a logical sequence. Is this the sequence in which things happened? Maybe not.


A miracle, a pronouncement, and a call.

This brief encounter marks a shift in the story. Up to this point the focus was on Jesus, but now other characters are drawn into the story. A complex mix of forms is evident in this incident, and there are suggestions that Luke has drawn on a range of different sources as he reveals Jesus to us. In Simon Peter’s response to Jesus (“"Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 5:8) we may even find echoes of Isaiah 6.

The challenge for us is to focus on the main part of this story. But what part is that?
Is it the miracle? While important in the narrative the miracle isn’t the main point of this story. Yes, Jesus is able to fill the nets of discouraged fishermen at a time when they normally would not catch fish. Yes, Jesus is able to fill their nets to breaking point. It is an amazing action (see also John 21), but that is not the point of the story.
Is it Simon Peter’s response to Jesus – the echo of Isaiah 6:5? There is additional emphasis here because it is the only time in the gospel that he is referred to a Simon Peter. It has been Simon, it will be Peter, and one reference (6:14) has “Simon, who also called Peter”. Only here is it Simon Peter. In the presence of Jesus our own sinfulness is evident. Jesus is the Holy One of God. Yet I do not think that is the main point of the story.
Is it the pronouncement of discipleship? "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men" (5:10). As important as this is this statement is the culmination of a significant encounter.

Simon had already been with Jesus. Jesus had been to his house, healed his mother-in-law, and received his hospitality. Simon had probably heard some of Jesus’ teaching and witnessed a few more of his miracles. And, of course, Jesus was in his boat catching fish when the fishermen could not. The point is that Simon knew about Jesus. Yet it is in this encounter that he sees Jesus afresh, and has no option but to recognize his own sinfulness in the presence of the Holy One. Here Jesus meets Simon on his own turf, and does something that reveals to Jesus much more of who he is. Simon had a personal encounter with Jesus. It was then he realized who Jesus is, and what he must do.

Some of us have been around Jesus for a while, some for a long while. We can take for granted the stuff of church, of religion, of faith. In that way we can even become good people. But God wants more than good. God seeks relationship and a commitment to follow and to learn. When we have that personal encounter things change. We enter into relationship with Jesus, and not with the church. In that encounter Jesus will invite us to follow him – and will call us to a life that may look radically different from the one we might have planned.

Other Readings:

Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Ps 138
1 Cor 15:1-11