Luke chapter 5

vs 1

Even now, at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus has a crowd who listens to him. I guess we'd sort of call these people disciples, especially if they'd been following him around. But there's a difference between the disciples and the Disciples. Still, I think it's important to not underestimate the popularity of Jesus' early ministry, especially his teaching.

vs 2

What were these fishermen thinking of this whole scene? I mean, it's obviously not a normal thing for crowds of people to sit around listening to someone. Not that it's mega-miraculous or anything, but the fact that the fishermen are continuing to work means that they don't seem all that impressed.

vs 3

What Jesus has done is instantly confronted one of the fishermen with his presence. Is he going to do what Jesus asks, so that he can escape the press of flesh? Or will he tell him to go jump?

vs 4

Now, after he finishes his little talk, Jesus wants to do something for Simon. So he tells Simon to throw his net in. Now, a preacher man jumping on your boat and asking if he can use it as a floating podium is one thing. But a preacher man jumping in your boat and telling you how to do your job, that's a bit much.

vs 5

But that's not Simon's attitude. He respects Jesus (the term he uses for Jesus obviously means that he respects his authoritative teaching), and so because he said it, he'll give it a go. What a great model! Jesus and God both say some pretty incredible things at times. A lot of which are difficult to believe actually work. Prayer is an excellent example. How does it work? Dunno, but it does, somehow.

Peter's answer is "well, you give me a good reason to drop my nets in, and I'll do it". No, he says "Because you say so, I will let down the nets".

vs 6

And it pays off. I mean, the nets breaking isn't so great, but hey, fish is good!

vs 7

Ok, that's a hell of a lot of fish. What, did the nets start tasting like bait or something? It goes beyond a good piece of advice when you've got 2 boats sinking with fish.

vs 8

Simon (now called Simon Peter, even though Jesus hasn't said anything like that yet - interesting) knows something is up. And it's got more to do with fish.

vs 9-10

So do the Zebedees. This must have been a fairly awesome occurence, and it's happening within their field of expertise. So it's even more convincing. The few scant verses barely does it justice, I am guessing, because a fisherman catching fish does not at the outset seem like a life-changing activity. But the biggest challenge is yet to come.