Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 5:4
Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
4. when he had left speaking ] The aorist implies that no sooner was His sermon ended than He at once thought, not of His own fatigue, but of His poor disappointed followers.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Launch, out – Go out with your vessels.
Into the deep – Into the sea; at a distance from the shore.
For a draught – A draught of fish; or let down your nets for the taking of fish.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Luk 5:4
Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught
Out of the deep
I.
RECALL THE HISTORIC EVENT.
1. It is not work that tries men and women, half as much as it is the disappointment which unsuccess brings.
2. The best and only real recreation which any soul can find is that which comes from resting in the Lord, and in abiding patiently upon Him, in the faith that He doeth all things well, even when He asks us to labour on without finding any immediate reward.
II. CHRIST TAKES HIS PEOPLE INTO THE DEEP. There was in the crisis hour of St. Peters personal history a striking coincidence between his outward and his inward experience–a parable of all Divine dealings with men.
1. Think of the present attitude of the world towards revealed truth. It shrinks from launching out into the deep. The prevailing tendency is towards the superficial rather than the substantial. We aim at greatness instead of thoroughness. Men have pushed their investigations in every direction; but they are disposed to stop just where the problem deepens into anything like mystery, and where faith must take the place of sight. Whenever I meet with one of these flippant retailers of modern objections to Holy Scripture, and hear him making light of revealed truth, and ventilating with imperiousness his opinion that the Bible is largely a myth, I always feel like asking such a man: My friend, have you ever pushed out from the shallow into the depth of these questions? Have ever your knees touched the waters of Gods mighty sea? Have you ever gone, alone with Christ, away from the shore and its noisy multitude, to where His waves are mountains?
2. In the workings and leadings of His providence, God sometimes takes us out of the region of shallow, everyday experiences, into those which are very deep and solemn. There are depths of sorrow, of affliction, and doubt and depression, of poverty and bodily sickness, of temptation, of penitence and shame, and of spiritual weakness; and some of them are mysterious, unfathomable. There is, in such cases, no use in trying to see bottom. Now and then the soul is tempted to think that chance, or accident, or lack of foresight, or an enemy of some kind, has lured him out there, just to drown him or to fill him with terror, Nay, it was a loving Guide who led you thither. (E. E. Johnson, M. A.)
Advancement in prayer
Prayer has small beginnings; but it should be progressive, never stationary. It is a science needing practice, and practice in it, as in other sciences, will make perfect. Our Lord bade St. Peter thrust out a little from the land; then He made him launch out into the deep. Our first prayers are a thrusting out a little from the land, a little disengagement of the thoughts, of the affections, from earth. But if we would gain anything, we must not rest satisfied with this, but must, at Christs word, launch forth into the deep of spiritual communion with God.
I. Prayer, to be efficacious, must be RECOLLECTED. All the powers of the mind must be drawn off from other matters, and concentrated on Him whom you are addressing. The wandering imagination has to be recalled from those objects about which it plays, like a butterfly round garden flowers, that it may rest on God. The memory is called away from the affairs of ourselves, that it may be used to supply food for the meditation in which we are engaged. The understanding is withdrawn from musing and irrelevant objects, that it may reason and reflect on the matter of our prayer and on the nature of Him to whom we pray. Finally, the will, which runs after a thousand objects which it desires, loves, and takes pleasure in, is fixed on God, and strives to conform itself to the Divine will, producing affections and forming resolutions such as the subject of meditation and devotion exacts.
II. Prayer should be DISENGAGED. After St. Peter had received Jesus into his vessel, he thrust out a little from the land. So, in prayer, the thoughts which are attached to earth, like the moorings of a boat, must be flung loose, or the vessel cannot put to sea.
III. Prayer must be EARNEST. While disengagement resembles a sportsman raising his gun to his shoulder, and recollection represents him sighting his object, earnestness is the charge of powder with which his gun is loaded.
IV. Prayer must be DEFINITE. Vague prayer without a purpose is never very earnest, nor can it be effectual. A good plan is to take one grace at a time, and ask for that, then another, and so on. Definiteness is the bullet to hit the mark.
V. Prayer must be PERSEVERING. This proves that we are in earnest, that we really desire that for which we ask. (S. Baring. Gould, M. A.)
Launching out into the deep
We have toiled in the narrows too long, and have taken little by our toil. Look round you in this nineteenth century of Christendom, and survey what ought to be a kingdom of heaven. We must launch out into the deep, the great human deep, which is in Christs dominion, and not in the devils, and let down our nets for a draught. We have learnt wisdom perhaps from our faults, our follies, our failures. The Church has toiled in the shallows surrounding her coasts among the souls she could get within her pale. But rarely has man, in his simple human relations and activities, been suffered to feel that as man he was dear to Christ, and a subject of His kingdom. The great evangelical movement began with a noble attempt to fulfil this command. The evangelists saved our State. Voltaire wrote to dAlembert, when the revolutionary yeast was beginning to work: We have never pretended to enlighten the cobblers and the maid-servants; we leave that to the apostles. In a few years those cobblers and maid-servants were flooding the gutters of Paris with the best blood of France; while in England the apostles had tamed them. But the evangelical movement, as the years passed on, shut itself up more and more to its Churches, and treated the great human world, the world of secular thought, activity, and interest, as quite outside its pale. Christ points us to the broad ocean, the great human deep–the relations, the energies, the industries, and the interests, the thoughts, and the sympathies of men, in their physical, intellectual, social, and political life; these we claim for His kingdom, these be it ours to win to His love. Instead of saving souls out of the world, let us save the world with the souls in it. (J. Baldwin Brown, B. A.)
Encouragement to work for God, though unsuccessful
1. Have we to contend in our work with a feeling of its having been fruitless? In the case of sensible labour, there always is some result. How different, on the contrary, is the case of the labourer in the world of mind! Does the feeling of the fruitlessness of our spiritual work oppress and summon us to conflict, or do we bear it lightly? There arc men who know this feeling very well, but, in a certain measure, feel comfortable in it.
2. If the feeling of dejection is now threatening to overcome us, let us not indulge it; let us ask rather how to change it into the joyful confidence of success! And whither shall we go? Where Peter went; with Jesus we find help. The same Peter who now complains, Lord, we have toiled, &c., how differently he had, a few moments after, to judge! But still more. Had he not laboured in vain, the Lord had not found him, nor he the Lord. We see here, in a very evident example, how deceitful the feeling of fruitlessness is, and how we should not let ourselves be taken in by it. But not only that–we have also a security for it that labour for spiritual purposes can never be in vain. (Professor Rothe.)
Fishing too near shore
Launch out into the deep.
I. This Divine counsel comes, first, to all those who are paddling in THE MARGIN OF BIBLE RESEARCH. My father read the Bible through three times after he was eighty years of age, and without spectacles; not for the mere purpose of saying he had been through it so often, but for his eternal profit. John Colby, the brother-in-law of Daniel Webster, learned to read after he was eighty-four years of age, in order that he might become acquainted with the Scriptures. There is no book in the world that demands so much of our attention as the Bible. Yet nine-tenths of Christian men get no more than ankle-deep. Walk all up and down this Bible domain! Try every path. Plunge in at the prophecies, and come out at the epistles. Go with the patriarchs, until you meet the evangelists. Rummage and ransack, as children who are not satisfied when they come to a new house, until they know what is in every room, and into what every door opens. Open every jewel-casket. Examine the sky-lights. For ever be asking questions. Put to a higher use than was intended the Oriental proverb, Hold all the skirts of thy mantle extended when Heaven is raining gold. The sea of Gods Word is not like Gennesaret, twelve miles by six, but boundless; and in any one direction you can sail on for ever. Why, then, confine yourself to a short psalm, or to a few verses of an epistle? The largest fish are not near the shore. Sail away, oh ye mariners, for eternity! Launch out into the deep.
II. The text is appropriate to all CHRISTIANS OF SHALLOW EXPERIENCE. Doubts and fears have in our day been almost elected to the Parliament of Christian graces. Doubts and fears are not signs of health, but festers and carbuncles. You have a valuable house or farm. It is suggested that the title is not good. You employ counsel. You have the deeds examined. You search the record for mortgages, judgments, and liens. You are not satisfied until you have a certificate, signed by the great Seal of the State, assuring you that the title is good. Yet how many leave their title to heaven an undecided matter! Christian character is to come up to higher standards. We have now to hunt through our library to find one Robert MCheyne, or one Edward Payson, or one Harlan Page. The time will come when we will find half a dozen of them sitting in the same seat with us. The grace of God can make a great deal better men than those I have mentioned. Christians seem afraid they will get heterodox by going too far.
III. The text is appropriate to all who ARE ENGAGED IN CHRISTIAN WORK. The Church of God has been fishing along the shore. We set our net in a good, calm place, and in sight of a fine chapel, and we go down every Sunday to see if the fish have been wise enough to come into our net. We might learn something from that boy with his hook and line. He throws his line from the bridge: no fish. He sits down on a log: no fish. He stands in the sunlight and casts the line: but no fish. He goes up by the mill-dam, and stands behind the bank, where the fish cannot see him, and he has hardly dropped the hook before the cork goes under. The fish come to him as fast as he can throw them ashore. In other words, in our Christian work, why do we not go where the fish are? It is not so easy to catch souls in church, for they know that we are trying to take them. With the Bible in one pocket, and the hymn-book in another pocket, and a loaf of bread under your arm, launch out into the great deep of this worlds wretchedness.
IV. The text is appropriate TO ALL THE UNFORGIVEN. Every sinner in this house would come to God if he thought that he might come just as he is. People talk as though the pardon of God were a narrow river, like the Kennebec or the Thames, and that their sin draws too much water to enter it. No; it is not a river, nor a bay, but a sea. I should like to persuade you to launch out into the great deep of Gods mercy. I am a merchant. I have bought a cargo of spices in India. I have, through a bill of exchange, paid for the whole cargo. You are a ship-captain. I give you the orders, and say, Bring me those spices. You land in India. You go to the trader and say, Here are the orders; and you find everything all right. You do not stop to pay the money yourself. It is not your business to pay it. The arrangements were made before you started. So Christ purchases your pardon. He puts the papers, or the promises, into your hand. Is it wise to stop and say, I cannot pay for my redemption? God does not ask you to pay. Relying on what has been done, launch out into the deep. (Dr. Talmage.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
4. for a draughtmunificentrecompense for the use of his boat.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now when he had left speaking,…. Teaching the people, and preaching the word of God unto them out of the ship, as they stood on the shore before him.
He said unto Simon, launch out into the deep; he spoke to Simon Peter, being the master of the vessel, to thrust it out, or put it off further into deep water, more convenient for fishing;
and let down your nets for a draught; of fishes: his meaning is, that he would give orders to his servants, to put out the vessel to sea, to take their nets and cast them into the sea, in order to take and draw up a quantity of fish, which was their business.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Had left speaking ( ). He ceased speaking (aorist middle indicative and present active participle, regular Greek idiom).
Put out into the deep ( ). The same double compound verb as in verse 3, only here second aorist active imperative second person singular.
Let down (). Peter was master of the craft and so he was addressed first. First aorist active imperative second person plural. Here the whole crew are addressed. The verb is the regular nautical term for lowering cargo or boats (Acts 27:17; Acts 27:30). But it was used for lowering anything from a higher place (Mark 2:4; Acts 9:25; 2Cor 11:33). For a catch ( ). This purpose was the startling thing that stirred up Simon.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Launch out. Rev., put out. The singular number, addressed to Peter as master of the craft.
Let down [] . The plural, addressed to the whole of the boat ‘s crew. Originally, to slacken or loosen, as a bow – string or the reins of horses; hence to let sink as a net. Also of unbarring a door. Metaphorically, to be indulgent, to pardon. The word occurs in the New Testament seven times, and five of these in Luke. He uses it of letting down Paul in a basket at Damascus (Act 9:25); of striking a ship ‘s sails, and of letting down a boat into the sea (Act 27:17, 30). Matthew, Mark, and John use ballw or ajmfiballw, for casting a net (Mt 4:18; Mt 13:47; Mr 1:16; Joh 21:6), which appears also in the compound noun for a casting net (amfiblhstron, see on Mt 4:18). The word used by Luke was in common use in medical writings, to denote relaxation of the limbs; loosening of bandages; abatement of sickness; letting herbs down into a vessel to be steeped.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now when he had left speaking,” (hos de epausato lalon) “Then when he ceased or stopped speaking,” or when He had completed His message, His address to the people by the seashore, Luk 5:1.
2) “He said unto Simon,” (eipen pros ton Simona) “He said to Simon Peter,” and from whose ship He had taught, Luk 5:3.
3) “Launch out into the deep,” (epanagage eis to bathos) “Put, push, or launch out and into the deep,” the deep water, away from the shoreline near where schools of fish fed. This was addressed to Peter singularly.
4) “And let down your nets for a draught.” (kai chalasate ta diktua humon eis agran) “And you all let down your nets for a draught,” for a drag, to make a drag for some fish from that area, as a real reward for use of his boat as a speaking platform that day, Joh 21:6. Our Lord who made and feeds the fish, knowing “all things”, knew where they were at that hour, Joh 21:17. This was a foretaste of rewards He would give to them and those who obey Him in becoming fishers of men, Luk 5:10; 1Co 3:8.
Note, Simon Peter was directed as the boatman to steer the boat into, the deep, away from the shore, from shallow water, then Jesus used the plural “you all”, other fishermen on the boat, were directed cooperatively to let their nets, that required cooperation and labors of the crew, 1Co 3:8-9. Let it also be observed that fishers of men are to cast the nets in unity and unison of labors in the church.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) Let down your nets.It is, perhaps, a slight indication that the narrative of St. Luke does not give the same event as the other Gospels, that they use a different word for net, and one that has, technically, quite a distinct meaning. St. Lukes word, however, is generic, and may therefore include the other; and the other two use it when they speak of the disciples leaving their nets.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Left speaking Sermon was over, and the satisfied crowd departing.
Into the deep Where would be a larger shoal of fishes.
Nets They were probably seines. The seine has its lower margin loaded, so as to reach toward the bottom, and the upper fringed with corks, so that the net forms a perpendicular wall in the water. Fastening one end at the shore, the fisherman launches out into the deep and lets the net into the water, and, fetching a semicircle, enclosing the fish within its compass, returns to the shore at the point from which he started. With an overwhelming amount of fishes, he would need aid to drag the net and its contents to the shore or boat. Dr. Thomson thinks it was a bag-net, let down like a basket into the water; but how large must the bag have been to enclose fish enough to nearly sink the two boats?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” ’
Then when He had finished preaching He turned to Simon Peter and said, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” The prophetic command probably made Peter give a grim smile, and give his partner a look. No one knew better than they that there were no fish to be had. If they could not be found at night when it was dark, this time of the morning when the sun was shining on the water would be hopeless. But his calibre is revealed in his obedience to the Prophet. If He told him to do something, then he would do it. It could do no harm even though they were very tired, and it would please Him, and possibly teach Him a lesson about fish.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The miraculous draught:
v. 4. Now when He had left speaking, He said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
v. 5. And Simon, answering, said unto Him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing; nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net.
v. 6. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their net brake.
v. 7. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. The discourse of the Lord may have taken up the greater part of the forenoon. But now He made a pause in His speaking, and addressed Simon, who was probably at the helm, with a peculiar request, which sounded like an arbitrary demand. Peter should launch out far, he should take his boat out to the place where the sea was deep, away from the shore. These first words were addressed to Peter alone, as the master of the vessel; but the second part, describing the manner of taking the fish, is directed to all the men in the boat. Jesus thus took charge of the boat and directed its disposal, as though He were the owner. It was a test of Peter’s faith and trust in the Lord. The answer of Simon indicated the greatest respect for the Man who thus unceremoniously took charge of his affairs. He calls Him Master, the Greek word being used of a prefect or of one that is set over certain persons or affairs, a title of respect which did not imply a personal relation. He does not register an objection, but merely states as a fact that they have worked hard all night and have caught nothing. They had plied their trade at the time and under the conditions which experience had shown them to be the most favorable, at night, and on the benches of the lake not far from the shore. But all his fisherman’s experience and theory Peter is willing to bring as a sacrifice to his faith in the words of Jesus. There are several lessons to note here. “Therefore thou must learn these things well that thou mayest work and hope, even if He should delay the matter for some time; for though He lets thee wait and labor in perspiration, and thou thinkest thy work is lost, yet thou must be prudent and learn to know thy God and to trust in Him. For we see in this gospel how God cares for them that are His, and keeps them both in body and soul. If we but get to the point that we freely trust Him, then things cannot be wanting, then God pours us full of bodily and spiritual goods, and with such an abounding treasure that we may help all people. That surely means making the poor people rich and feeding the hungry. ” Luther also shows that disappointments and failures in the work of our calling should not discourage us entirely, whether it be in the training of children, if we have but been faithful, or in positions of authority, or in the government of the Church. “And, to summarize, the entire human being and life is constituted thus, that one must often have worked long and much for nothing, until God finally gives the increase; and therefore the work shall not be omitted, nor any person found without work, but expect the increase and blessing from God, when He wants to give it, Ecc 11:6
Simon’s faith was richly rewarded. For when they followed the directions of Jesus, their net enclosed a great quantity of fish, and it began to tear. Pulling with all their might, they had no breath to waste in calling, so they anxiously waved to their companions in the other boat that they should come and help them. And so great was the catch that both boats were filled with fish to such a point that there was danger of their sinking under the load; they were all but submerged. It was such an obvious miracle that they all were astounded.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
(4) Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. (5) And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing, nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. (6) And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes; and their net brake. (7) And they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. (8) When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. (9) For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: (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. (11) And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.
Very many blessed things are contained in this short history of the miraculous draught of fishes. I might call upon the Reader to remark with me, what kindness to the poor fishermen, who had toiled all night and caught nothing, in thus immediately providing for them and their households. I might observe also, what a beautiful application was hereby made of the Lord’s sermon. These, and other remarks, might be gathered from it of an instructive nature. But I pass by all these, in order to call the attention of the Reader to a point, yet vastly more momentous; namely, the testimony which this miracle of the Lord Jesus carried with it to the mind of Peter of the Godhead of Christ. For the Apostle’s falling down at the feet of Jesus and crying out, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord, was altogether expressive what his views of Jesus at that time were. Peter, it should seem, at the moment recollected what the Lord had said to Moses in the Mount. Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man see me and live. Exo 33:20 . And under these impressions, holy men concluded, that the sight of God must produce instant death. Hence Manoah, in after ages, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and his wife, and did wonderously, expected death: We shall surely die, (said he,) because we have seen God. Jdg 13:22 . Peter felt all this, and under a conscious sense of sin, desired the Lord to depart from him. The Apostle was convinced, that nothing short of an Almighty power could have produced such a miracle as was then shewn, and therefrom drew his conclusion of the Godhead of Christ. I hope the Reader will as readily, and from the same power as taught Peter, be led to the same conclusion, and then the passage will appear in all its beauty. See Mat 16:13-17 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
Ver. 4. Let down your nets ] This is the fare he pays them, for the use of their ship. No man loseth by Christ.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4. ] , to Peter alone, who was the steersman of his ship; , to the fishermen in the ship collectively (Me [46] .). So below also, , of the director, , of the doers of the act.
[46] Meyer.
5 ] , the ordinary time of fishing: see Joh 21:3 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 5:4 . , into the deep sea, naturally to be found in the centre, inside the shelving bottom stretching inwards from the shore. . plural, after , singular; the latter addressed to Peter as the master, the former denoting an act in which all in the boat would assist. Bornemann ( Scholia ) gives instances of similar usage in classics. , here and in Luk 5:9 only, in N. T.; in the first place may be used actively = for taking, in the second, passively = for a take. But the latter sense might suit both places. If so used here the word implies a promise (Hahn).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luke
INSTRUCTIONS FOR FISHERMEN
Luk 5:4
The day’s work begins early in the East. So the sun, as it rose above the hills on the other side of the lake, shone down upon a busy scene, fresh with the dew and energy of the morning, on the beach by the little village of Bethsaida. One group of fishermen was washing their nets, their boats being hauled up on the strand. A crowd of listeners was thus early gathered round the Teacher; but the fishermen, who were His disciples, seem to have gone on with their work, never minding Christ or the crowd. It is sometimes quite as religious to be washing nets as to be listening to Christ’s teaching.
The incident which follows the words of my text, and which is called the first miraculous draught of fishes, is stamped by our Lord Himself with a symbolic purpose; for at the end of it He says: ‘Fear not! from henceforth thou shalt catch men.’ And that flings back a flood of light on the whole story; and not only warrants but obliges us to take it as being by Him intended for the instruction in their Christian work of these four whom He has chosen to be His workers. However many of our Lord’s miracles may not come under this category of symbolism and I, for my part, do not believe that there are any of them which do not, this one clearly does. We have His own commentary to compel us to interpret its features as meaning something beyond what appears on the surface. I take it, then, that we have here a first vivid code of instructions which our Lord gives to all His servants who do work for Him; and I wish to look at the various stages of this incident from that point of view.
If there are any of my hearers who think to themselves, ‘Ah, well! he is not going to say anything that I have anything to do with,’ so much the worse for you, if you are not a Christian; or, so much the worse for you if, being a Christian, you are not an active servant. Jesus Christ had four disciples who were fishermen, and out of them He made four fishers of men. The obligation is universal.
I. The Law of Service.
If we thus understand that His authority follows on our discipleship, and that the words of my text, first of all, insist upon and assert His right to command and absolutely dispose of the activities, resources, and persons of all His disciples, we have learned something that we only need to practise in order to make our lives noble with a strange nobility, and blessed and sweet with an unearthly sanctity and blessedness.
Further, the words of my text not only declare for us thus the absolute authority of Jesus Christ over all His disciples, but also reveal His sweet promise and gracious assurance that He cares to guide, to direct, to prescribe spheres, to determine methods, to lead those who docilely look to Him and wait upon Him, in paths in which their activity may most profitably be employed for Him and for His Church. If there is anything that is declared to us plainly in the Scriptures, with regard to the relationships between men and Jesus Christ, it is this, that a docile heart will always be a guided heart, partly by inward whispers, which only they disbelieve who limit God in His relation to men, beyond what they have a right to do; and partly by outward providences which only they disbelieve who limit God in His power over the external world, beyond what they have a right to do. He will guide, sometimes with His eye, to which the loving eye flashes back response; sometimes with His whispered word, when the noises of earth and the pulsations of self-will are stilled; sometimes with His rod, which the less sensitive of His sons do often need; sometimes by successes in paths that we venture upon tentatively and timidly; and sometimes by failures in paths into which we rush confidently and presumptuously; but always, the waiting heart is a guided heart, and if we listen we shall hear ‘This is the way, walk ye in it.’ And sometimes it is God’s will that we should make mistakes, for these too help us to learn His will.
But, further, and more particularly, I do not think that I am unduly reading too much meaning into this story, if I ask you to put emphasis upon one word, ‘Launch out into the deep .’ As long as you keep pottering along, a boat’s length from the shore, you will only catch little fishes. The big ones, and the heavy takes are away out yonder. Go out there, if you want to get them. Which, being translated, is this-The same spirit of daring enterprise, which is a condition of success in secular matters, is no less potent a factor in the success of Christian men in their enterprises for Jesus Christ. As long as we keep Him down, within the limits of use and wont, and are horribly afraid of anything that our great-grandfathers did not use to do, there will be very few fish in the bottom of the boat.
Oh, brethren! if one thinks of the world into which it has been God’s providence to put us, a world all seething with new aspirations and unrest-if we think of the condition of the great city in which we live, which is only a specimen of the cities of England, and of the tragical insufficiency of Christian enterprise and effort, as compared with the overwhelming masses of the community, surely, surely, there is nothing more wanted to make Christian people wake up from their old jog-trot habits, and cast themselves with new earnestness, new daring and enterprise, into forms of service which conscience and sober wisdom may approve. Of course, I do not forget that any such new methods must each approve themselves at the tribunal of the Christian consciousness. It is no part of my business here to descend into details and particulars, but I do want to lay on my own heart, and especially on the hearts of the members of the church of which I have the honour to be the pastor, and also upon all other Christian people whom my voice may reach, the solemn responsibility which the conditions of life in our generation lay upon Christian men and women, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets.’ I believe, for my part, that if all the good, God-fearing, Christ-loving men and women in Manchester were to hear this voice sounding in their ears, and to obey it, they would change the face of the city.
II. The Response.
‘We have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing.’ Experience said, ‘No! do not.’ Christ said, ‘Yes! do.’ And so when Peter has made a clean breast of his objection, founded on experience, he goes on with the consent prompted by the devotion and consecration of love, ‘nevertheless.’ A great word that. ‘We have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless at Thy word we will let down the net. So here goes.’ And away they went, breakfastless perhaps, with their nets half cleaned, and sleepy and tired with the night’s work.
Here, then, we see obedience that springs delighted to obey, because it is impelled by love. That is the spirit which can be trusted to go out into the deep, which does not ask whether things are recognised and usual or not, but which, if once it is sure of the Lord’s will, takes no counsel of anything else. How should it, seeing that there is nothing so delightsome to a heart that truly loves as to know and do the will of its beloved? And that, dear brethren, is the spirit that all we Christian people need-a deeper, more vivid, more continual, soul-subduing, muscle-straining consciousness that Jesus Christ ‘loved me and gave Himself for me.’ Then His whisper will be like thunder, and the motto of our lives will be ‘At Thy word, I will!’ Further, here is obedience that was not in the least degree depressed by the recognition of past failure. All night long they had been dropping the net overboard, and drawing it in, and with horny, wet hands seeking in its meshes, and finding nothing. Then overboard with it again, and more pulling at the heavy sweeps, till the dawn began to show, and all in vain. Now the weary task must be done all over again, though in all the past hours though they were the best, there has been only failure.
I think that our Christian courage and consecration would be immensely increased, if we could learn the lesson of my text; and feel that, however often in the past I may have broken down, the word of Christ’s command, which thrills into my will, is also the word of Christ’s promise which should stay my heart, and give me the assurance that past defeat shall be converted into future victory.
There is an obedience which did not grudge fresh toil before the effect of past toils had been quite got over. The nets, as I said, were only half cleaned. It was a pity to begin and dirty them again. The fishers had had a very hard night’s toil. If they had been like some of us they would have said, ‘Oh! I have been working hard all the night. I cannot possibly do any more this morning.’ ‘I am so very busy with my business all the week, that it is perfectly absurd to talk about my teaching in a Sunday-school.’ That was not their spirit at all. No matter how they had to rub their eyes to get the sleep out of them, they just bundled the nets into the boat once more, pushed her down the strand, and shoved her out into the blue waters at Christ’s bidding. And that is the sort of workmen that He wants, and that you and I should be.
Further, we have here an obedience that kept the Master’s word sounding in its heart whilst it was at work. ‘At Thy word will I let down the net.’
Ah! we very often begin working with a very pure motive, and as we go on, the motive gradually oozes away, and what was begun in the spirit is continued in the flesh; and what was begun with a true devotion to Jesus Christ is continued because we were doing it yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and because it is the custom to do it. So we go on. The heart having all gone out of our service, the blessing is gone out of it too. But if we will keep our hearts near that Lord and listen to His voice calling us, wearied or not wearied, beaten before or not beaten before, and do as He bids us, launch out into the deep, we shall not toil in vain.
III. The result.
But, if we are toiling in loving obedience to Christ’s voice, and seeking His direction as to sphere and manner of service, we may be quite sure of this, that whether we get, immediately or no, the outward and visible results which this incident promises to all who fulfil the conditions, we shall get the results which were symbolised in the second form of this miraculous draught of fishes. For, if you remember, there was another incident at the end of Christ’s life, modelled upon this one, and equally significant, though in a different fashion. On that occasion, when the disciples had been toiling all the night, and saw, in the dim twilight of the morning, the questionable figure standing on the shore there, they were bidden to bring of the fish that they had caught, and when they came to land they saw a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread; and His voice said, ‘Come, and eat!’ Blessed are the workers that work for the Master, for living they shall not be left without His blessing, and dying, ‘they rest from their labours’-by the side of that mysterious fire, and Christ-provided food-’and their works do follow them, in that they bring of the fish which they have caught.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
when He had left speaking. The Aorist Tense implies the immediate succession of the events.
unto. Greek. pros. App-104. The same word as in Luk 5:10.
Launch out. Same as “thrust out” in Luk 5:3. Addressed to one (Peter).
let down = let ye down: addressed to all. Occurs seven times; five of these by Luke, here, Luk 5:5; Act 9:25; Act 27:17, Act 27:30. The other two are Mar 2:4. 2Co 11:33.
for = with a view to. Greek eis. App-104. Not the same word as in Luk 5:14 -. Same as in Luk 5:14.
draught = haul. Used of what is drawn, from Anglo-Saxon drag-an.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
4.] , to Peter alone, who was the steersman of his ship; , to the fishermen in the ship collectively (Me[46].). So below also, , of the director, , of the doers of the act.
[46] Meyer.
5] ,-the ordinary time of fishing:-see Joh 21:3.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 5:4. , into the deep) This is more than the , a little, Luk 5:3.- , for a draught) The promise. We may compare this fishing with that recorded in Joh 21:3; Joh 21:6, etc.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Launch: Mat 17:27, Joh 21:6
Reciprocal: Eze 47:10 – fishers Mar 1:16 – as he Act 21:1 – and had
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LAUNCH OUT!
Launch out into the deep.
Luk 5:4
Simon was surprised to receive that command; there are many still who do not seem able at once to respond to it.
I. To whom should these words be addressed?
(a) Disappointed workers.As it was with Peter, so it has often been with Christs servants since, and we may surely learn some lesson from our Lords command on such an occasion. Let us dare a little more, venture a little further for Christ than we have ever done before.
(b) Desponding believers.There is another kind of deep besides the deep of service. There is the ocean of Gods faithfulness. Launch the little craft of your faith and life on the mighty ocean of Divine love. How little we trust Christ!
(c) All faint-hearted voyagers over lifes troubled sea. Christs word to every troubled mariner is, Fear not! launch out, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
II. The command.What does obedience to it involve? Why is it not more readily obeyed?
(a) It demands consecration.If a boat is to be launched out into the deep, the first thing needed is to weigh anchor. There must be a casting aside of every weight. There must be unreserved consecration to Christ.
(b) There must be courageto brave storms, to face the unknown, to stand alone, to withstand the obstacles which confront him who ventures on a new departure.
(c) Confidence is needed. Nevertheless at Thy wordthere was faith. St. Peter had such confidence in Jesus Christ that it enabled him to put aside every other consideration.
III. How is obedience rewarded?What are the rewards given to the man who trusts, who obeys?
(a) Success in service. St. Peter could not draw in the net for the multitude of fishes.
(b) To the despondent there shall be salvation. When we trust Christ fully we shall be rewarded by such a revelation of His fullness that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
(c) A revelation of the Saviour. St. Peter knew that day that Jesus was the Lord. We want such a revelation of power as will convince men that it is not man but God who is working in our midst.
(d) A renewal of devotion. When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed Him. Do you not desire devotion like that?
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Illustration
Years ago, standing at the pier-head in Lowestoft harbour, I watched a large fishing-smack working its way out to sea. The sailors fastened a hawser to one of the bulkheads of the pier near where I was standing, and made the other end fast to their vessel. Then they hauled the craft hand over hand till they reached the harbour and could feel the swing of the tide under her. Then the rope, which before had been a help, became a hindrance. Throw her off, sir! they cried to me, as the sails went up and the good ship caught the breezeThrow her off! I lifted the heavy cable, and the next moment, like a thing of life, the vessel darted over the waves. Ah! there is many a man held back to-day like that vessel, by cords, not sinful in themselves, nay, which, it may be, have once been useful to him, but now are holding him back from God. Throw off the tie that binds you to the shore, throw it off and let the good ship go!
(SECOND OUTLINE)
CHRIST AND CHRISTS WORLD
It was while Christ was engaged in an ever-widening preaching tour there were uttered the most striking words Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. Upon this sentence let us now fix our thoughts.
I. The words impress two great principles for the guidance of the Churchs life, viz. the principle or spirit of venturesomeness, Launch out into the deep, and the principle or spirit of order, Let down your nets for a draught. It is through the interaction of these two principles that the Lord can permanently bless His Church, and place His work upon a sure foundation. They are often separated, to the sure detriment both of the one and of the other. Not a few are venturesome and not orderly; not a few are orderly and not venturesome; not a few launch out into the deep, but have no nets to let down; not a few have nets, but have no deep into which they can let them down. Both principles have brought forth giants by which they are severally personified; but both principles are most honoured when giants can combine them in their due proportions.
II. The meaning attached to this command by the individual Christian will in each case be coloured by his own experience. What he means by launch out will be modified for him by what he means by the deep. Shall the deep mean for us Christ Himself, as the preparation for sailing into all other unknown seas? What a deep this! Christ in the fullness of the Godhead, in the fullness of the Manhood; Christ in the love that passeth knowledge; Christ in the power of His redeeming blood, in the power of His resurrection and of His intercession; Christ in the filling of His Holy Spirit, in His all-enabling enduement. To know Him with the grasp of that experience which can say, I can do all things through Christ Who strengtheneth me, that is to enter upon a deep indeed, full of untrackable riches, full of inexpressible peace, full of unknown sources of power ready to be applied. We are, alas! content with cupfuls of Christ, while we may possess oceanfulnesses of Christ. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord. And if in the first instance Christ Himself be for us the deep, then launch out will have a corresponding meaning. What are those cables that bind us to the shore that must be cut? What is that anchor that must be weighed, that can touch bottom, and which stands between us and the multitude of fishes? Not a few who have Christ are still afraid of Christ. He goes before, they follow Him up to a certain point, so far as they can touch bottom, so far as they can lengthen their own anchor chains, and calculate. In presence of the unknown deep they hesitate. But launch out, cut away all cables and all self-forged anchors, and out into the deep, where no anchor but the Cross can hold, but that will hold. The most universal impediment to advance amongst Christians is timiditynot so much faithlessness, as the unexpressed fear that Christ cannot be to them all He promises to be, the fear that Christ cannot be to them more than self, and the interests that gravitate round self; that He cannot be to them more than their little pleasures, their home circle, their comforts, their books, their business, their gains. Their fear is that Christ is not all and in all. Therefore they cannot win Christ because they will not launch out into Christ. But launch out and win.
III. Christ and Christs world.That the deep should mean for us also Christ Himself is one thing; that it should mean for us the world for which Christ died is scarcely another thing, for when we are Christ-centred we must be world-absorbed, and the words must keep ringing in our ears, As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. The Church hears much of laying hold on Christ, but the Church does not hear as much as it ought of laying hold on Christs world. Congregations like to hear a Gospel sermon about how Christ saves them, but not a few congregations shrink from a Gospel sermon about how Christ saves the world. The two thoughts go hand in hand and are inseparable. The Church, as it has been expressed, is self-centred, and therefore self-absorbed; she needs to become Christ-centred, and she will be world-absorbed. To know in ever-increasing degrees the love of Christ, is to know in the same degrees Christs love for the world.
IV. Two unfailing sources of encouragement.To nerve us for this supreme decision, to launch out, the text offers, amongst others, two unfailing sources of encouragement.
(a) The first is that Christ Himself is in the ship in which we sail, and in the deep into which we sail. He tells us to do nothing in which He Himself does not all along stand by our side, in sunshine and gloom, in storm and calm, in success and disappointment. He bids us enter upon no untried path where He is not and has not gone already; for if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.
(b) The second source of encouragement is that if we do what Christ tells us, sooner or later, in one way or another, our nets shall enclose a great multitude of fishes, and that take will with Christ be a reward unspeakable rendered to the spirit of faith and obedience. It may be that we shall witness in this life so great a multitude granted to our toils, that our nets shall be in danger of breaking; on the other hand, it may be that this source of encouragement is denied us until the Resurrection morning.
But upon that morning-dawn Jesus Himself shall stand in visible person upon the shore; the fishes we have now caught, still in the water, out of sight, will all be found then to be great fishes, all perfected, all numbered one by one, and not one lost. The net, the perfected Church, then in no danger of breaking, will draw them all to the eternal shore, and we and they shall receive together the invitation of our glorified Lord and Master, Come and dine, and shall experience to the full the meaning of the promise, Ye which have followed Me shall receive one hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Rev. H. Percy Grubb.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
4
The water was too shallow for fishing with a net where Jesus had been speaking. In bidding Simon to let the net down for a draught (for a “catch”), Jesus assured him that he would not be disappointed.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 5:4. Simon. Evidently the steersman of the boat.
Put out into the deep, i.e., the deep water. Luke always uses proper nautical phrases. Addressed in the singular, to Simon.
Let down your nets. Addressed to all the fishermen in the boat. Our Lord first makes a slight request of Simon, then after His discourse a greater one, calling for more confidence in Himself.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. Our Saviour having delivered his doctrine to the people, confirms his doctrine with a miracle, and with such a miracle as did at once instruct and encourage his apostles; the miraculous number of fish which they caught did presage and prefigure their miraculous success in preaching, planting, and propagating, the gospel.
Observe, 2. Our Saviour’s command to Peter, and his ready compliance with Christ’s command: Let down your nets for a draught, says Christ: We have toiled all night, says St. Peter, and caught nothing: nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.
This mystically represents to us. 1. That the fishers of men may labor all night, and all day too, and catch nothing.
This is sometimes the fisherman’s fault, but oftener the fishes’. It is the fisher’s fault that nothing is taken, if he doth only play upon the sands, and not launch out into the deep; deliver some superficial and less necessary truths, without opening to the people the great mysteries of godliness. If they fish with broken nets, either deliver unsound doctrine, or lead unexemplary lives. If they do not cast the net on the right side of the ship: that is, rightly divide the word, as workmen that need not to be ashamed.
And if they do not fish at Christ’s command, but run a fishing unsent, it is then no wonder that they labor all their days and catch nothing. But very often it is the fishes’ fault, rather than the fisherman’s: worldly men are crafty and cunning, they will not come near the net; hypocrites are slippery, like eels, the fishermen cannot long hold them, but they dart into their holes; priding themselves in their external performances, and satisfying themselves with a round of duties.
The great men of the world break through the net, the divine commands cannot bind them. I will go to the great men, and speak to them; but they have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. Jer 5:5
Observe, 3. The miraculous success which St. Peter had, when at Christ’s command he let down the net: They inclosed such a multitude of fishes that their net brake.
Two things our Saviour aimed at in this miracle, 1. To manifest to his disciples the power of his Godhead, that they might not be offended at the poverty and meanness of his manhood.
2. To assure them of the great success which his apostles and their successors might expect in planting and propagating of the gospel. If the ministers of Christ, whom he calls fishers of men, be faithful in the cast, his power shall be magnified in the draught.
Some of our fish will cleave eternally to the rocks, others play upon the sands, more will wallow in the mud, and continue all their days in the filth of sin, if our Master at whose command we let down the net, does not inclose them in it, as well as assist us in the casting of it.
Observe, 4. What influence the sight of this miracle had upon St. Peter: it occasioned fear and amazement, and caused him to adore Christ, and declare himself unworthy of his presence; Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Not that the good man was weary of Christ’s presence, but acknowledged himself unworthy of it. It is a great discovery of our holiness, to revere God, and fear before him, when he does wonderuful things before us, though they be wonders of love and mercy: here was a wonderful appearance of Christ’s power and mercy to St. Peter, but it affects him with a reverential fear and awful astonishment.
Observe, 5. How St. Peter and the rest of the apostles, at Christ’s call, forsook all and followed him: they left father and friends, ships and nets, and followed Jesus. Whom Christ calls, he calls effectually; he draws whom he calls, and works their heart to a ready compliance to their duty. And although when they were first called to be disciples, they followed their trades of fishing for a time, yet upon their second call to the apostleship, they left off their trade, and forsook all to follow the ministry; teaching the minsters of the gospel, that it is their duty to give themselves wholly up to their great work, and not to encumber themselves with secular affairs and worldy business.
Nothing but an indispensable nccessity in providing for a family can excuse a minister’s incumbering himself with worldly concerns and business: They forsook all, and followed Jesus.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vers. 4-10 a.The Preparation.
In the imperative, launch out (Luk 5:4), Jesus speaks solely to Peter, as director of the embarkation; the order, let down, is addressed to all. Peter, the head of the present fishing, will one day be head also of the mission.
Not having taken anything during the night, the most favourable time for fishing, they had given up the idea of fishing in the day. Peter’s reply, so full of docility, indicates faith already existing. I should not think of letting down the net; nevertheless at Thy word… He calls Jesus , properly Overseer, Master. This word frequently occurs in Luke; it is more general than or ; it refers to any kind of oversight.
The miraculous draught may be only a miracle of knowledge; Jesus had a supernatural knowledge of a large shoal of fish to be found in this place. There are numerous instances of a similar abundance of fish appearing in an unexpected way. Jesus may, however, have wrought by His own will what is frequently produced by physical circumstances.
The imperf., was breaking, Luk 5:6, indicates a beginning to break, or at least a danger of it. The arrival of their companions prevented this accident. The term denotes merely participation in the same employment.
In Matthew and Mark, John and James were mending their nets. Luke contains nothing opposed to this.
Meyer thinks Peter’s astonishment (Luk 5:8) incomprehensible after all the miracles he had already seen. But whenever divine power leaves the region of the abstract, and comes before our eyes in the sphere of actual facts, does it not appear new? Thus, in Peter’s case, the emotion produced by the draught of fishes effaces for the time every other impression. . Go out [of the boat, and depart] from me. Peter here employs the more religious expression Lord, which answers to his actual feeling.
The word , a man, strongly individualizes the idea of sinner.
If the reading be preferred to (Alex.), we must take the word , catch, in the passive sense.
The term , associates (Luk 5:10), implies more than , companions (Luk 5:7); it denotes association in a common undertaking.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Luke alone specified that Simon and his companions were "fishermen" (Gr. halieus, Luk 5:2). Consequently, Jesus’ command to launch out into the deep water for another try at fishing contrasts Jesus’ authority with the natural ability of these men. Peter’s compliance shows his great respect for Jesus that led to obedience and ultimately to a large catch of fish. "Master" (Gr. epistata) is Luke’s equivalent for "teacher" or "rabbi." Luke never used the term "rabbi," probably because it would have had little significance for most Greek readers. "Master" is a term that disciples or near disciples used of Jesus (Luk 8:24; Luk 8:45; Luk 9:33; Luk 9:49), and it indicates submission to authority. Luke is the only Gospel evangelist who used this term, and wherever it appears it refers to Jesus.