Taking Men Alive

by Doug Wilson

From Hammer Magazine Vol. III No. I, Winter 1984

Webster’s defines the verb astonish as to fill with sudden wonder or surprise. Its roots in the Latin are very close to our expression thunderstruck. Astonishment, of course, is that state of being amazed or thoroughly surprised.

In Luke chapter 5, an incident occurred which filled certain fishermen with astonishment. They were astonished because of a powerful miracle, and yet there is more significance to the miracle than a mere display of power.

In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus was preaching to crowds beside the Lake of Gennesaret. Jesus apparently found it difficult to preach with the crowd pressing Him, so He climbed into a boat belonging to Simon, sat down, and taught from there.

When the lesson was ended, He told Simon to put into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Simon responded that they had already worked all night with no result. Daylight was a poor time for fishing, and, apparently, the nets were already washed. Nevertheless, he agreed to do what Jesus said.

When the fishermen obeyed, their nets became so full that they began to tear. When they were brought into the boats, water threatened to come over the gunwales and sink them.

Now Simon Peter had already seen some of Jesus’ powerful miracles and had already been willing to follow Him—to a certain extent. And yet this miracle, for some reason, is a major turning point in Simon’s choice of careers. This miracle affected Simon deeply. He fell down (in a boat already about to sink) and cried out, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” In other words, this miracle did not strike Simon as a simple act of power. His confession of his sinful state shows that it had an entirely different significance for him.

Someone who could control the fish in the sea was obviously more than a mere man. Simon fell to his knees before someone he called Lord. But the Lord of the lake, the Lord of nature, has a right to be Lord over those who live by the lake and those who fish in it. Jesus had already called Simon to follow Him another time, and Simon had—up to a point. But when he followed Him after this incident, nothing was ever the same.

Notice that Simon wanted Jesus to leave him because he, Simon, did not deserve to be with Jesus. He was a sinful man. In order to follow Christ, something must first be done about the sin. Simon was more than aware of the problem.

Jesus reassured him, and He revealed the point of the miracle. It was a teaching miracle, a parable acted out. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men.” A fuller rendering from the Greek would be, “You will take men alive.”

Jesus called Simon to a life of evangelism. In His earlier call, He had promised to make them fishers of men. Here He said men will be taken alive. It is in this latter instance that He shows He has the power to issue such a call. Jesus was involved in fishing for men. Simon fished for fish. Jesus, by this miracle, demonstrated His authority in both realms. Someone who can command fish into nets is certainly able to make fishers of men. Simon knew this but considered himself unworthy. Jesus was able to reassure him; He is able to supply the men just as He supplied the fish. The evangelism will not depend on Simon’s worth, but on Jesus’ authority.

What was the reaction of the fishermen to this display of authority and power? We are told that Simon, his companions, and James and John, were all astonished. This astonishment was profound and life-changing. They pulled their boats on shore, left everything, and followed Jesus.

In the three years that followed, much instruction was given, and many lessons were learned. The period was one of apprenticeship and had all the successes and failures that characterize it. The entire time, Jesus was overseeing them. The promise to Simon that he would be a fisher of men was not fulfilled until the sermon in Jerusalem at Pentecost. There the Holy Spirit was given, the gospel proclaimed by Simon, and 3,000 souls were added to the church. The church’s small boat was full, with water coming over the gunwales.

Before that fulfillment occurred, the fishermen/disciples were given a reminder of the powerful call they were given at the beginning.

After the resurrection, the disciples were overjoyed but still disoriented. They still didn’t know what it all meant. Jesus had appeared to them several times, and they knew He was alive. But what did that life mean? The crucifixion and resurrection had shattered the presuppositions they had acquired over the last three years. What were they now supposed to do?

It is in this condition that we find these fishermen/disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. In John 21:1-14, Jesus repeats the miracle. Simon, Thomas, Nathanael, James, John, and two other disciples were at the Sea of Galilee. Simon announced that he was going to fish, and the others went with him. The decision was perhaps for financial reasons or, perhaps, for lack of anything better to do. Whatever the reason, they spent the night on the water with the same result as before. As morning broke, Jesus called to them from the shore and asked if they had any fish. They replied in the negative (Jesus was about 100 yards away, and they did not recognize Him). Jesus then told them to lower their nets on the right side of the boat. They obeyed, and again their nets were filled.

John realized who it was and said so to Peter. In Luke 5, Simon had said, “Depart from me.” Here he jumped into the water to rejoin the Lord.

When they got to shore, they discovered that Jesus had already been fishing and with some success. He had His fish on the fire and invited them to bring some of their fish and join Him. They did so, with some mental reservations. They didn’t dare ask Him who He was; they knew it was the Lord. And yet, the question, “Who are you?” occurred to them. The resurrection body of the Lord was different enough to cause some questioning, though the questions were easily answered.

In Luke 5, Simon and the others were effectively called. In John 21, that calling was reaffirmed. The power and authority that only began to be revealed at the beginning of the Lord’s ministry were not fully manifest. The Lord was still able to perform a fishing miracle, but in this instance did it after the miracle of the resurrection. The Lord of fallen nature was now also the Lord of resurrection life.

Yet from the call in Luke 5 to the second call in John 21, the Lord’s purpose was unchanged. The Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost. There are still many who need to be found that way; the Lord is still in the business of training fishers of men.

May God grant us the sense of astonishment that motivated the Galilean fishermen to begin taking men alive.