First Pass at This Weekend's Bible Lesson: Luke 5:1-11

[Most weeks, I present as many updates on my reflections and study of the Biblical texts on which our weekend worship celebrations will be built as I can. The purpose is to help the people of the congregation I serve as pastor, Friendship Lutheran Church of Amelia, Ohio, get ready for worship. Hopefully, it's helpful to others as well, since our Bible lesson is usually one from the weekly lectionary, variations of which are used in most of the churches of the world.]

The Lesson: Luke 5:1-11
1Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

General Comments
1. Keep in mind that we're still in the Epiphany season of the Church Year. The season reminds us of those signs Jesus gave of being the Savior and King of the world. (See more here.)

2. The miraculous haul of fish recounted here appears to be at least partially paralleled in the other Gospels, most notably in John 21:1-14.

Relative to the John passage, the late Biblical scholar, Raymond Brown, identified ten parallels between these two incidents. Some scholars believe that Luke has taken a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus and placed it at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, all in the interest of creating his "orderly account," maybe. But I personally find no need to think that this doesn't reflect a separate event when Jesus called Peter and the other fishermen to follow.

3. This is the only place in the entire New Testament where the Sea of Galilee is identified as "the lake of Gennesaret." Gennesaret is the plain in which the Sea of Galilee is found.

4. After the incident at Nazareth recorded in the previous two weekends' lessons (see here and here), Jesus went to Capernaum, a town on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. (See Luke 4:31-44) At the end of that time, Luke tells us that:

But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” So he continued proclaiming the message in the synagogues of Judea. (Luke 4:43-44)

Our lesson then begins with Jesus not engaging in miraculous signs, but in teaching...to crowds hungry to hear what He'll say.

5. The New Interpreter's Bible (NIB) divides the lesson into three sections:

• vv.1-3 Establishing the setting by the lake
• vv.4-7 The miraculous catch of fish
• vv.8-11 The call of the fishermen

6. The NIB also points out that, as so often happens in Luke's Gospel, the account is framed by an entrance and a departure. At the beginning, the crowds enter. At the end, the disciples leave, following Jesus.

[Onto verse-by-verse comments tomorrow, I hope.]