What does Luke 5:10 mean?
Peter is scared. He and his brother Andrew (Mark 1:16) were cleaning their nets after fishing all night and catching nothing. When Jesus appears and asks to use Peter's boat as a stage, Peter agrees. Jesus finishes and tells Peter to take the boat into deeper waters and lower the nets. They don't have long to wait before their nets are full (Luke 5:1–6), and much more. Peter and Andrew quickly realize the mass of fish is too much for their boat to handle, James and John hear their cry for help and join them. It isn't enough, and both boats nearly sink (Luke 5:7). Meanwhile, Peter realizes Jesus is not just an itinerant rabbi and falls to his knees in humility (Luke 5:8).In most eras of human history, real miracles have been exceedingly rare. The period leading up to Jesus' earthly ministry was typical, in that sense. Magicians, like Simon in Samaria (Acts 8:9–11) and Elymas on Cyprus (Acts 13:6–8), seem to have enough power to awe those who are looking for a connection to the supernatural. But God didn't send a prophet of His own from the time of Malachi until John the Baptist. There's no record John ever performed miracles. Although Jews have stories of God's miraculous grace, like the one that inspired Hannukah, Peter has likely never experienced one. He knows that John the Baptist called Jesus the Messiah (John 1:35–42), and he respects Jesus, but this display of power reveals that Jesus is deeply connected with God. He must be more than a teacher; Jesus is holy, and Peter knows he is not worthy to be in His presence.
Jesus accepts Peter's humility but doesn't yet call Peter to full repentance. He comforts Peter and invites him to join His mission. Jesus never demands perfection of His followers. As David wrote, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).
The metaphor of "catching men" as a fisherman loses something in the English. Most of the Old Testament verses regarding God sending fishermen—or hunters—to capture people are negative and refer to punishment (Jeremiah 16:16; Proverbs 6:5). "Catching," here, is from the Greek root word zōgrōn and specifically means to capture alive. Jesus is not going to send these fishermen to judge others. Rather, they seek to rescue them.
