A Year in Luke/ActsNäide

Chapter 5 begins with Jesus calling his first disciples: Simon Peter, James, and John. They are fishermen, not the kind of people a Rabbi would usually call to follow.

Similarly to the shepherds in Luke 2, these are people who need to see it to believe it. As Jewish young men, they would have known some of the scriptures, but they probably needed more than that because of all the hypocrisy around in religious quarters at the time. Jesus demonstrates who he is through the biggest catch they’d ever seen. Peter immediately falls down before Jesus, shocked as to why he would interact with him: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Peter knew the status quo. He knew he wasn’t the kind of person who should be around someone like Jesus. But these are the sorts of people Jesus wanted around him. Jesus says to Peter: “Do not be afraid, from now on you will be catching people.”