NOTES for Luk 5:1-11
Jesus gets into the boat not in order to separate Himself from those left on the shore, but so that His word will be equally accessible to everyone gathered there. The evangelist does not give the content of the sermon, but in any case the words that sounded that day over the Lake of Gennesaret led toward salvation.
And when the sermon is over, He sees to it that the fishermen who had given Him a place in the boat catch more fish. The move from preaching about the fundamental foundations of life to caring for ordinary human needs was immediate. Of course, one can see in the remarkable catch a visible parable shown to the disciples: just as successful was the catch of fish taken at His word, so successful will be the preaching of the disciples. Such an understanding of this episode is entirely acceptable, precisely because Jesus responds both to the loftiest spiritual aspirations and to requests concerning everyday material needs.
But here we meet another paradox: Simon Peter, having acknowledged himself a sinner, is called by Jesus, in response to that acknowledgment, to catch people and to go out preaching. Jesus does not leave the terrified Peter precisely because He came not to superheroes, but to ordinary people, people like any of us, in order to deliver us from sin and fear. It is hard to say what terrified Peter more: the encounter with the Holy One, or the depth of his own sinfulness. But even in terror, even begging Jesus to depart, he himself did not recoil from Him, but fell at His knees. And this is the only possible path after we become able to see our own darkness and filth.