NOTES for Luk 5:1-11

To understand Peter’s state of mind, imagine sitting at a computer and trying to load the webpage you need, but it will not load. You have spent the whole night at it and tried every possible browser, all to no avail. Then suddenly someone comes up behind you and says, “Try opening it in Word.” We will not discuss your first reaction to such advice. But utterly exhausted, you shrug and launch Word. And—what a miracle!—you are already on the right site. Having obtained the information you needed and realizing that this simply does not happen, that it cannot happen, you turn around and see—not a programmer, no—but a Carpenter, the son of a carpenter.

Whatever others might have done, Peter was horrified, clearly understanding that the presence of the One who does the impossible was incompatible with his own sinfulness. Jesus reassures him and lifts the veil a little from the mystery of the future. A new life begins for Peter: he begins to enter the New Covenant with God.