Jesus Calls the Fishermen

A large crowd pressed in to hear Jesus by the lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats at the shore. The fishermen had stepped out and were washing their nets. Jesus got into Simon’s boat and asked him to put out a little from land. Then Jesus sat in the boat and taught the crowd.

When he had finished teaching, Jesus told Simon to go out into deeper water and lower the nets for a catch. Simon said they had worked all night and caught nothing. Even so, he did what Jesus said and let down the net.

This time they caught so many fish that the net was starting to break. They signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help. Together they filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Simon Peter was amazed. He fell at Jesus’ knees and said he was a sinful man. Everyone with him was amazed at the catch, including James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners.

Jesus told Simon not to be afraid. He said that from now on Simon would be catching people alive. When they brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed him. Matthew and Mark also tell more briefly that Simon and Andrew left their nets, and James and John left their boat and followed Jesus at once. What might it mean to trust Jesus as these fishermen did?