Catholic Commentary on Luke 5

"Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." (Luke 5:10)

The Miraculous Catch

Simon Peter has been fishing all night and caught nothing. Jesus, needing a platform to teach the crowd pressing in on him by the lake, borrows his boat and asks him to put out a little from shore. When he has finished teaching, he tells Peter to put out into deep water and let down the nets. Peter, the professional fisherman, is exhausted and perhaps sceptical, but he obeys: Because you say so, I will let down the nets. The catch is so large the nets begin to break and both boats start to sink. Peter falls at Jesus' knees and says: Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!

This is the correct response to a genuine encounter with holiness. Isaiah cried "woe is me" at the vision of the seraphim. Job put his hand over his mouth before the voice from the whirlwind. Peter's recognition of his own sinfulness is not despair; it is the beginning of discipleship. Jesus does not tell him he is mistaken. He simply transforms the fear: Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people. The Catechism describes this as the pattern of every vocation: the call of God reaches us precisely in our awareness of our inadequacy, and transforms rather than removes it (CCC 878).

The Leper and the Paralytic

A man covered with leprosy comes to Jesus and falls facedown, begging: Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus reaches out his hand and touches him: I am willing. Be clean. In touching the leper, Jesus makes himself ritually unclean according to the Law of Moses. He does it deliberately. He takes on the contamination so the contaminated person can go free. This is the logic of redemption, acted out in a single touch before it is enacted on the Cross.

When the paralytic is lowered through the roof by his friends, Jesus first forgives his sins. The Pharisees object: only God forgives sins. Jesus answers that the healing of the body is the visible sign of the invisible healing of the soul. Then he tells the man to pick up his mat and go home. He does. The crowds are filled with awe: We have seen remarkable things today. St. Ambrose commented that the forgiveness of sins is the greater miracle, and the healing of the body the lesser sign confirming it. The Sacrament of Confession is the continuation of this scene in the life of the Church.

The Call of Levi

Jesus calls Levi the tax collector from his booth and Levi leaves everything to follow him. He throws a great banquet and the Pharisees complain about the company Jesus keeps. Jesus gives the answer that defines his entire ministry: It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The new wine of the Kingdom cannot be contained in the old wineskins of a religion that exists to confirm the comfortable rather than seek the lost.

Living the Word

Brothers and sisters, Peter's response to the miraculous catch is also the response Jesus wants from us: not competence, not credentials, not a clean record, but the honest admission of who we are combined with the willingness to go deeper when he says so. Put out into deep water. Not the shallow waters of comfortable, managed Christianity, but the deep water where the catch is beyond what our own nets can hold.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, you called Peter from his empty nets and Levi from his tax booth, and neither was worthy, and both were chosen. Call us again today from whatever holds us back. We are not worthy, but you are willing. Make us fishers of people and banquet companions of sinners saved by grace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

5
The First Disciples
(Matthew 4:18–22; Mark 1:16–20; John 1:35–42)
1 On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret * 5:1 That is, the Sea of Galilee with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Jesus got into the boat belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore. And sitting down, He taught the people from the boat.
 
4 When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
 
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
 
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” 9 For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were his partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
 
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon. “From now on you will catch men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed Him.
The Leper’s Prayer
(Leviticus 14:1–32; Matthew 8:1–4; Mark 1:40–45)
 
12 While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy.† 5:12 Leprosy was a term used for various skin diseases. See Leviticus 13. When he saw Jesus, he fell facedown and begged Him, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
 
13 Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
 
14 “Do not tell anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”‡ 5:14 See Leviticus 14:1–32.
 
15 But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
(Matthew 9:1–8; Mark 2:1–12)
 
17 One day Jesus was teaching, and the Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. People had come from Jerusalem and from every village of Galilee and Judea, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick.
 
18 Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to bring him inside to set him before Jesus, 19 but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
 
20 When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
 
21 But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
 
22 Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus replied, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’ 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins...” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
 
25 And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Jesus Calls Levi
(Matthew 9:9–13; Mark 2:13–17)
 
27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him.
 
29 Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
 
31 Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Questions about Fasting
(Matthew 9:14–15; Mark 2:18–20)
 
33 Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”
 
34 Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? 35 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
The Patches and the Wineskins
(Matthew 9:16–17; Mark 2:21–22)
 
36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will tear the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
 
37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”

*5:1 5:1 That is, the Sea of Galilee

†5:12 5:12 Leprosy was a term used for various skin diseases. See Leviticus 13.

‡5:14 5:14 See Leviticus 14:1–32.

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