We’re all familiar with Christ’s words to Simon Peter “... from now on you will be catching men,” but did you ever study the context? There is a lot going on in Luke’s recounting of Jesus’ call to Peter, James, and John (Luke 5:1-11).

First, the episode itself foreshadows Simon Peter’s role in Jesus’ Church. Luke begins the chapter with a problem: Jesus is pinned between the lake of Gennesaret and a large crowd that was pressing upon him wishing to hear the word of God. Not only was this undoubtedly an uncomfortable position to be in, but the sheer number of people inhibited their ability to hear Jesus’ words. What was the solution? Jesus found two boats on the shore with fisherman washing their nets. He went into one of the boats and had them put the boat out a short distance so that he could teach the crowd. The boat became a platform from which Jesus could speak.

Luke sees something more significant in this episode than a temporary solution to a pressing problem (no pun intended), since he goes out of his way to identify the boat Jesus got into as “the one belonging to Simon.” This means that when Jesus directed the boat to the proper position, he was directing Simon Peter where to go (Luke 5:3).

Why is this significant? Let’s ask a question: Where did this large number of people hear Jesus teach the word of God? They heard Jesus teach from the boat Simon Peter captained. Where do we (and the rest of the world) today hear Christ’s teachings? We hear it in a similar way. We hear Christ’s teachings from the Church captained by the successor to Peter, the pope.

What happens next has always boggled my imagination. Jesus tells Simon to go out into the deep water and lower his nets. Simon did what Jesus commanded, even though they’ve worked all night and didn’t catch a thing. He then makes the catch of his life. It’s worth taking a few moments to try to imagine what happened. There were so many fish that Peter’s nets were on the verge of tearing. Even more incredible, the number grew so great that even when other boats came to help their boats became so filled that they began to sink as well.

Luke mentions that Simon Peter and companions were seized with astonishment. Simon Peter — a seasoned fisherman and owner of the boats — fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Luke 5:8). One can only imagine how great of a catch this must have been to cause a seasoned veteran like Simon Peter to drop to his knees and confess his own unworthiness. Moreover, after Jesus says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men” (Luke 5:10), fishermen then abandon their lifelong profession (and probably their only skill) to follow a person they just met. The magnitude of that catch must have been overwhelming.

Another aspect of this episode is sometimes overlooked, namely the meaning of Jesus’ words to Simon Peter. Unlike Matthew’s and Mark’s account, in which Jesus says, “you will be a fisher of men,” Luke is more specific and says that “you shall be catching men.” The word translated “catching” means “to catch or capture something,” but the word itself (zõgreõ) is a compound word made up of two Greek words. The first word is zõn, which means “life,” and the second word is egromai, which means “giver.” Ancient literature sometimes used this word for those who were taken alive as prisoners after a battle.



Paul uses the word in this sense when he speaks of sinners who were ensnared by the devil to do his will (2 Timothy 2:26). But St. Ambrose and others understood that the apostles would be “life-givers” to men, or as it says in Syriac, “You shall be a fisher of men, to recall them to life.” The apostles’ mission, therefore, wasn’t only to gain a lot of converts, but also to provide them with supernatural life.

Gary Michuta is an apologist, author and speaker and a member of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Livonia. Visit his website at www.handsonapologetics.com.