XCII. THE RETIREMENT, PRAYER, AND PREACHING OF JESUS. St. Mark i. 35-39. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. Our Lord when He was in the world was a pattern to us in His private devotions as well as in His public ministry. Though He had had such a busy day-in the morning teaching and healing in the Synagogue, then returning to find sickness in the house, and in the evening laying His hands on the numbers gathered together at the door-yet we find Him rising long before daylight, and seeking a solitary place, where He might be alone with His Father. It is an answer to any who plead want of time and opportunity for private prayer. Those even who are most busy in the public service of God must find, or they must make, such. He here prays as man who is prayed to as God. To this oratory He is followed by Simon and Andrew and James and John. They appear to have been ignorant of the place of His retreat, and had to search before they found Him. They suppose that the news of His increasing popularity in Capernaum will soon bring Him back to that city. The people too seem to have followed them, for another Evangelist tells us that they "came unto Him, and stayed Him, that He should not depart from them." But to both, to disciples and to people, He gives the same answer: to the 2 1 v. 29 above. 2 St. Luke iv. 42. 1 one privately, in the language of invitation; to the other publicly, announcing the object of His mission," that the Kingdom of God is not only for Capernaum, but that He goes to proclaim it in other cities also. So all through that country of Galilee He preaches in their Synagogues, or appointed places of worship, of which first He availed Himself, and begins to assault the usurped dominion of the devil. XCIII. A MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES. St. Luke v. 1-6. And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. During the course of our Lord's tour in Galilee, in which it might be He was not always accompanied by the Disciples whom He had chosen, and which tour seems to have been in 1 v. 38" Let us go," &c. and the rest, recorded in St. Luke iv. 2 St. Luke iv. 43 "I must preach," 38-44 (compare St. Mark i. 29-39), &c. 3 The reasons seem to preponderate for, on the whole, regarding this as a distinct event from that recorded in St. Matt. iv. 18-22 and in St. Mark i. 16-20. Did it not come where it does, after the event in Simon's house we might be inclined to suppose that 1 great measure round the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret, as St. Luke calls the Sea of Galilee, He seems on one occasion to have been surrounded by a multitude of people eager to hear the word of God, to hear Him who is the Word or Son of God. For their greater convenience and His own, He made for the fishing-boats of His Disciples, which were still plying upon the lake, meaning to make one of them His pulpit, therefrom to teach the people on the shore. These fishermen after a night of fruitless toil were washing their nets, cleansing them from the sea-weed and other incumbrances wherewith they were clogged, before hanging them up to dry. It is a very natural and life-like picture, and it becomes an instruction to us, that as there is a time for the fishers of men to cast the net, so also is there a time to cleanse it. The ministers of Christ's word have not only to preach, but also to prepare for preaching. As it was Simon's ship into which the Lord entered, and Simon whom He had employed, it was Simon to whom (His discourse ended) He addressed this charge, that he and his brother Andrew should leave the shallow margin of the lake, and try a cast in the deep water. Now the night, which is the fittest time for fishing, had already been so spent by them in vain. No shoal of fish had come that way all the night past, and Simon would have preferred waiting till night should again arrive. If the likeliest time had proved barren, they were not likely, judging from their long experience, to succeed better now. But in Simon's answer there is no faithless questioning, no asking Of what use is it? He simply states the case, and proceeds with docility to obey. Already had he learned this lesson. To this degree of faith and obedience he has already attained. Like the nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum,' he believed the word which Jesus had said unto him, and straightway acted upon it; and immediately they obtain such a shoal of fish as to burst the net; more than enough to fill the one boat, so that they have to beckon to their partners, James and John, who were some way off, to come and help them; more than enough to fill both vessels; a princely gift. 1 St. John iv. 50. XCIV. THE SAME SUBJECT-continued. St. Luke v. 7-11. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken and so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. In the two ships some have seen the Jewish and the Gentile Church now united and made one. The miracle itself was, like that of the piece of money in the fish's mouth,' a miracle of coincidence; a thing not in itself new or strange, like the bringing in of some new or unknown force which did not appear before, but still wonderful and beyond the power of man, in that the fact was made to coincide with the prediction of it. The effect upon Simon, afterwards called Peter, is particularly noted, for he it is on whose mind the Lord is here bent upon making a deeper impression. This further discovery which our Lord makes of Himself produces in that ardent and tender-hearted Disciple a deeper humility. He throws himself at His feet, feeling that he is not worthy to be even in the same place where the Holy One of Israel is. Now he calls Him no longer "Master" as before, but "Lord."3 The first impression produced on sinful but recoverable souls in the presence 1 St. Matt. xvii. 27. So too in the case of the second miraculous draught of fishes recorded in St. John xxi. 2 Is. vi. 5. 3 In v. 5 we have a word used by St. Luke alone of the Evangelists, equivalent to the Rabbi of the rest. In v. 8 it is another word altogether. of genuine goodness is this of self-aborrence. Yet must our need, and the knowledge of His never-ending love, constrain us rather to cry "Depart not." A miracle connected with their calling seems to have affected Peter and his partners almost more than those other miracles they had already seen. So true it is that what affects a man's self however slightly, touches him more than the more important events which may befall others. Our Lord here appears as "the ideal man, the second Adam, in whom is fulfilled the word of the Psalmist: Thou hast put all things under His feet . . . the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea.'”1 Our Lord still speaking to Simon, as His work now was chiefly with him, speaks to him comfortable words, repeating, and applying to him in particular, the gracious prediction already made concerning the collective crew on the shores of that Galilean sea. Finally we are told of all the four, that no sooner had they brought their ships to land than they forsook all, even this unwonted draught of fishes, to follow Him more uninterruptedly than before. Now they will be no longer entangled even with the lawful affairs of this life, that they may please Him who hath chosen them to be His soldiers. "These Apostles might have left little when they left their possessions, but they left much when they left their desires . . The forsaking consists not in the more or less that is forsaken, but in the spirit in which it is left." 1 2 XCV. THE FAME OF JESUS. St. Matt. iv. 23-25. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the 1 Abp. Trench. 2 St. Matt. iv. 19; St. Mark i. 17. |