Luke 5:8

‘But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” '

And then Simon Peter looked down on what had happened and the realisation of the enormity of it burst on him. He had seen Jesus perform miracles before, but this was beyond anything that he could have imagined. He knew perfectly well that there should have been no fish there. It thus revealed that this Prophet could call fish to His bidding, that in some way He was Lord over nature. And because he was a good man, and a godly man, he was overawed. He realised that he was in the presence not only of a Prophet, but of more than a Prophet. Somehow God was here. And recognising it he was filled with a deep conviction of sin and unworthiness.

And without thinking (typically of Peter) he fell down before Jesus among the fish and cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” It was not a statement to be analysed too closely. Nor was it a thought out phrase. Nor did he really want Jesus to go. Rather it was a compulsive expression of veneration and an indication of the sense that he had that he was not worthy to be close to Jesus. He was declaring, as John the Baptiser had before him, that he was not worthy to be in Jesus' presence. (He did not really expect Jesus to leave the boat and it is pedantic to think otherwise).

‘Fell down at Jesus' knees.' Probably literally. Both would be knee deep in fish. It is the description of an eyewitness who remembered it vividly.

‘For I am a sinful man, O Lord.' Peter had heard Jesus preaching, he was in awe of Him as a prophet, and no doubt Jesus' previous teaching had made him more aware of his sinfulness. But now this extraordinary event brought it all home to him in renewed power. He was in the presence of he knew not what and it made his consciousness of his sin bubble over. He knew that he was not even worthy to be in the same boat with Him. All the workings of his conscience in the last few weeks had come home to roost. he recognised that he needed forgiveness and mercy.

We see in what happened here Jesus' knowledge of men. No other sign would have made the same impression as this one. For fish were Peter's life. And as a result of it he belonged to Jesus for ever.

‘Simon Peter.' Only here in Luke (regularly in John). It is probably intended by Luke to indicate the moment when Simon became Peter in spirit, as he recognised that Jesus was even more out of the ordinary than he had realised. From this moment on he was Jesus' man.

‘O Lord.' Here this does not mean just ‘Sir'. It is a title of reverence to someone who has been revealed as something beyond what he had previously thought, and for Whom anything less seemed inappropriate.