Luke 5:5

Luke 5:5

I. The great multitude of fishes was the reward of the disciples' ready and willing obedience. It was the justification of their unshaken confidence in Jesus; none ever relied on Him and was deceived. It was their remuneration for placing their time and their boat at Christ's disposal, to do with them what seemed good in His sight. It would convince them that no one should ever work in God's service, and be a loser for doing so. Above all, it was to be an encouragement to Simon and his partners to enter with all their heart upon the ministry of the word with which they were now to be entrusted. That would involve them in work very toilsome, and often thankless; but undertaken at the command of Christ, and with His never-failing help and countenance, it could not be in vain.

II. The text bids us persevere in the path of duty, whatever may be its discouragements. It tells us after failure to try again in the Name of the Lord, seeking His aid, committing ourselves to Him. It seems to say, "Be not weary in welldoing; for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not." The lesson is a hard one to learn, but it has been learned, and that effectually. To hope against hope, to struggle in the face of failure, is no easy task for flesh and blood. But many have so struggled, and have eventually brought the whole to good effect. Any one who is really anxious to do good, or to correct what is amiss in his own immediate sphere, may derive encouragement from this passage of Scripture. It seems to say, "Do not be daunted by apparent failure. Persevere, and all shall come right in the end." Act like the obedient and confiding fisherman, "At Thy word I will let down the net." "Be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

J. Edmund, Sixty Sermons,p. 285.