I. LEADERS. In Church and State these, like Peter, should be men of
1. Prompt resolution.
2. Self-reliant action.
3. Cheery expectation.
4. Contagious inspiration.
II. FOLLOWERS. Like Peter’s companions, these should be
1. Unbroken in their ranks--“We.”
2. Hearty in their co-operation “also.”
3. Simultaneous in their movement--“Go.”
4. Unenvious in their dispositions--“With thee.” (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Night and nothing-morning and Jesus
I. A PERSONAL DETERMINATION--“I go.” The Church and the world need such men. Men with will and energy, who dare to strike out a course of action for themselves and face opposition. Where would the Church be today but for such men as Luther, and Knox, and Wesley? And where the world? We especially need such men now. We have got into the lazy, slovenly habit of waiting for one another. We see things that need to be done, but we wait until some one should take the lead. And so our Church life has little vitality and force.
II. THE FORCE OF EXAMPLE. “We also go with thee.” These men were not prepared for anything, they had no plans, but were just waiting for some one to “break the ice.” You have no idea how much good you would do if you would speak decidedly for Jesus; many would be prepared to listen, and to follow. Men are always influenced by truth, spoken with calmness and determination.
III. IMMEDIATE ACTION. “They went forth,” &c. They did not talk about going, and stand still after all. This again is a want. We meet with men who have plenty of directions to give, but they never act. “Ah!” says one, “there ought to be more teachers in that school.” Quite right; but do you teach? “What a pity there are not more tract distributors.” So it is; but are you one? Let us learn to act as well as speak.
IV. THE FISHERMEN’S FAILURE. We determine; we sometimes act upon the determination; and the result is simply--failure. “Night and nothing.” I have said, “I will preach from such a text; I will give my soul to it,” and then, what a failure it has been, and I have gone home and vowed I would never preach again. Has it not been so with you, teacher? Christian worker?
V. THE FISHERMEN’S SUCCESS. Throughout the darkness do we toil until the morning comes--and we see Jesus. Then success attends all we do, and our souls are filled with joy.
1. Jesus is often near to us when we little think it. We have only to stretch out our hand through the darkness, and we shall find Him.
2. We often see Him, but yet we do not know Him. Love only can recognize and realize the Lord.
VI. WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES ALL THIS DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAILURE AND SUCCESS?
1. The presence of Jesus.
2. Listening to the voice of Jesus (Joh_21:5).
3. Obeying the command of Jesus (Joh_21:6). (A. F. Barfield.)
Catching nothing
I. A combos EXPERIENCE. Not the first time this had happened in the history of three out of the seven (Luk_5:5). Nor were these the first or the last who have spent their strength for nought (Isa_49:4).
II. A SORE DISAPPOINTMENT. Considering
1. The high expectations with which men usually start on their enterprises; and--
2. The great labour they often expend on them.
III. AN EXCELLENT DISCIPLINE
1. Teaching personal humility.
2. Suggesting the need of heavenly assistance.
3. Preparing for ultimate success. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Fishing an She Sea of Galilee
Nowadays there is very little navigation on the lake of Galilee,--we might almost say, scarcely a boat; but in the days of the Gospel narrative, and for many years later, there were craft of all sorts there, and many of considerable size. The fishing-boat of to-day, as seen on the Mediterranean, is a long, broad, and deep affair, usually pointed at each end, and large enough to carry a crew of from four to a dozen men, with their nets, and the fish they may capture. Usually these larger boats fish in the night, in companies of two or three, but sometimes a larger boat goes alone with a small boat; and sometimes a small boat accompanies two or more larger ones. The smaller ones are like a skiff, while the larger ones might pass for freight boats. As here, it is nothing uncommon for the fleet (if the two or three boats can be called so) to toil all night and take nothing. In the Mediterranean, on the Syrian and Palestinian coasts, there are few places Where there is a “beach” upon which the net can be drawn. The net encloses the fish, and then they are drawn in as if in a bag, or picked out of the net without hauling the latter into the boat. Rarely one sees a gill-net, such as our fishermen use in deep water. Accordingly, the small boat is not so much of a necessity there as it would be where the seine was drawn to land. (S. S. Times.)
Fish in the lake
The Sea of Galilee now, as in the days of our Saviour, is well stocked with various species of fish, some of excellent flavour. One species often appears in dense masses which blacken the surface of the water, the individual fish being packed so closely together that on one occasion a single shot from a revolver killed three. These shoals were most frequently seen near the shores of Gennesareth: perhaps not far from the place where the disciples let down their net into the sea, and enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. (Recovery of Jerusalem.)
The place soon asserted its right to the name Bethsaida by the exceeding abundance of the fish we saw tumbling into the water. The hot springs flowing in here over these rocks, and a little farther on in larger volume over a clean brown sand, warm all the ambient shallows for a hundred feet from shore, and, as much vegetable matter is brought down by the springs, and probably also insects which have fallen in, all these dainties are half cooked when they enter the lake. Evidently the fish agree to dine on these hot joints, and therefore in a large semicircle they crowd the water by myraids round the warm river mouth. Their backs are above the surface, as they bask or tumble and jostle crowded in the water. They gambol and splash, and the calm sea, fringed by a reeking crowd of vapour, has beyond this belt of living fish, a long row of cormorants feeding on the half-boiled fish as the fish have fed on insects underdone. White gulls poise in flocks behind the grebes or cormorants, and beyond these again ducks bustle on the water or whirl in the air. The whole is a most curious scene, and probably it has been thus from day to day for many thousand years. I paddled along the curved line of fishes’ backs and flashing tails. Some leaped into the air, others struck my boat or paddle. Dense shoals moved in brigades as if by concert or command. (MacGregor’s Jordan.)
