(Synoptics: Luke 5:1-11)The Lord Jesus is now based in Capernaum on the shore of the sea of Galilee, here called the lake of Gennesaret. He indicates the primary lesson from this miracle in verse 10 where he says to Simon, ‘Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
The spiritual lethargy which we are capable of is so inappropriate. We too have been called by the Lord, saved by his precious blood, our minds wonderfully emancipated, and delivered from the power of the devil and all the old ways, and left with a wonderful commission. How inappropriate is our lack of zeal and the long periods that we can be complacent. These miracles show us the wonderful patience of Christ towards his people when he sees his disciples not where they should be, but complacent and despondent.
We must desire to see greater blessing always and never be content with what we have. And we must frequently acknowledge our real and whole hearted belief in the power of the Holy Spirit, so we must never leave off praying that the Holy Spirit will bless our efforts. We must remember to praise him when he blesses and we mustn't take the credit for ourselves. The work which he has given us to do doesn't require magnificent gifts; it requires faithfulness and application.
Obviously Matthew 4:18-22 and Mark 1:16-20 are parallel, but what about Luke 5:1-11? Hendriksen argues that Luke is not parallel to Matthew and Mark (Matthew’s Commentary p 245-246). In Mark the calling of the first disciples comes before the account of the man with the unclean spirit and the healing of Peter's mother-in-law and Mark’s stronger time signatures do not easily allow this order to be changed. Luke puts the calling of the disciples after these two events. If Christ was teaching the crowds (Luke 5:1) then he may have been there for a considerable period of time and the differences in the circumstances might be accounted for. Nevertheless, although Luke 5:1-11 does not have a strong time signature and could be moved back before the account of the man with the unclean spirit, and in spite of the difficulty of having the disciples forsake their fishing business twice, and in close succession, it seems likely that these were separate events.