The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

44 THE FIRST MIRACULOUS
addressed to give orders, " we toiled all night, and took
nothing " —we employed the whole of the best time
for fishing in fruitless labour :
" but at Thy word "
or, more literally, " relying on Thy word," " on the
strength of Thy word " — " I will let down the nets."
Short as had been his intercourse hitherto with Jesus,
Peter had already become so convinced of his new
Master's wisdom and power, that he was prepared to
act at once upon His word, however it might run
contrarily to his own experience as a fisherman.
And the venture of his faith was rewarded. For no
sooner had the nets been lowered than " they enclosed
a great multitude of fishes ; and
breaking."
their nets were
Anxious to lose nothing of the marvellous
catch that had thus been granted them—and the
instinct of work prevailing at first over the wonder at
such an exhibition of miraculous power has well been
claimed as one of the inimitable
touches of truthfulness
in the narrative—the disciples beckoned to their
partners in the other boat, that they should come and
help them. "And they came, and filled both the
boats, so that they began to sink."
We shall see directly what was the effect of all this
on the impulsive Simon, but before doing so, it may
be well to notice in what the miracle consisted. It
was not in the sudden and unexpected appearance of
a huge shoal of fish. Such a phenomenon is wellknown
to fishermen everywhere, and seems to have
been of frequent occurrence in the Lake of Galilee,
where we are told that the density of the shoals " can
scarcely be conceived by those who have not witnessed
them. They sometimes cover an acre or more on
the surface in one dense mass."
We are not obliged,