PREACHING IN THE SYNAGOGUE.
You see what bad men lived in Nazareth. They drove away the good, gentle Lord, who came to save them from their sins, because they were proud and jealous of Him; and He never again came to teach them. He went down to Capernaum, another town by the Sea of Galilee, and taught there and did many miracles, and it was called His Town.
Our Lord had not His disciples always with Him yet; John and James and Andrew and Peter had gone back to their boats to fish; but now Jesus wished them to be always with Him, so He called them again. I will tell you how. One day when Jesus was on the sea-shore, such crowds of people came to hear Him speak to them that there was not room, and they pressed upon Him. There were two large boats close to the shore; the fishers had gone out of them and were washing their nets; so our Lord went into one of them, which was Peter's, and asked him to push the boat a little way out from the land. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when He had done speaking, He said to Peter, "Pull out into the deep water and let down your nets to catch some fish." But Peter said, "Master, we have toiled all night and have not caught one fish; but still at Thy word I will let down the net." Peter thought that it would be of no use to do so, but still he would obey the Lord. So he threw the net into the sea, and heaps and heaps of fishes came into it directly, so many that the net broke.
THE MIRACULOUS DRAUGHT OF FISHES.
Then Peter called to the other boat, in which were his partners, James and John, to help him, and they came and filled both boats with fish; there were so many that the boats began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw it he fell down at Our Lord's feet, and said, "Go away from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."
For he was afraid. But Jesus said to him, "Fear not; from this time you shall catch men." What did that mean? Peter knew, and James and John knew; it meant that they must not fish any more, but come and try to draw men to the Lord to make them good. They were quite sure now that Our Lord was the Christ, so when they had brought their boats to the shore, they left them and all they had, and went with Jesus, and did not leave Him any more till the end came.
After Our Lord had been away for a time from Capernaum, He went back there. As soon as the people heard it they came in great numbers to the house Jesus was in, to see and hear Him.