[S]imon answered and said to [Jesus], “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
Simon Peter and his partners were experienced fishermen who knew their craft. For their work to be fruitful, they would need to know where to fish, how to fish and when to move on. Doubtless, a full night of fishing without a catch would have been a signal to move to where the fish were. Jesus was not a fisherman, at least not that kind of fisherman, and his instruction to cast the net another time normally would have been dismissed. However, Peter considered the source of this instruction, and he and his partners obeyed because it was Christ. What resulted was a catch that they were completely unprepared to handle, and they would need many more hands to bring it in.
These men obeyed, even if not with faith, and the result shook them. Peter repented for being sinful, which seems to indicate that he had not believed that casting the net would make a difference. All of them were affected enough to walk away from their work as fisherman and to follow Jesus full-time. Jesus showed them many things through this miracle, such as his power to perform mighty miracles and his abundant provision. Even if these men did not have complete faith in everything Jesus could do, I think they saw enough to have full faith in who He is. The quesiton is whether they, and also whether we, have missed a critical part of this miraculous lesson.
The obedience of these men resulted in a catch that would be a metaphor for a more important catch to come. Jesus said that He would make them fishers of men after bringing them more fish than they could handle. What I gather from this picture is that we can have the same kind of catch as we fish for souls. If we just obey Christ and cast our nets, we can bring in more souls than we can handle. He provides the miracle; He makes it numerous. We do not need to know every detail, and our faith can be small. Jesus simply wants our nets out. Father, show us what we need to do to go fishing for souls, and give us the obedience to cast our nets even when the waters look empty.