Dear Friends,
The Gospel for this weekend is in itself a remarkable story, the encounter between Jesus and Simon the fisherman on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is Luke’s version of the call of Simon (who would become Peter) to discipleship. As the story goes, Jesus was teaching a great crowd on the shore, and the people, in their eagerness to hear Jesus, were pressing in on Jesus. Needing some personal space, Jesus asks to use a boat belonging to Simon. He asks to be put out a little on the water, and then goes on teaching. There is no indication that Simon was listening to what Jesus was saying, but he was in the boat all along, probably cleaning his nets after a long and unsuccessful night on the sea.
Then Jesus does something remarkable. He invites Simon to go out into deeper water and lower his nets for a catch. Simon tries to object, but to his credit, he does so, and in an instant, because he was willing to go the extra mile, to take a chance, to do what Jesus asked, his long night of failure at fishing on the sea turned into a marvelous success.
Simon’s response is curious. Luke uses the word “astonishment.” It may have been a sense of “holy fear.” The clue is found in how Simon reacts and what he says to Jesus after the sudden and abundant catch of fish. He must have become aware of the fact that he was in the presence of someone very special, the Holy One himself. The word that he uses to address Jesus, “Lord,” indicates as such. His awareness of being in the presence of the Holy One filled him with a sense of fear, unworthiness, and inadequacy. He begs Jesus to leave him, for he is sinful.
Jesus’ response is also amazing. He heard Simon’s plea to leave him, his attempt to beg off because he was sinful and felt unworthy and inadequate, but he disregarded it. Why was that? It had to be because Jesus was able to see beneath the rough, imperfect, sinful exterior of Simon and there see the great potential that was within him. And what he saw led him to call him to follow him for he will be catching men (not a slight against women, but surely a play on his being a fisherman). To his credit, Simon as well as his fishing partners, James and John, leave everything and follow Jesus. Thus, the story begins, and it is our story as well.
This story speaks to all of us. Too often, we cower in fear, afraid of stepping out into deeper waters, afraid to take risks, to try to do what we think we cannot do. Nonetheless, Jesus consistently invites you and me to go out to the edges of our safety zones and to take risks on his behalf as his disciples of today. While there may well be experiences of failure and rejection, there will just as surely be moments of success when we gather others into the net of the Church. We should also never let our sense of personal sinfulness or unworthiness stand in the way. God knows all too well that we are sinners, but he loves us still, in spite of what we have or have not done, and he sees through all of our sins and weaknesses and takes good note of the real potential within each of us. God can and will do great things in and through us, if we would allow him to do that.
Have a good week!