Homily for Thursday, 4 September 2014– Ferial

Thursday of the 22nd week in Ordinary Time

Readings of the day: 1 Corinthians 3:18-23; Psalm 24:1bc-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Luke 5:1-11

What does Jesus ask of Simon, James, and John in our Gospel reading today? He asks of them two things: First, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Second, “Do not be afraid.”

These are strange requests that Jesus makes of Simon, James, and John. “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” The fishermen have been out fishing “all night and have caught nothing.” They are frustrated. They have come off the lake to listen to Jesus, a man they had heard of but had probably never met, preach the word of God to them. They are tired and probably want nothing more than to rest somewhere warm and comfortable. They have just cleaned their fishing nets. Most likely the last thing they wanted to do was to “put out into deep water” again. To Simon’s credit, he trusts this strange preacher enough to do as Jesus asks him: “At your command I will lower the nets.”

“Do not be afraid.” One strange request was enough, let alone two. Has this Jesus ever been a fisherman? Does he not know that the wind and waves on the Lake of Gennesaret can flare up with little warning, and how frightening this can be? Fear can be good. When have we experienced fear? It could be fear for one’s life; fear of failure; fear of our own inadequacy; fear of our own sin, as in Simon’s reaction to the miraculous catch of fish: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

Fear can also paralyze, and so Jesus invites Simon, James, and John to overcome their fear. “Do not be afraid,” Jesus says to them and to us. “From now on you will be catching” people. From now on we are called to proclaim the good news; called to a task we call evangelization.

But what if our efforts of evangelization are not successful? What if, in being fishers of people, we work constantly and catch nothing? What if we draw nobody to Christ; nobody to our Christian way of life, despite our best efforts? Now what if our efforts, by God’s grace, are successful? What if we draw in not only the joyful; the faithful; those who avail themselves to the sacraments regularly; those who attend Mass daily, but the hurt; the sick; the disaffected; the poor; the sinners? What if our nets and boats that, in our Gospel reading, I think of as metaphors for our Church, are tearing and “in danger of sinking” because of the “catch” we bring in as fishers of people?

Jesus invites us to trust that his Church, our Church, will not be overwhelmed; the boat will not sink for the catch in it. Jesus makes a strange request of us: “Put out into deep water and lower your nets.” Are we bold enough to overcome our fear; to be fishers of people; to evangelize in our communities; our workplaces; our nation; our world? Would we say: “At your command I will lower the nets”? Would we leave “everything and follow” Jesus at his invitation?

Jesus invites us now: “Put out into deep water… Be not afraid.”