Thursday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time
Readings of the day: Colossians 1:9-14; Psalm 98:2-3ab, 3cd-4, 5-6; Luke 5:1-11
What are some of the emotions and images that run through our Gospel reading today, from Luke? Luke’s Gospel gives us today a lively account of Jesus’ call of his first Apostles, the fishermen Peter, James, and John.
We begin with emptiness: An empty boat “belonging to Simon” that Jesus enters while “the fishermen” are on shore “washing their nets; the empty nets of the fishermen after a long, fruitless night of fishing. This emptiness is filled: Jesus enters Simon’s boat. From this waterborne “pulpit” Jesus teaches the crowds, filling them with the Word of God. Jesus asks Simon Peter, James, and John to “put out into deep water and lower [their] nets for a catch.” And their nets, too, are filled, with a miraculous catch of fish.
We begin with a wide range of emotions; perhaps everyday distractions. What were the crowds thinking when they arrived at the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret to listen to Jesus? What were their concerns, both material and spiritual? Did they have questions for Jesus about their faith? Were they simply trying to make an honorable living; trying to care for their family and other loved ones? Peter, James, and John feel deep frustration: “We have worked hard all night and have caught nothing.” But this Jesus is not a complete stranger to the fishermen; Simon Peter calls Jesus “Master.” And so Simon takes Jesus up on his invitation to “put out into the deep.” And he, James, and John are rewarded with a great catch of fish. For a moment, this miracle only increases their fear; their insecurity; their sense of their own weakness. “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” Simon Peter says to Jesus. But this fear gives way to a trust in Jesus almost as astonishing as the initial catch of fish: “They left everything and followed” Jesus.
Do these vivid shifts in images and emotions not seem to be a lot for us to absorb in a short episode of our Gospel? And yet I think the liveliness of our Gospel reading shows us something of who we are as human; as Christian disciples. We are alive, and our experience of Jesus Christ in the Word of God; in our Eucharist; in our love for one another and works of kindness and justice makes us all the more alive.
This brings us to the heart of our Gospel reading today. Jesus says “to Simon: ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’” This saying is especially strange in the original Greek of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus’ words to Peter are closer in meaning to “from now on you will be catching people who are alive.”
Only if we are alive can we experience the images and emotions the people in Jesus’ time; Jesus’ first Apostles did: Concerns of everyday life; fear; insecurity; the effects of our human weakness and sin; all this giving way to trust; to following Jesus without reserve. And because we are alive; because we are human Jesus calls us, too, to trust; to put aside fear enough to work with him in his mission; to be fishers of others who are as alive as we are.
What are some of the emotions and images that run through our Gospel reading today, from Luke? Luke’s Gospel gives us today a lively account of Jesus’ call of his first Apostles, the fishermen Peter, James, and John.
We begin with emptiness: An empty boat “belonging to Simon” that Jesus enters while “the fishermen” are on shore “washing their nets; the empty nets of the fishermen after a long, fruitless night of fishing. This emptiness is filled: Jesus enters Simon’s boat. From this waterborne “pulpit” Jesus teaches the crowds, filling them with the Word of God. Jesus asks Simon Peter, James, and John to “put out into deep water and lower [their] nets for a catch.” And their nets, too, are filled, with a miraculous catch of fish.
We begin with a wide range of emotions; perhaps everyday distractions. What were the crowds thinking when they arrived at the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret to listen to Jesus? What were their concerns, both material and spiritual? Did they have questions for Jesus about their faith? Were they simply trying to make an honorable living; trying to care for their family and other loved ones? Peter, James, and John feel deep frustration: “We have worked hard all night and have caught nothing.” But this Jesus is not a complete stranger to the fishermen; Simon Peter calls Jesus “Master.” And so Simon takes Jesus up on his invitation to “put out into the deep.” And he, James, and John are rewarded with a great catch of fish. For a moment, this miracle only increases their fear; their insecurity; their sense of their own weakness. “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man,” Simon Peter says to Jesus. But this fear gives way to a trust in Jesus almost as astonishing as the initial catch of fish: “They left everything and followed” Jesus.
Do these vivid shifts in images and emotions not seem to be a lot for us to absorb in a short episode of our Gospel? And yet I think the liveliness of our Gospel reading shows us something of who we are as human; as Christian disciples. We are alive, and our experience of Jesus Christ in the Word of God; in our Eucharist; in our love for one another and works of kindness and justice makes us all the more alive.
This brings us to the heart of our Gospel reading today. Jesus says “to Simon: ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’” This saying is especially strange in the original Greek of Luke’s Gospel. Jesus’ words to Peter are closer in meaning to “from now on you will be catching people who are alive.”
Only if we are alive can we experience the images and emotions the people in Jesus’ time; Jesus’ first Apostles did: Concerns of everyday life; fear; insecurity; the effects of our human weakness and sin; all this giving way to trust; to following Jesus without reserve. And because we are alive; because we are human Jesus calls us, too, to trust; to put aside fear enough to work with him in his mission; to be fishers of others who are as alive as we are.
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