FOR THE Fifth Sunday in Epiphany, we hear about Jesus speaking to a group of people from a boat moored near the shore. The event contains a description of the calling of some of his disciples. We read…
While the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had ceased speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, they beckoned 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. But 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 was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-15)
After historically encountering and calling several disciples previously and making a Messianic announcement at his home, Jesus furthered his enlistment of apostolic leadership. Alongside the shores of Lake Gennesaret, he went fishing with those whose labors had come to nothing. In this account, having a bountiful message… the future of the Church was set.
As was known by the writer of this gospel who fully echoed the Gospel According to Saint Mark into his witness, he told of this dramatic event. This telling was similar to Mark 1:16–20 written about a decade earlier, and also mimics Matthew 4:19–22. This text contains special interpersonal dialog. Biblical scholars have drawn varying conclusions about the relationship of the accounts. I offer to you that their focusing on exacting timeline formations, can deflect our attention from more important matters. Rather, we should note that Luke focused on Peter, showing the total abandonment of the disciples’ possessions.
Note that Jesus singled out Simon, to use his boat to teach from. From that boat, his voice carried across the water to the crowd. We note that his initial purpose was to teach! However, the contrast between wooing listeners and the fishermen's nets strikes us. Afterward, our Lord’s command to cast out nets seemed unreasonable, but in desperation Simon does what Jesus says.
Luke described
the miraculous gathering of fish. This reads similar to Jesus uncanny ability to direct
Peter to a fish with a coin in its mouth. Peter is overcome by awe. Here the gospel reads that he knelt
and addressed Jesus as “Lord”. Luke shows us thereby that to receive grace a sinful person must repent. After the catch and the declaration about catching people, though not
explained… the disciples followed Jesus. Luke’s revealing that the fisherman left
everything was not stated in Matthew and Mark. This addition to the telling,
heightened the condition laid upon discipleship as Jesus taught later. This statement leads us to reason that Luke dealt here with a wavering in discipleship during later times of persecution.
What does this mean for we as modern people of faith? As a modern, we must personally hear the note declared in a turbulent sea of Church and state, I offer to you the lesson taught here is that the man Jesus that stood on that boat so long ago, prophetically stated that the Church would endure to the point of being overwhelmed by the world around it. However, it would not sink… but the faithful people that opens the nave of their lives to God, would go through formation, reformation and hard nights of low return on laborious evangelical investments. But, we must clearly take from this lesson that the promise given to Peter and those with him holds yet today. Remember! They were spoken by the eternal Son of God… and are yet eternal. So let out the gospel nets... let’s fish!
