Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 5:1-11]
06.02.2022
The
Call and
1. Theme in brief
God’s call and our
unworthiness
2. Focus Statement
When things go against
our calculations, Jesus invites us to obedience of faith in the power of his
Word and entrusts us the mission of bringing people into the ‘net’ of God’s loving
rule (Kingdom) in spite of our unworthiness.
3. Explanation of
the text
In Luke’s gospel we observe Jesus
beginning his public ministry, not with the call of the disciples, but with the
announcement of his manifesto at the synagogue of
Luke places the call of his first
disciples in the context of miraculous catch of fish in the lake of Gennesaret
(5:1). Jesus must have purposely visited the shore of that lake to draw the fishermen there into another ‘net’.
We can comfortably guess that it was not the first meeting of Simon and
his companions with Jesus. They had already witnessed his miracle of healing
Simon’s mother-in-law from a fever (cf. Lk 4:38-39). But the final decision to follow him for a life-long commitment must have
taken a longer time. Today’s encounter with him must have been a ‘game-changer’ for them – a turning point leading to a
life-changing decision after witnessing his power in the miraculous catch of
fish.
According to the text, while standing beside the lake, Jesus saw
fishermen washing their nets after the catch. At that time he got into Simon’s
boat and began to preach, using it as a sort of makeshift ’pulpit’ (5:2-3).
When he had finished his preaching, he commanded Simon to cast his net into the
deep water for a catch (5:4). Simon had all
the reasons to object. Their whole night’s labour to
catch fish had ended in utter failure (5:5). Hence, he thought it was futile and a waste of time to try again. After all, he was an expert fisherman and Jesus was only a carpenter by trade. He might have
thought: What do carpenters know about fishing? Secondly, it was a well-known
fact that in that particular lake fish was caught at night in the shallow water, not during the day in the
deep water. Thirdly, he and his companions must have been terribly tired after the toil of whole night and were already washing their nets to
dry them up and go home (5:2). Logically speaking, it was useless to try because another failure was
certain. Yet he obeyed the instruction of a carpenter, not
because of any logic or reason but purely
because of his faith or trust in the word of Jesus.
If anybody else would have commanded, he would not have obeyed (5:5). It was this
obedience that resulted in such a miraculous catch of fish. When he witnessed
this net-breaking and boat-sinking miracle, as Luke puts
it, (5:6-7) his eyes of faith were
opened and made him fall down at Jesus’ knees and address him as “the Lord” for the first time (5:8).
As a seasoned fisherman, until now, Simon had trusted and relied on his abilities and talents. When he came face to
face with the divinity of Christ, he realized his own sinfulness, nothingness or insignificance. His natural reaction was one of unworthiness – a common feature in biblical ‘call-narratives’ when they were confronted
with the divine majesty. Until now his name was Simon and Jesus was only a
“Master” (5:5) for him. Now he became “Peter” (i.e. rock) and saw Jesus as “the Lord”, and himself as a sinful man standing before a holy man (5:8). Instead of departing from sinners as Peter wished (5:8), Jesus included sinners also like
him to be partners in his mission. He told him not to be afraid of his sinfulness or inadequacy and entrusted him
with a mission: to “catch people” into the ‘net’ of God’s Kingdom (5:10).
This is what Jesus says in Matthew’s gospel: “The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of
every kind” (Mt 13:47). Therefore, their mission was to be “fishers of people.“
Peter and his companions were now given the task of gathering not fish but people into God’s ‘net’ – a net that gathers sinners into a community or
society of love called the Kingdom of God. Since their task was changed from
catching fish in their nets to catching people in a new ‘net,’ they had to renounce their material nets and occupation in order to free themselves for
this mission. So they left everything – work, family and their whole past life
as fishermen and followed Jesus in his footsteps (5:11). This implies that Christian
discipleship involves a willingness to sacrifice everything or to be detached from all other ties in order to be
personally attached to the Lord. Finally,
Jesus himself became the
fisherman who succeeded in bringing his first catch (Simon Peter and his
companions) into his ‘net.’s
Today’s gospel leads us to reflect on the five aspects of our baptismal call and mission:
1) Disappointments and
frustrations in our mission: Many of us find situations in life that are parallel
to those of the first disciples of Jesus found in today’s gospel text, when we
do not get the desired result of our earnest efforts and endeavours. We are toiling all night and are trying so
hard to achieve good results by our hard work, but are catching nothing. We try so hard to come out of an addiction,
resentment, unforgiving attitude, negative mind-set, bad habits or habitual
sins but do not succeed. We have tried so many times to bring changes in our family relationships, in our children, in our communities, and
solve our problems but without any visible result. We pray to God to change our
situation of illness, calamities and suffering, but when it does not happen we
give up trying and praying due to frustration. It is during these moments of
painful and humiliating failures, Jesus asks us to take
the risk of faith by trusting in the power of his word, just as he asked Simon Peter. One of the characteristics
of a disciple is obedience to Jesus’ word. Just as
Simon Peter moved from trust in his own capabilities and strength to
trust in the Lord’s word, we too are called to do the same in our ministry even
when initially our efforts seem to be a waste of time or foolish. When things
go against our calculations, Jesus invites us to
obedience of faith and trust in the power of his word.
Like Simon Peter we have to overcome two obstacles to obedient faith:
(1) Self-trust and (2) rationalism. Today, this miracle has to take place in our hearts and in our
decisions as we take risks to leave the security of our selfish lives
and venture into the service of the needy. The question is whether we are
willing to sacrifice our comforts and take risks; and whether we trust in the power of God’s word even when there is no
immediate success of our efforts and nothing seems to change. Secondly, Simon’s
obedience was based not on reason but purely on faith.
Though as a seasoned fisherman Peter knew night time was the most favourable
time for fishing, he was willing to cast his net at daytime against all
reasoning because of his trust. As disciples of Christ, we are invited to try
again and again when we face failures, because what seems to be impossible to
achieve as per human calculations becomes possible by trusting in God’s word.
Today’s gospel tells us that in spite of failures we should never stop
trying and never give up. When we are tempted to
give up prayer or to fall back into the same old habits again and again we
should listen to Jesus’ word: I say to you, now once again cast your net.
Success in the midst of a long night’s failures comes only when we rely on Jesus’ power and obey his command. Those who feel self-sufficient are bound to fail. Though Peter was tired after the
whole night’s hard work and getting ready to return home, if Jesus asked to try
again he was prepared to do so. There is a tendency in many of us to give up
any new initiative too soon if there are no immediate
results. Today Jesus calls us to a higher level of commitment, perseverance and endurance in our initiatives and
new ventures as well as in our efforts to bring about personal or social
transformation.
2) Invitation to go deeper: Our mission is to leave the safety of the shore and take the risk of putting out our nets into the deep
water. The deep water may symbolize: (1) the abyss from which people must
be saved; and (2) the risks involved in doing so. Often our
commitments are superficial. We do not want to take
risks and leave the security of the shore. It is easy to fish in shallow water close to the shore because there is hardly any danger there –
neither of facing strong currents nor of getting drowned. The Lord invites us
to go deeper into human relationships, service of the downtrodden,
care of the sick and the suffering, reconciliation with someone we refuse to
speak for years, etc., by trusting in his word. He sends us to draw people out of the abyss of sin, evil, ignorance, sickness
and bondage and gather them into a community of love, fellowship, peace and
harmony. He also asks us to venture into those areas of our mission where we
meet opposition and criticism for uplifting and
educating the poor and the downtrodden. Even in those situations where we meet
failure, rejection and lack of response, he asks us to try again
and go a little deeper.
3) Our vocation to be fishers of
people:
Today Jesus once again calls and sends us with the ‘net’ of God’s Kingdom. We
need to respond to his call as his first disciples did and commit ourselves to
the task of becoming “fishers of people” – the task of saving
them from sin and evil. Through our ‘fishing’ activity
(that is, our mission work), he wants to gather all the scattered children of
God; unite people so deeply divided on account of sin into a community of love; invite people to be free from all sorts of bondages so that they might be saved; to care for people; and to bring them
closer to God. This is what is meant by becoming “fishers of people.” Today the
Lord continues to call us to do mission work not in a distant land or country,
but in a far smaller way in our own situation – baby-sitting for a busy mother,
arranging a meeting place, joining the choir party, visiting a sick person,
sharing one’s personal thing with the needy, calling someone who we know is
lonely, doing something kind and helpful for someone with whom we don’t get
along or who has wronged us, offering our help in the kitchen or garden,
visiting the local prison with some gifts for the prisoners, etc. Those who are
not called for a full-time mission work like priests and Religious can do it with
so many deeds of mercy.
4) A sense of unworthiness
to do our mission: Peter begged Jesus to depart from him when he realized
his own unworthiness to receive such abundance of blessings (symbolized by a huge haul of fish) because of his sinfulness. Those of us who think we are not worthy to do God’s work because of
personal weaknesses, guilt feelings or bad record of the past
should know that he chooses even weak and unfit persons to be his instruments
of justice, mercy, love and peace. His purpose for us is not dependent on our
worthiness. It is said: “God does not call the qualified but he qualifies those whom he calls.” As he told Peter, he tells us again and again not
to be afraid. What could have been the fear of his first disciples? The fear of
(1) leaving their boats and jobs because they had responsibilities towards their
families; (2) starting an entirely new career; (3) venturing into an unknown future; (4) their own inadequacy and unworthiness because
of their sinfulness. Jesus must have told them: Don’t you know that I came to
call not the righteous but sinners like you (Lk 5:32)? Like the first
disciples, in spite of our unworthiness, Jesus continues to commission us, and
expects an immediate response. Instead of falling on
our knees as Peter did at the tremendous mystery of God’s presence in
humility and wonder, we prefer to worship at the altar of business and work,
science and industry, machines and technology, power and success, name and
fame. When these things
become our gods we will be left with no anchor to hold on when all our dreams
are shattered!
5) Sacrifice and renunciation as
requirements to fulfill our mission: In order to fulfil this mission or
to be faithful to it we are called to leave the very things in which we put our
full trust, our safety and security. The story of today’s gospel begins with
the crowd pressing in on Jesus to listen to his word, but the would-be
disciples keeping themselves busy in their daily occupation like catching
fish and doing business. But it ends with a reversal of roles: these busy men leaving everything to follow Jesus. What about us? Can we try for a
game-changer that leads to a turning-point in our life?
5. Response to God's Word
During our moments of painful and humiliating failures, do we take the
risk of faith by trusting in the power of his word? Do self-trust and
rationalism become obstacles for our obedient faith? Do we give up our efforts
for personal and social transformation when we do not get immediate result? Do
we trust in the power of God’s word even when nothing seems to change? Are our
commitments superficial or deep? How can we respond to Christ’s call to become
fishers of people in our situation, especially through works of mercy? Are we
willing to sacrifice a little bit of our comforts, safety and security to
fulfil Christ’s mission?
6. A prayer
Thank you, Lord, for calling me to participate in your mission of
gathering people into a community of love and fellowship in spite of my
unworthiness. Here am I, Lord. Make me a worthy instrument of your mercy.
Increase my trust in the power of your holy word so that I may hold on to you
firmly when everything else fails. Amen.
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