May the holes in your net be no larger than the fish in it. ~ Irish Blessing

Sunday, Feb. 7th, 2010
Luke 5: 1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Today we had another house showing and I am so tired. As some of you know, we have had our house on the market since a year ago last September. As soon as we listed our home, the economy took a nosedive and houses in this area stopped selling. If you have never owned and sold a home, believe me, 18 months is a long time to be on the market. Every time there is a showing, there’s a lot of work to be done to get the house looking pristine and desirable. And each time we’ve shown the house, probably at least 50 to 60 times since it went on the market, it has been such a disappointing let down when no offer is made.

So, this week, I relate in a mild way to Simon Peter, James and John who had been out all night fishing and caught nothing. They had put in a lot of hard work and had nothing to show for it except extreme weariness, weariness made deeper and heavier by the failure to accomplish what they needed to accomplish.  They had families to support and perhaps they had debts they needed to repay. They also probably had customers who might be tempted to go elsewhere for their fish. They needed to catch fish.

They weren’t just tired; they were stressed and probably a bit short tempered.  And then this stranger has the gall to come up to Simon Peter and ask him to put aside his work in order to take him out in the boat so he could speak to the crowds. I wouldn’t be surprised if Peter didn’t feel very gracious about accommodating this request.  But perhaps he’d heard about Jesus and was curious about why there were crowds waiting to hear Jesus speak. Besides, he would have a front row seat so he could just sit back and listen. He was extremely tired and a rest would be good…

We don’t know what Jesus’ sermon was about that time and whether anything he said hit Peter in his heart but after Jesus finished speaking, Peter probably was completely unprepared to have Jesus turn to him and tell him to go out deeper and let out his nets. Think about it. If Peter had heard rumors about Jesus, he would have known that Jesus was a carpenter. Not a fisherman. Who did this guy think he was to tell him how to do his job? I wonder if Peter was tempted to say to Jesus, “We just finished cleaning all the nets! Why don’t you just go home and build a chair or something? Maybe you should go back to Nazareth and take care of your Mother. She’s a widow. Shouldn’t you be taking care of your responsibilities instead of trying to tell me how to do my job?  We are professional fishermen. We’ve been out all night and THERE ARE NO FISH.”

Even if Peter didn’t say all of this out loud, Jesus would have known what Peter was thinking and feeling but Jesus didn’t back down. “Go deeper. Let out your nets...” and we all know what happened after that.

Within a short space of time Peter, James and John pulled in enough fish to support all their families, pay their debts and satisfy their customers needs abundantly and have enough left over to give away to the poorer families in the area. Peter was amazed, awed and utterly ashamed over his reluctance to obey Jesus and for his mean and miserly thoughts about Jesus. It was as if the miracle of the abundant catch was Jesus’ answer to every cranky thought Peter had about Jesus.

"Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!" And what does Jesus say?

“That’ll teach you to judge me! So...you think you know who I am and what I should be doing and you think you know the whole picture. I know the thoughts of your heart and you’d better shape up or (excuse the pun) ship out!”

No. Jesus does not berate or punish Peter. Instead, he says, “Do not be afraid.” He may have added, “Weariness and discouragement make you fearful and fear makes you tight and tightness makes it hard to serve with a generous heart. Don’t be afraid. I will take care of you. I will provide for your needs, heal your inner discouragement, forgive your sins and create a man who is generous in the service of my Father.” He definitely did add, “From now on you will be catching people.”

I have a personal story that is too long for this blog, but I want to tell you that my husband and I have experienced the grace and generosity of Jesus whenever we have opened ourselves to be generous with our willingness to serve. But always, there is first a call to move our boat out deeper into unknown - or even still - waters, even though it seems like a waste of time or more of a challenge than we were wanting to engage in.

Like Peter, all of us need to accept that the feeling of being completely prepared for and capable of doing whatever the Lord sends us out to do often isn’t part of the package. What was that old saying? ‘The Lord doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the Called.’   

Today we had another house showing and I am so tired. But within the tiredness is a sound knowledge that my God can do anything he wants whenever he wants, whether it’s filling nets or selling a home. My responsibility is to trust, be ready to serve and be inspired by Isaiah in this Sunday’s first reading. When he heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us?” he answered,

 “Here I am; send me.”