unday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR C FIFTH SUNDAY - 4.2.07 Is 6,1-8; 1 Cor 15,1-11; Lk 5,1-11 When God Calls & Catches us A
fishing-game with a difference. Fishing will always be an exciting game between the catcher & the
fish, who though free in his element & lord of the sea, is lured, enticed
& ‘caught alive’. In today’s story, Luke -a master story teller!-,
makes us watch step by step, how Jesus -the Lord of sea & sky- catches his
big fish: his 1st apostle Simon Peter & calls him to be a catcher of men.
The scene opens with Simon mentioned in a passing, oblique way: ‘Jesus left
the synagogue & entered Simon’s house (4,38)’.We ask: who is Simon?
& where is he? Just imagine: Jesus invites himself to his house
& heals his mother in law & Simon is not there, he’s gone fishing, since that’s his job...
Still, Jesus is out to catch him: - looks for him at home first, - then he goes to the work-place.
Notice how discreet Jesus is in his approach: he never demands - expects -
shames - presses - forces or confronts; he only invites, hints & prompts; he
‘invites our invitation’ (Emmaus story), & is always the first to take the initiative. So he chooses
Peter’s boat & teaches from there. Luke tells us nothing about what Jesus
taught, but only how Jesus went after Peter, who -in return- was not one bit
impressed: he had neither invited nor rejected Jesus; he keeps doing what he is
good at, fisherman’s work. Watch how Jesus catches Peter. Jesus enters
Peter’s territory & closes-in on him, who shows no reaction. Jesus chooses
Peter’s boat, not simply as a strategic point for preaching, but to establish
a link that God has a role -& a dream!- for Peter... and for us!
Next, Jesus who is no fisherman, orders Peter ‘to go out & lower the
nets’. Jesus dares to know more about fishing than a born fisherman who’s
spent all his life on the lake & has just spent all night catching nothing. Peter’s
response....& ours! Jesus asks Peter to go beyond his knowledge of the sea & trust
instead the ‘sign’ he has given in the cure of his mother in law. Peter’s
response is classical: it’s loaded with 3 levels of irony: he calls Jesus
‘know-all’ (Greek ‘epistata’-, not ‘Master’, as our translations would have it), then he says:
‘at your word!’ to convey his deepest cynicism; & he obeys hesitantly,
reluctantly, as waste of time & energy... Peter is right in considering
himself a good fisherman: he knows his job, he’s been at it all his life.
Still he decides to please Jesus, to thank him for the cure of his mother in law
& respect his extraordinary powers. And all along Luke urges us -‘readers
who love God’ (Theophilus), to look for the hidden knowledge between Jesus
& God. After all, when it comes to faith no one, not even the great apostle
Peter, is better off. Having recognized God’s ‘sign’, he too must take or
leave it. Peter too, must moves from unbelief to faith & conversion: the
huge unexpected catch humbles him, puts Jesus in command & astounds everyone
who is witnessing. It’s as if Luke says: this is a catch that they all have
caught & Peter, the professional fisherman is himself ‘caught alive’, as
fish to be consumed as food. (From the earliest years, Jesus himself is
Eucharistic Food, & is represented as fish: its Greek word is ‘Iktus’
& its acrostic means: Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour). Only now Luke tells
us that Peter was overcome, he felt a powerful religious experience; he fell on
his knees, amazed, confused, humbled, unworthy. Jesus reassured him: Do not be
afraid. You are a good catcher of fish, & now I want you to be a catcher of
men. You will do to others what I have done to you, using the same gentle,
oblique unobtrusive way Lesson: Today,
reflect on your own conversion: was it like angling to a fish, -like Peter’s,
who followed Jesus & like Jesus gave up his life, to give life in abundance
to many?? ______________________________________ |
