From the Sunday Note, with additional thoughts…
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Sunday’s Gospel, Luke 5:1-11
Why does Peter, a fisherman, fall on his knees, call himself a sinful man, and ask Jesus to leave him after the huge catch of fish Jesus directed him to?
Our first reading for this Sunday provides us with a clue. Here is the first part of that brief reading:
In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-7
Isaiah lived when the 10 tribes of the north had been conquered and exiled far away in the Assyrian Empire. Now the remaining tribes of the south faced a similar fate at the hands of the Babylonians. Isaiah goes to worship in the Temple and has a vision of God enthroned in heaven, surrounded by a smoky cloud that both concealed and revealed Him while He is being praised by heavenly beings. Isaiah is immediately aware of his own shortcomings and his unworthiness to be in the presence of God. “A man of unclean lips” he calls himself, and to look upon God in such a state is a terrifying experience.
Peter, on the other hand, is an everyday working man, making a living in a traditional family fishing business, and Jesus speaks to him in language he can understand—fishing. What happened to Isaiah in the Temple now happens to Peter at the lake, when he follows the directions of the one he addresses as “master.” To Peter’s amazement, the catch is made in wrong part of the lake (out in the deep, when fishing in the shallows is normal) in the wrong part of the day (night fishing was standard) and in far, far greater numbers of fish than their standard nets are able to handle. Peter’s reaction is the same as Isaiah’s, but “re-shaped” for a fisherman who encounters the Presence of God in his place of work. Now calling Jesus “Lord,” Peter is stunned and dismayed and wants to move away from the presence of One with such great powers.
Jesus sees this—and knows, of course, that Peter is having an encounter-with-the-Father experience like Isaiah’s. He immediately reassures Peter, telling him “Do not be afraid” and stating what Peter’s call will later involve: catching not fish but men and women for the Father. As we see through the rest of the Gospel, there is still some purifying of “unclean lips” and much learning Peter must go through, but his new course is set. Peter is leaving his old life, and he is converted to keeping his eyes and ears fixed on Jesus. That will prepare him to respond rightly to the question God put to Isaiah after symbolically cleansing Isaiah’s lips:
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!” Isaiah 6:8
Peter, too, will eventually become “one sent,” that is, an “apostle.”
Be aware—Christ is looking to call each one of us, too, as we are going about our lives in the same old ways. When he approaches us, we may well say, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am sinful, someone with unclean lips.” Of course, ALL of us ARE sinful, compared to Christ! That’s honesty on our part—to ourselves. (It is no news to him!) But, in the meantime, he says to us, “Do not be afraid” as he walks beside us into life and more Life.
For further reflection:
Pause for reflection, several times a day. Ask yourself “how has Christ approached me today? Or, how will he approach me today? Will he ask me to accept something difficult, to put up with someone, someone whom he also cares for, despite their failures? Will he challenge my settled way of thinking or reaction to some circumstance or decision made by someone? Will he ask me to become good, if difficult, news to someone nearby?….Etc.
He is always beside us, hoping we will notice.