FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR C

FIFTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR – C (Is 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11) Theme: We Are Called To Be The Fishers Of Men Reflection: Preparation of the boat of faith and net of charity - Sunday of Christian vocation: We are in the fifth Sunday of the Ordinary Time of the Year. The theme that can be extracted from the readings of today is very simple and yet fundamental: the call to become the fishers of men. As the consequence we are invited to reflect upon the Christian vocation and mission that we are entrusted with. Jesus calls us as he called his first disciples. His call is always to spread the good news of God’s abundant love to the world. As the fishermen we have to throw the nets of our life and catch the people in the world. To fish the people means to attract them to the Christian faith and to draw them to the salvation. - Can We? Is the question: In this context the question that we can pose ourselves is this: are we really capable of fishing the men? Are we in the state of attracting the people to the faith? Can we really proclaim the word and call to the people to the salvation offered by Jesus? These, and many such questions, emerge from the mind when we are placed with the gospel passage as today’s. Yet, we need to answer the questions. We can try responding them. If we approach from the view of our humanity and human nature, we may immediately affirm: “No, we are not capable of fishing the men”. But we have another approach: approach of faith. If we try to answer the question with the view point of our Christian faith and charity, the response will be very positive: “Yes, we can do anything in and with Jesus”. This is the correct stand point. We are human and incapable, it is true. But our story and our history does not end there. We are Christians and thus, Spirit-filled fishermen. We can cross the boundaries of human capacity and enter into the zone of Jesus where there is the Spirit who enables us to accomplish the mission of our call: we can catch the fish – we can attract the people to the faith. - Imagery Analogy of the Gospel: The world is like sea. There are various kinds of men as there are different types of fish: big and small, powerful and powerless, strong and weak, healthy and unhealthy, good ones and useless. The Christians are the fisher men. The boat is the faith. Nets are the charitable works. Fish is the people. The neighboring boats are the other faiths found in the world. A times, in fact, every time where is a catch of the fish, there is also need of the other boats to bring them to the shore of salvation. There is possibility of catching the fish by the human force and capability. But it has a limit. Sometimes there may be an instance in which the human capacity finds its boundary and stop functioning. The result will be the inability to catch the fish. There is a possibility beyond the possibility: divine providence and an spiritual force. It will certainly help the one who seeks for it. It catches up and continues the fishing from where the human strength has stopped. Its result will be above the human calculation. In the same area where the human capacity failed to do something good, it will enter and create sensation with the enormous and miraculous effect. It is only because of the divine power. Yet, the divine power needs human cooperation. Fish itself will not come out. There should be an integration of many elements for making the good catch of the fish: fishermen, the boat, the net, the human will and with all these, the divine help. - The missing of anything will be the missing of the mission: fishermen/Christians need to have the boat of faith, the net of charity, the human desire for the catching, and with all and above all, the spiritual help. If any one element misses, the entire mission of fishing will be only tiresome and futile work. The result will only be a complaint of insufficiency of human power as Peter has done in the gospel. On the other hand, if there is an openness and acceptance of the word of Jesus and the nets are thrown on the power of that Word, the result will the recognition of divine action which goes beyond our imagination. Only with this divine power we can do what is impossible for our human capacity. That divine power is with us always. Jesus assures us that divine word and help if only we acknowledge our nothingness before him. Peter has done it and we will do it and we can really become the fishers of men. Readings: God’s call needs to be accepted with liberty, with instance and with readiness - Jesus and the first disciples: Gospel reading of today contains Peter’s acknowledgment of the person of Jesus and Jesus’ transforming him into the fisher of men. It is not a direct invitation. According to Luke, the call of Peter is not so simple and general. It has a process. It starts from nowhere because in the first instance Jesus’ intention is not to call those three, Peter, James and John, into his fellowship. But slowly it grows into a personal contact between them and finally becomes an incident of discipleship. It becomes an occasion in which Jesus becomes the Master and those three become the disciples. Many things happen before the final realization of the interaction between them. The gospel denotes at least four movements which happen one after the other like a rings of the chain. It is called a movement because what happens first leads to the second which leads to the third and finally happens the fourth. The reflection on the four movements is needed for the profound understanding: - First - Each busy with his personal work: In the first movement there is no any kind of relationship between Jesus and those three fishermen. Each one is busy with his work. Jesus is there with his mission: proclaiming the kingdom of God to the great crowds who have come to listen to the word of God. The three men are there with their work: repairing the nets and preparing the boats for the fishing because they are fishermen. Each one needs to be aware of his work and has to do it with vigor and enthusiasm. There is a work each one is entrusted to do or is obliged to do in his social context. Fulfilling one’s duty is also a personal mission. This personal mission of each individual requires a need of the other which makes a meeting of the persons possible. Jesus and the three, who are with their works, move towards each other. The first step is taken by Jesus himself for the preaching of the word. - Second – Interaction between Jesus and Simon: Jesus moves towards the boat and gets into it because the crowds are pushing each and he is not at ease with the proclamation. The boat he gets into is the boat of Simon. Jesus needs the boat and he asks the Simon to go into the waters. Simon, as the owner of the boat, listens to Jesus and guides it into the sea. The first interaction between them takes place because of the need of each one of the other. Jesus needs the boat and Simon needs a passenger. The interaction becomes a dialogue between them and thus the third movement takes place. - Third – The dialogue between the two: Jesus finishes his work of preaching. He looks at Simon and starts talking to him. He reminds him of his work: fishing. He asks him to throw the net into the waters. Peter responds to Jesus: “Master, we have tried whole night for catching the fish but in vain.” He does not stop there. He continues: “But, on your word I will throw the net.” The response of Peter contain two parts. First part, he expresses his failure. Second part, he expresses his faith. What could be the reason for the manifestation of faith: “According to your word”. Peter did not see Jesus before. He did not know him. The first moment he is meeting him is just now. Where does his faith and confidence have come from. It might have come from the proclamation that Jesus was doing before. He has seen great crowds coming to him. Peter might have observed him with much surprise and listened to his words. Jesus’ words must have created in him a spark of faith. There was a growth of confidence in him as he was listening to Jesus’ words of salvation. Now is the time to express it. He immediately connects his faith to his words and says: “I will do it but only because you say.” He throws the net. There is a miraculous catch of fish which they have never seen in their life time. The three men call the other boat for help. The dialogue between them and the miracle that took place leads to the final movement. - Fourth – Denying the self and Following Jesus: If the miraculous catch of the fish creates a wonder in them, what happens to Peter after that is more dramatic and emotional. Peter suddenly becomes aware of the presence of Jesus as the Holy One and of the power of his word. In front of Jesus, the Great, Holy and Divine One, Peter feels himself a small, human and fragile. Not only that he feels himself to be that, he goes further to confess it: “Lord, go away from me for I am a sinner”. Peter who have seen a Master in Jesus in his preaching, sees a Lord in him in the working the miracle. The attitude of Peter is very inspiring one: he knows who is and acknowledges with courage before Jesus. What is our attitude before the presence of Jesus? We need to learn from Peter. We have to first of all, know ourselves – who we are and what we are. It is not enough. There is another step ahead. Before Jesus we cannot hide anything. We have to confess ourselves – with all our humanness, with all our helplessness, with all our smallness and with all our weakness. The first one we do it. We know who we are and what are our capacities and weaknesses. In the second one, we step behind because we do not want to accept and acknowledge who we are. We want to pretend to be something else. We have a lesson to learn from today’s gospel and from Peter: to know and to confess our real selves. Jesus is happy with the Peter’s attitude. In fact, he desires such a total conversion and self-denial from those who want to be with him. Peter has manifested this very soon and with the words: I am a sinner. Until now Peter acknowledged himself small and sinner before Jesus. Now Jesus knows that Simon could be the possible Peter to whom he can hand over the keys of the kingdom. Only, when Peter places himself before Jesus with the denial of his self and with the expression of his trust, Jesus tells him: “Do not fear, from now on you will be the fisher of men”. Once, Peter has received this commission, he and his relatives, James and John, leave everything aside and follow him. Conclusion: Though unexpected we need to be prepared for the call: - Call of Jesus comes in the way unexpected: The call of Peter and the first disciples, according to Luke, is not casual. It does not happen automatically. The usual fashion is this: Jesus sees the Peter and calls him: Oh! Peter you seem to be good and open. I need you. Come and follow me; and Peter, jumping with joy, follows him. No. It does not take place so commonly. It is a long process and it requires that one sees Jesus, acknowledges and confesses oneself before him, thus purify himself with the radical conversion. Once one receives such a purification from the self-life, he becomes more available for the other. Peter becomes the disciple of Jesus with the purification of the self. He accepts himself as a sinner. Jesus acknowledges it and makes him clean and entrusts to him the mission of catching the men. The same purification before receiving the call is revealed both in the first reading and second reading: the prophet Isaiah accepts that his lips and his hands are unclean for the mission and immediately there is fire which purifies him and he is ready for the mission: “Here I am Lord, send me”. The missionary is purified before being sent. The same thing happens to Paul: in the second reading, Paul accepts that he was the persecutor of Christians but the grace has come to him to purify and to prepare him to his messenger. We are also called during the time of our baptism. What happens in the Baptism? We confess that we are sinners. With the water Jesus purifies us. With the Spirit he empowers us. With the New and white vestment, the symbol of our sanctification, he covers us. With the torch of faith he sends us. We are entrusted with the particular mission. We are sent into the sea of the world. With the boats ready and with the nets prepared. We need to be mindful of this mission always. We go, not on ourselves, but on the command of the Lord. We throw the net, not on the power of our capability, but on the word of the Lord. We do not expect. The fruit is his. The fruit is abundant. There will be a miraculous catch of men. We will be able to attract the people if only we throw the testimony of life in the ocean of confusion and depression. The Call is His. The work is His. The force is His. And the fruit is His. We are only the nets in his hands. We have to be aware of this Christian vocation we are entrusted with. Jesus calls and we need to respond to it without hesitation. - We need to respond to Jesus with the freedom and without hesitation: This is the common element we find in three readings. God expresses his desire: “Whom shall I send and who can go for us?”. The immediate response of Isaiah is: “I am ready Lord, send me”. With the journey to Damascus Paul understands that it is Jesus Christ himself who is calling. He immediately responds to him with the receiving of Baptism and with the commitment to preach the Risen Christ. Peter, once he is purified, his response is immediate. He does not hesitate anymore. He expresses his desire to follow him with freedom and with readiness. So also the other two disciples – James and John. Such a response Jesus is asking from us. Today is the time to renew our commitment for the mission we are entrusted with. We take part in the mission of Christ himself. We need not worry about our situations and our failures. After all, it is not we who do but it is Christ himself who carries the vocation of catching the world through us. What is required of us only one thing: we place ourselves before him with freedom and with readiness. We need to express such willingness as Christians. There is a need for the fishing of the world. Jesus calls us to be the fishermen. Let us go out into the world with the boat of faith and with the net of love and we can meet the miracle that Jesus will accomplish through us. Indeed, for this we are called and for this we are sent: to be the fishers of men.