Faith Refleciton 

An abundance of fish are caught by Simon. 

Luke 5:1-11

The theme that comes through this week’s readings is one of ‘being called’. The first reading is the call of the prophet Isaiah (Is 6:1-8). Isaiah experiences a vision of the glory of God and is humbly reminded of his own deficiencies: he believes himself to be ‘a man of unclean lips’. As such, he is certainly unfit to speak on behalf of God as his unclean lips would taint whatever message he may speak. But his lips are cleansed by God who then asks, ‘Whom shall I send?’ Demonstrating a complete conversion of heart and mind, Isaiah immediately replies, ‘Here I am, send me!’

This first reading provides a perfect balance to the gospel. Jesus is being closely pressed by the crowd when he asks a nearby fisherman to take him just off shore to preach without being overwhelmed by the crowd. Seemingly at random, he has selected the boat of the fisherman Peter. Having finished preaching for the day, Jesus tells Peter to set out into deeper water and pay out his fishing nets. Peter is certainly not keen on the idea! Out of some interest or good nature he had agreed to allow this preacher to use his boat for a while, but now this country bumpkin is trying to tell him how to fish! Just to prove Jesus wrong, Peter agrees to go through the futile exercise and is overwhelmed by the enormous catch of fish. Like Isaiah in the first reading, Peter is suddenly acutely aware of his own deficiencies – ‘Leave me Lord; I am a sinful man’. Like Isaiah, he recognises that he has just seen the glory of God revealed and he feels unworthy to be part of the experience. But Jesus reassures him, ‘Do not be afraid,’ and calls Peter to follow.

Scriptural context – The Call of the disciples

In the other two synoptic gospels – Matthew and Mark – the call of the disciples is one of the first recorded actions of Jesus’ adult life. Luke, on the other hand, delays the call until after Jesus’ public ministry has commenced. By this stage of the gospel, Jesus has made a public declaration about the nature of his ministry and begun to enact it. In this way, the sort of ministry Jesus will undertake is already established when the disciples are called to join it. It becomes a more conscious decision by the disciples – they know what they’re getting in to!

Have you thought? – Do not be afraid

When Peter is overcome by the catch of fish and falls on his knees before Jesus, the response Jesus makes is to simply say, ‘Do not be afraid’. This phrase is the most often repeated phrase in the Bible. It appears more than 60 times throughout the Bible – depending on which translation one uses. This is an extraordinary number of times for the one phrase to appear. And the references stretch from the first book, Genesis, to the last, Revelation. It is God’s message to us echoing throughout the Bible: Do not be afraid!

Living the Gospel – Hearing the Call

Like Isaiah and Peter, each and every one of us is called. It may not happen through Jesus stepping into our boat, but when we quieten our minds and our hearts enough to really listen, we become aware that God truly is calling to each and every one of us. The call comes to us through our friends; our experiences; our hopes and our fears. Sometimes we are so afraid of hearing the call that we fill our lives with noise and distractions. We fear that the call will involve hardship, or at the very least: unpopularity. But that’s no excuse!

By Greg Sunter