Education in Faith

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Gospel- Luke 5: 1-11 

‘They left everything and followed him'

‘Do not be afraid’

This week’s gospel is the story of the calling of Peter to be a ‘fisher of men’ after Jesus commands him and his fellow fishermen to go out in their boats and cast their nets. 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!