Lk 5:1-11
1While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 3Getting 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. 4After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” 5Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” 6When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. 7They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that they were in danger of sinking. 8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 9For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, 10and 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.” 11When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.
Called To Put Out into the Deep
When we read the Gospels, we should not only see them as records of what were said and done by Jesus, his disciples, and other characters. We should also read them as reflecting the perspectives of the Christian communities and the evangelists.
Today’s Gospel reading tells us of the call of the fisherman Simon. By the time Luke wrote, Simon was better known as Peter (the “Rock”) or Cephas in Hebrew. He was the acknowledged leader of the Twelve (apostles) who were the pillars of the Christian community. As befitting such figure, stories of Peter’s association with Jesus spread first among the Christians by word of mouth. Such stories were not just records of what happened but were colored by the perspectives of those who remembered them and, later, of those who wrote them down. Because of this, it is rather difficult to determine “what actually happened.” Let us remember, however, that the gospel accounts themselves are inspired and, therefore, are the focus of our reflection—not what could have been the original event.
In Mark and Matthew, Simon was fishing in the Sea of Galilee with his brother Andrew when Jesus called them to follow him and become fishers of men. Their speedy and enthusiastic response became the model of discipleship to the Christians for whom the evangelists wrote. In John, Andrew was a former disciple of John the Baptist.
Convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, Andrew brought his brother Simon to him. Thus, the focus of the story is bearing “witness” to others who Jesus is.
Luke has another perspective on the call of Simon. He paints it along the line of “prophetic calls” in the Bible. The background would probably be the call of the prophet Isaiah (First Reading). When Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord in the temple, he felt his unworthiness and smallness as a human being: “I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips.” He had to be cleansed so that he could be a worthy shaliah or ambassador of the Holy One. Luke thus presents Simon falling at the feet of Jesus after witnessing Jesus’ miracle of the great catch of fish. Simon acknowledges that he is a sinner, and he is not worthy to stand before Jesus. But Jesus reassures him (“Do not be afraid!”) and sends him as a shaliah, to catch men and women for the kingdom.
Even Paul describes his own calling to be an apostle along this biblical pattern (Second Reading). He was unworthy because he persecuted the Church. Yet by God’s grace, he was sent to preach the Gospel.
The call of Simon Peter—as well as Isaiah and Paul—reminds us that in every time and place, God calls men and women to continue the work of evangelization. This mission remains true for us in the third millennium.
It is not by accident that when Pope John Paul II presented a “program” for the Church after the celebration of the Great Jubilee 2000, he recalled this particular incident in the Gospel and from it coined a clarion call for a new stage of the Church’s journey: Duc in altum! “Put out into the deep for a catch” (Lk 5:4). The Holy Father wrote: “Duc in altum! These words ring out to us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever’ (Heb 13:8)” (Novo Millennio Inuente, n 1).