St. Luke notices how eager the crowds are to hear the word of God. So eager, in fact, that they are pressing Jesus into the sea. Jesus reaches for higher ground and finds it on a boat. But will those who are so eager for the word allow themselves to be captivated by it? Will it illuminate their lives and change the way they think and act? Will they allow the Light of the World to move them from darkness to light?
The Word must be heard and then integrated. The fishermen wash their nets and put out a little from the shore. This is step one. In the second, deeper encounter, the nets will be let down into the depths of the sea. Simon will be invited to move away from the shore and put out into deep water. I guess, in the end, it’s a choice we all have to make; to meet Jesus on our own terms or on His.
When Jesus has finished His teaching, He invites Simon and the others to experience it for themselves. How will they make it their own? Jesus gives, what looks on the surface, like a simple instruction. But, in reality, the journey which draws us to go deep inside ourselves (put out into deep water) and wait to receive (let down your net for a catch) isn’t as easy as it sounds! These disciples have never had any success with these directions. They have tried them and only experienced the absence of light (darkness) and emptiness (caught nothing). Yet Simon calls Jesus ‘Master’ and he will have to trust that Jesus knows what He is doing. Simon is classically obedient and dubious – just like us.
And what does he come to understand? Only that trusting and following Jesus leads to abundance and fullness. If we risk opening our hearts to God, God will move in us. The disciples are replete with God’s presence – their nets filled to breaking point -. They are overcome, and Simon, so deeply aware of his own smallness and fragility and now the huge generosity of God, feels dwarfed by the experience. He cannot celebrate the gift and joins a very long line of quaking humans.
More teaching is required. Simon is wrong to be afraid. If his experience of God makes him tremble and crushes him down; if he wraps his arms around the knees of Jesus, he must have fallen on his own knees. Simon cannot kiss the fullness he has received so he wants it to go away. This is not what Jesus wants. So, helping Simon to stand on his feet, Jesus instructs him not to be afraid. Instead, he must use what he has experienced to bring others to God. As Jesus has caught him, he is to catch others. Fear must give way to adventure and creativity. So, they bring their fullness back to the shore. They leave behind everything they used to do (be afraid) and dedicate themselves to a spectacular catch of women and men. The Word has been heard, understood, integrated, and acted upon. Or ….
Once upon a time, a boat arrived at the shore creaking with fish. The crowds were waiting. They gathered around Peter and slapped him on the back. “Peter, you sly dog! You knew where the fish were all the time and didn’t let on. You are, without a doubt, the greatest fisherman in all of Galilee”.
But Peter was strangely silent. He only said, “Share the catch with everyone”. After that he said nothing. But later that evening in the local pub, with bread and wine between them, Peter looked across the table at the Lord Jesus and said, “Go away from me. I wanted the fish to be over them, not with them. I wanted the fish to rule them, not feed them. You go away from me. I am a sinful man”. Jesus only smiled back at Peter. It was not the smile of the sly fox but the smile that moves the sun and the stars. He had no intention of going away. There were other fish to catch.
