February 9, 2025 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL
Malachi 3: 1-4 + Psalm 24 + Hebrews 2: 14-18 + Luke 5: 1-11
To recognize a miracle, or even a person for that matter, you have to have an eye that really sees. Everyone saw apples fall from trees before Isaac Newton did. Yet, he saw an apple fall and came up with the law of gravity. Everyone can see a kettle of water boil, but when James Watt saw that he came up with the steam engine. It would seem that a lot of people everywhere including Peter were seeing what Jesus was doing, but not until that net filled up with fish did Peter stop calling Jesus “Master,” and call him “Lord.” It is always a matter of what you see and how you see.
Luke writes to us today about our calling, our encounter with the Lord. He writes about how and where it is likely to happen and what it will mean. These men are doing what they do all the time, every day. They are not in the Temple or the synagogue. They are not wandering around looking for Jesus Christ. He comes to them in the midst of their normal routine lives. There is nothing unusual or extraordinary. They have been working and they are tired.
We will never really know why they got back on the boat at his request. Your guess is as good as mine. They hardly knew him. They just knew about him. All we know is that they did get back on the boat. Even though they had just caught nothing after a long night, they gave it one more try, and one more try is all it takes. This time, tired from trying without success, they follow his instructions which make no sense at all. Did you notice that he sends them out to the deep water? No shallow stuff here. No easy short-cut. They have to go way out.
This is really not about a net full of fish. This is about what happens to any of us who might get discouraged and want to quit. This is about how Jesus Christ has come among us with an invitation to live in a new way, to do what we do every day with new purpose and hope. They kept on fishing, but soon they will fish in a different way and for a different reason. This is also about the kind of people Jesus chooses to carry on his mission, gathering us all into that boat that takes us to the Kingdom. It is simply ordinary people like fishermen that he looks for. He never looks for people with some kind of sophistication, privilege, or exceptional skills. It is just ordinary people, and it is going to be you and me.
If the Kingdom of God is going to come, if there is to be peace, mercy, and forgiveness, if there is to be joy and hope in this world it will be because we have been ready to do what he asks of us even if it makes no sense. It will be because we did not take the easy way, but were willing to go way out into the deep, and most of all, because we never gave up.