The call of Simon Peter to be fisher of men

It’s the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time and today’s gospel is about the call of Simon Peter by our Lord Jesus Christ to become fisher of men. You can say that this is a call to a vocation to serve the Catholic Church and yes, it includes the call for lay vocation for married people who still want to be servants of the Lord. You can read this in the gospel of Luke 5: 1-11.

“1 While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesareth. 2 He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 3 Getting 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.

4 After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.

7 They 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. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 9 For astonishment at the catch of fish they made seized him and all those with him, 10 and 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.” 11 When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”

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Before you all get confused, the Bible mentions the Sea of Galilee while the Old Testament talks about the “Sea of Chinnereth” and describes it as a harp-shaped lake. Then there is the Lake of Gennesareth and finally the Sea of Tiberias. It is truly confusing, but they are all one lake. And for this gospel reading, Luke talks about the Lake of Gennesareth.

This story is the beginning of the Galilean ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, who later made Capernaum his headquarters. This part of the Lake is close to Capernaum, where our Lord Jesus for the first time found Simon Peter with his fishing partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. When he got into the edge of the lake, he saw Simon and his partners washing their nets and realized that they were done their night of fishing.

So he asked Simon to move his boat back into the sea so he could use it as a pulpit and began preaching to the fishermen who were along the side of the shore. From the looks of it, the fishermen were already tired from a whole night of fishing where they caught nothing. So I would like to believe that they probably didn’t listen much to what the Lord was teaching them. It is possible that they listened to the words of the Lord but were just too busy cleaning their nets.

It was then that the Lord Jesus Christ ordered Simon Peter to bring his boat further out into the sea saying, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon Peter replied to the Lord saying, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” Now why did Simon Peter obey the Lord? He must have heard his preaching and felt that this man had some kind of authority to teach them the words of God. But he reluctantly obeyed and brought his boat further out into the sea and dropped his nets.

What happened next was some sort of a miracle — their nets now caught so much fish they were about to break apart. Simon Peter then signaled to his partners, James and John, to help him with his huge catch of fish. Now they had two boats alongside each other, pulling their nets onboard with a huge quantity of fish that the two boats were nearly sinking.

Just imagine what was going on in the minds of these fishermen who went out fishing all night and caught nothing. Then this man called Jesus spoke to them a certain teaching then asked them to go deeper into the water and, all of the sudden, they caught so many their fishing boats nearly sank. This incident so amazed Simon Peter; he immediately prostrated himself before our Lord Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” He was probably ashamed that such good fortune could never be given to a man as sinful as he is.

In a sense, Simon Peter confessed to the Lord that he was a sinner and our Lord Jesus accepted that as an act of humility on the part of Simon Peter. Then Jesus told them, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Then they left everything and followed our Lord Jesus Christ. Now ask yourselves if you hear our Lord Jesus calling you to serve him, would you drop everything you are doing and follow him? I think you should!

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