Fifth Sunday in ordinary time, Cycle C. Today’s readings: Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11
Creator of the Earth and Skies is a charming hymn written in 1964 by Donald W. Hughes. It includes this stanza: Like theirs of old, our life is death/our light is darkness, till we see/the eternal Word made flesh and breath/the God who walked by Galilee. Let those last two verses sink in. With marvellous simplicity they describe the union of two realms, the human and divine, and the divinity concealed beneath gestures as human as walking by a lakeside.
This same wonder is evoked by today’s gospel in which a commonplace event is transformed into a theophany: a visible manifestation of God to human beings. An itinerant teacher, Jesus of Nazareth, borrows a fisherman’s boat so as to preach from a little distance out on the water, thereby achieving improved audibility for his sermon.
Yet Jesus had something greater in mind than mere acoustics; he was on a fishing expedition of his own. Using that boat offered him the opportunity to speak to its owner, Simon Peter, telling him to put out into the deep and cast his nets for a catch. This invitation was fraught with potential tension: Jesus, a craftsman by trade, had the temerity to tell Simon, a career fisherman, to do something that went directly against both instinct and experience.
Yet Simon shows remarkable restraint and humility in his reaction, especially when we consider his fatigue and frustration following an entire night of fruitless toil. His words, “but at your command I will lower the nets”, demonstrate his greatness. Perhaps something in Jesus’s sermon that morning touched his heart; or maybe the Lord’s serene authority stirred something within him.
Against his own better judgement, he obeys the command and is abundantly rewarded; a prodigious catch of fish ensues, filling two boats to the point of almost sinking them. The sign is unmistakable: when Messiah lays the banquet, it is indeed lavish!
Simon’s reaction amply acknowledges this revelation. He falls to his knees in adoration, exclaiming: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” A smelly fishing boat thus becomes a temple. Addressing Jesus by the title “Lord” (Kyrie in Greek) he proclaims that the man who borrowed his boat that morning is also the creator of the earth and skies, and that God is indeed walking by Galilee.
Today’s first reading dovetails beautifully with this account. Once again, we are presented with a theophany, although this time round it takes place in what would seem to be a more suitable setting: the temple. The prophet Isaiah undergoes a mystical experience, a vision of God’s majesty and glory. It provokes in him the only appropriate reaction, one strikingly similar to Simon Peter’s: a holy fear, stemming from his awareness of being a sinner in the presence of pure holiness.
In both accounts, the Lord’s response is one of mercy and confidence. Isaiah is first purified (a seraph cleanses his lips with an ember from the altar) and then given the mission to go and prophesy to Israel. Simon Peter too is commissioned by Jesus with the words: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” With his partners James and John, he leaves everything and follows Christ.
Whether within the mystical setting of a temple (our interior, spiritual life), or surrounded by boats, nets, and fish (our daily commitments and occupations), God is still active, calling the next generation of disciples, prophets, and apostles.
The juxtaposition of these two readings in today’s liturgy is an invitation to allow ourselves to be sought and found by God where we are, even in our weaknesses and failures. Whether within the mystical setting of a temple (our interior, spiritual life), or surrounded by boats, nets, and fish (our daily commitments and occupations), God is still active, calling the next generation of disciples, prophets, and apostles.
bgatt@maltachurchtribunals.org