Better understanding the Gospel

with Marie-Noëlle Thabut

Head out to sea, and cast your nets.

We don't often compare the Apostle Peter to the prophet Isaiah, and yet the juxtaposition of the liturgical texts for this fifth Sunday invites us to do so, by having us read the accounts of their vocations. The setting is not the same: for Isaiah, it took place during a vision in the Temple in Jerusalem; Peter, on the other hand, is on the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Gennesaret). Both are suddenly brought into the presence of God himself: Isaiah during his vision, Peter because he witnesses a miracle. The details provided by Luke leave no doubt about this: "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing," is the observation of the skilled craftsman. Then came the unexpected success of the enterprise, which, from a human perspective, seemed doomed to failure: if fishing yields nothing at night, it has even less chance of being fruitful during the day, as all fishermen say; but at the simple word of Jesus, the miracle occurred: "They caught such a quantity of fish that their nets began to tear."

And both Peter and Isaiah had the same reaction to this irruption of God into their lives; both shared the same awareness of God's holiness and the abyss that separates us from Him. And their expressions were remarkably similar: "Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man," said Peter; and Isaiah said, "Woe to me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!"

But apparently, it is not our sin, our unworthiness, that stops God! It is enough for Him that we become aware of it, that we truly stand before Him. For the day we become aware of our poverty, God can fill us. Both Peter and Isaiah are thus gripped by a kind of awe before the evident manifestation of God. Then, still in his vision, Isaiah sees the act that purifies and reassures him; Peter, for his part, hears Jesus' words of comfort: "Do not be afraid." Finally, both receive a vocation, in service to the same plan of God, of course, which is the salvation of humankind. Isaiah will be a messenger, a prophet. Peter will be a fisher of men, a "savior."

"These are men you will take": in Greek, the meaning of the word used here is "to take alive"; when it comes to fish, it is the word used for net fishing: to capture fish, to pull them from the sea, is to kill them because the sea is their natural environment... But when it comes to men being pulled from the sea, it means to save: to take men alive, to pull them from the sea, is to prevent them from drowning, is to save them.

At your word, we will cast the nets

To Jesus' words, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men," Peter does not respond; the simplicity of the text is striking: "So they brought their boats to shore and, leaving everything, followed him." But we must agree on the meaning of the word "follow": the disciples will not simply follow the master to listen to him; they will be associated with his task, they will become his collaborators. Even if the undertaking seems doomed to failure from a human perspective, the nets must continue to be cast. We are thus confronted with the extraordinary mystery of our collaboration in God's work: we can do nothing without God, but God wants to do nothing without us. As Paul said in the second reading, it is the grace of God that accomplishes everything: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace coming to me was not in vain. I worked harder than all others; "To be honest, it's not me, it's the grace of God with me."

The only collaboration asked of us, if we think about it, is trust and availability. It all began because Peter trusted: “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; but at your word I will let down the nets.” He trusts this master, whom he has just heard speak at length to the crowd, enough to listen to him, enough to risk another fishing attempt; after the miracle, he no longer says “Master,” he says “Lord,” the name reserved for God; and it is at the Lord’s feet that he prostrates himself; and then he is ready to hear the call: to risk this new kind of fishing that Jesus proposes to him, he must recognize him as the Lord.

Thanks to the generosity of Isaiah who agreed to become a messenger, thanks to the generosity of Peter and his companions who left everything to follow Jesus, thanks to the generosity of Paul who, after the road to Damascus, dedicated the rest of his life to bearing witness to the risen Christ, in our turn, we are here; the word of Christ still resounds in our ears: "Put out into the deep, and let down the nets"... It is our turn to respond: "At your word, we will let down the nets."

The moral of the story: let's have faith and be willing to cast our nets. For the catch to be miraculous, all we need is to believe in Him.