The call of Simon the fisherman

It is the fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. As you very well know, it is now the beginning of the Galilean ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ and he is just starting to call his first apostles, in the person of Simon Peter, a fisherman in Lake Gennesaret, which is also called the Lake Tiberius or the Sea of Galilee. You can read today’s gospel in Luke 5:1-11.

“5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

“5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

“8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

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What we learned in today’s gospel story is that Jesus has already began his ministry and was being followed by a group of people who went with him to the shore in Lake Gennesaret. With a huge crowd surrounding him, he boarded the boat owned by Simon Peter and asked him to move the boat away from the shore so he could address the people from the boat. After he finished his teaching, he then instructed Simon to move the boat into deep water and drop the nets for a catch. Simon told the Lord, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Thus Simon obeyed the command of the Lord.

Let’s pay careful attention to those words of instruction, “Put out into the deep water” which Jesus addressed to Simon Peter. In Latin, the words were “Duc in altum”. It refers to the open sea, well away from land. The phrase “Put out into the deep” is one of great richness which carries the nuance of going out into the unknown world where no one has yet set foot, or the world where mystery is realized. Whilst Jesus is certainly telling Peter: “Take the boat further away from the shore to where the water is deeper” that is not all he is saying. He is also telling him to move out beyond our present human experience and speculation; to move towards the world of mystery, or into the world of the events of salvation.

In obeying the command of the Lord, their nets were suddenly full of fish that they called upon fishermen in the other boat to assist them with their great catch to the point that their boats were nearly sinking. At this point, Simon jumped out of his boat and went to shore and in front of our Lord he declared, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” This signifies that Simon believed that this great catch was a great blessing for him who is a sinful man and he felt that he didn’t deserve it. The Lord’s reply to Simon was, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” What Simon felt was his calling or vocation to be a follower of Jesus Christ.

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