The contrast between the grandeur of the Christian calling and human limitations makes many people consider themselves incapable of fulfilling their vocation. Divine pedagogy transmits a different teaching.
Gospel of the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 While the people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. 2 And He saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when He had ceased speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, 7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him (Lk 5: 1-11).
I – God Nurtures and Teaches Us
The expressiveness of the animal kingdom is fascinating to man, especially when it offers displays that resemble situations and circumstances of human life. The fauna in rural settings attracts our attention in a special way when it reveals one of its most vibrant qualities—the maternal instinct. This instinct comes to the fore not only in the feeding and nurturing of the young, but also in the care taken to adapt them for survival in their surroundings.
Anyone who has strolled down a country lane has likely come across the sight of a hen crossing a pathway followed by one of her chicks. As the little one struggles to keep up with its mother—the disproportion between them obliging it to take several steps to cover the distance she takes with just one—she seems oblivious to its plight in her haste. But she is actually so attuned that at the first sign of danger, her reaction to defend her hatchling will be immediate and energetic. She is ready to lay down her life, if needed, to save it from danger.
The maternal instinct—which goes much deeper in humans—is yet a pale reflection of the care of the Creator Who, wanting to deepen His relationship with man, raised him to sonship. In so doing, He elevated him to partake in His divine life through grace, as St. John exclaims: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 Jn 3: 1).
As a true Father, the Most High never ceases to protect, shelter and draw all human creatures to Himself. And, going infinitely beyond the care of a mother in preparing her children to face life, the Divine Teacher conducts men—by ways that are as diverse as souls—to the fulfilment of the specific vocation that His Wisdom has apportioned each one.
Let us consider the Gospel of the Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time from this perspective.
II – The Miraculous Catch
Our Lord’s encounter with the first disciples related by St. John (cf. Jn 1: 35-42), is an important basis for understanding the Gospel passage presented by the Liturgy. Contrary to the rabbinic and Greek schools of the time, in which men entered by personal choice, Jesus Himself selected His followers with Divine authority, as He would affirm: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you ” (Jn 15: 16). Accompanying Him throughout His early ministry, this small group received the teachings of Christ and witnessed His miracles, beginning with that of the Wedding at Cana, when He “manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him” (Jn 2: 11).
The Messiah’s first followers, however, were not immediately made Apostles. This office would later strengthen the bonds uniting them with the Master, making them participators in His power, besides demanding entire dedication to the vocation and the laying aside of all occupations foreign to missionary work. Before receiving this call—for which Jesus gradually prepared them, through a sublime pedagogy—they divided their time between discipleship and the tasks of the trade by which they supported themselves and their respective families. For Simon, Andrew and the two sons of Zebedee—James and John—all fishermen, this meant long interludes, frequently at night, on the fish-filled Lake of Gennesaret.
The unfolding of the episode described in St. Luke’s passage that we consider today occurred after just such a night spent on the water.
Preaching on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret
1 While the people pressed upon Him to hear the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.
Owing to its singular geographical setting, the Lake of Gennesaret is a prize of nature. Flanked by sober mountains of regular shape to the east, the rugged land rises to form a distinctive cordillera to the west. Completing the picture, Mount Hermon looms on the boreal horizon, capped with snow during much of the year. Despite its natural beauty the lake is rarely mentioned in the Old Testament, 1 only gaining renown when it becomes the stage for numerous scenes of the Redeemer’s life as described in the Gospels. The first, chronologically, is narrated here by St. Luke.
After recounting various miracles and the preaching of Jesus in Galilee at the onset of His public life, the Evangelist registers His withdrawal to a lonely place; yet the multitudes “sought Him and came to Him, and would have kept Him from leaving them” (Lk 4: 42). More than for His marvels and teachings, the people followed Him for His compelling attractiveness. The desire to see Him, hear Him and be near Him had brought the crowd of His followers to press in around Him at the lakeside, creating a situation little conducive to preaching.
2 And He saw two boats by the lake; but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.
In those times, the Lake of Gennesaret was an active fishing centre; in fact, fishing was the chief means of livelihood for the local populace. Since the trade demanded group action, the fishermen gathered into small teams, and frequently two or more of these groups would form into a sort of corporation. With their own boats, and under the direction of an overseer, the associates would join forces to complete each day’s toil, and afterwards divide the catch.
In this episode, the two vessels, one belonging to Simon and the other to Zebedee, had returned after a night of not catching anything. To the state of generalized disappointment was added the human factors in play, such as the fatigue caused by the night on the water and the thankless task of having to clean the nets even though nothing had been hauled in. According to the Master’s wise pedagogy, it was then, when they were weary and feeling like failures, that the fishermen were best suited to receive the mission reserved for them.
The boat, symbol of the Church
3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat.
As with all of Our Lord’s acts, the choice of boat is deeply significant. Commentators are unanimous on this particular: with this gesture, Christ wished to indicate Simon’s preeminent position in the Apostolic College, soon to be established, symbolizing the barque of the nascent Church. “With the establishment of the Church, Jesus, personally, or through Peter, His Vicar, will instruct the world. ‘Where Peter is, there is the Church.’ This shows the measure of adhesion that we should profess with regard to the See of Peter,” 2 explains Cardinal Gomá y Tomás.
A further detail calls our attention: would Jesus have entered the boat while it was on the sand, without wetting His feet, or would He have taken a few paces into the water to embark? In either instance the sand benefited from being trodden upon by the God-Man. Did the same occur with the water? This is just one of the many points of curiosity that the succinct Gospel narrations arouse…
To take advantage of the natural slope of the beach where the public was crowded, Jesus told Simon to pull away a short distance from the shore, forming a unique amphitheatre. It was a poetic scene. As the boat gently rocked on the rippling waters, the Creator of Heaven and earth, God Incarnate, preached His doctrine to the multitudes.
“Put out into the deep!”
4 And when He had ceased speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”
With this order to “put out into the deep,” the Redeemer indicates the boldness that should characterize the goals to which those fishermen should now aspire. He prepares them for an action ampler than that related to lakes—the divine plan for the salvation of mankind. In other words, Our Lord asks for generous hearts.
Simon, as a seasoned fisherman, knew that there was no possibility of catching anything on the morning after a night of fruitless labour. He thus had valid reason and ample pretext to disregard Jesus’ order. He could have given a negative response, based on expertise, reasoning that it would be troublesome—and even futile—to cast the nets. Yet, he acted differently.
5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
Far from showing a lack of faith, Simon’s explanation, presumably spoken in a most deferential tone, proves his trust in the Master’s word. With coherence, he practices an act of perfect obedience. When he is tested, he suspends his own judgment and immediately fulfils the order received. This faith and docility to the divine decision, essential to a true apostle, was the response Jesus awaited to perform the miracle.
The miraculous catch
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great shoal of fish; and as their nets were breaking, 7 they beckoned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
The final outcome of their fishing, “yielded the quantity of fish that the Lord of land and sea wanted,” 3 affirms St. Gregory of Nyssa. Besides representing an abundant harvest to which He had already made allusion to the Apostles—the labourers were few—Christ also illustrates the importance of mutual aid and harmony. Without the collaboration of their companions from the second boat, it would have been impossible to pull those fish out of the water. In the same way, the evangelization of the world would call on the joint forces of the Apostles to conduct each soul confided to them by Providence along the path of salvation.
The abundance of fish underscores another aspect of Jesus’ supreme didactic: being expert fishermen, the disciples readily concluded that the occurrence had no natural explanation. The Master had already performed a miracle with inanimate created matter, transforming water into wine at the Wedding at Cana; now, for the first time showing His power over animal nature, He makes them understand His absolute dominion over all beings. In this manner, before convoking those disciples to follow Him unreservedly, Jesus willed to manifest His power over creation by this prodigious catch to convince them that He would always provide for the temporal necessities that would arise in their missionary life, helping them to leave their earthly cares behind.
Yet Jesus’ prime aim was to make Simon, and the rest of the disciples, understand that if “during the whole night they had caught nothing, then all effort without Christ is futile, just as are all human acts without grace,” 4 explains Maldonado. The Saviour wished to leave registered for all time that the mission of saving souls is a continual miraculous catch in which the apostle figures only as an instrument. The ability and diligence of the apostolic worker is compromised unless it is motivated by the voice of He Who said of Himself: “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn 15: 5).
Humility, the condition for answering the call
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.
Although Peter had already witnessed other miracles—including the cure of his mother-in-law (cf. Lk 4: 38-39), he was astonished with the happening. This is another facet of the Redeemer’s pedagogy: He adapts the call to the characteristics and aptitudes of each person. “The miraculous catch was the miracle that was needed to convince a fisherman like Simon Peter” 5 comments Fr. Cantalamessa. For the same reason, St. Luke names James and John from among the other fishermen, showing that the incident deeply touched their souls. Despite having witnessed several of the Master’s previous prodigies they were also astonished.
Shortly before returning to Galilee, Jesus had acted similarly at Jacob’s well when He offered the Samaritan woman water that would quench her thirst forever (cf. Jn 4: 1-42). The topic immediately sparked her interest: “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw” (Jn 4: 15). And opening her soul to the working of grace, she went away from the encounter as a witness of Our Lord, bringing many Samaritans to believe in Him because of her testimony.
Only then did Peter fully understand the infinite chasm separating him from Christ. The fisherman’s eyes were opened to Christ’s greatness in a special way by this amazing catch. He was struck with a feeling of personal insufficiency, and under the searching gaze of Jesus, he understood that Our Lord saw him to the depth of his soul, with all his faults. Overwhelmed with his sinfulness, Peter casts himself before the God-Man and asks Him to depart from him. Little did he know that this proof of humility was the final preparation for the mission that would unite him definitively with the Saviour.
Fishers of men
10b And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men.”
Linking the miracle with the calling, Jesus reassures Peter, “as if to say: Don’t be troubled, but be happy and believe that you have been chosen by My Providence to a superior catch. A different boat and different nets will be given to you. Up until this moment you have caught fish with your nets, but from now on, you will be catching men, with your words, leading them to the path of salvation through wholesome doctrine.” 6
It is interesting that in associating fishing with the apostolate, Jesus hints to Peter and his companions that “this arduous task had been an excellent preparatory school in becoming worthy disciples of the Messiah. They had learned patience from it, and how to be valiant in toil,” 7 observes Fillion. Now, just as they had not feared the dangers of the night and the difficulties of the trade, they should be bold as missionaries, plunging bravely into the thick of evangelization. And they should never lose heart in casting out for the apostolic catch, with sights aimed at “preventing the chosen ones from perishing, grasping hold of them, and bringing them from the depths to the light.” 8 Even after many fruitless attempts, they should keep their eye on the hour of grace in souls, which does not depend on the apostle’s efforts but on God’s will.
Our Lord neither confirms nor denies Peter’s condition of sinner, and this is an important point. He emphasizes that God does not grant a vocation based on virtues or defects, which are known to Him from all eternity. Callings come from His infinitely merciful plans. Jesus does not become caught up in discussing Peter’s weaknesses, for this does not impede his being chosen as Prince of the Apostles, nor would it frustrate the fulfilment of this mission.
The main result of the catch
11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
Many commentators combine the reports of the synoptic Evangelists on the calling of these Apostles into a single event. They consider the Master’s summons in the brief narrations of Sts. Matthew and Mark to have come as soon as the fishermen returned with their boats: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Mt 4: 19; Mk 1: 17). The first two Evangelists register it as an official mandate conferred on Peter and Andrew and then to James and John, which, according to St. Luke had been pronounced as the mission of Peter, from within the waters: “Do not be afraid; henceforth you will be catching men” (Lk 5: 10).
“With His grace, Jesus gives efficacy to the call; His voice is heard without hindrance or rejoinder, ‘at the very moment,’ producing total inner detachment towards everything—relatives, friends, acquaintances, belongings—they ‘left everything,’ feeling irresistibly attracted to Jesus, and ‘followed Him,’ without a care as to where,” 9 says Gomá y Tomás. The principal outcome of the miraculous catch was the conquest of the future Apostles, confirming the bountiful didactic efficacy of the Divine Fisherman.
III – A Call for all Times
The mandate given to the Apostles on the shores of the Lake of Gennesaret echoes across the centuries. It reaches us as well, convoking us to the mission of working for the glory of God and of the Church, as clergy, religious or laypersons. As Catholics, we must build up society according to Gospel precepts. We are responsible for drawing souls scattered across the troubled seas of the modern world to the barque of Peter.
The difficulties of this noble task will be admittedly numerous, and not least among them is coming face to face with our own faults and failings. In view of them, setting out and casting our nets seems impossible. What do we need to respond to a mission that so transcends our capacity? The Master answers us through the plume of St. Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12: 9).
The more powerless we feel to fulfil the vocation to which God has called us, the greater should be our trust in the power of the voice making the call. This faith-filled attitude of humility is the necessary condition for Our Lord to work the miraculous catch, proving that good results do not depend on human efforts and qualities. He confounds the strong of this world, and makes the weak accomplish great works (cf. 1 Cor 1: 27).
Let us, like St. Peter, be generous and confident, for in our lives, too, Christ has appeared and ordered: “Duc in altum! I want you to be instruments in the renewal of the face of the earth! Fear not; I will be your strength in achieving this glorious goal!” ◊
Notes
1 In the Old Testament, the references to the Lake of Gennesaret appear as the “Sea of Chinnereth” (cf. Nm 34:11; Jos 12:3; 13:27); and “Sea of Chinneroth” (Jos 12:3). Among the Evangelists, only St. Luke registers the “Lake of Gennesaret.” St. Matthew and St. Mark call it the “Sea of Galilee” (Mt 4:18; 15:29; Mk 1:16; 7:31). Later Herod gave it the name “Lake of Tiberius” in praise of the Emperor Tiberius; it is called by this name by St. John in his Gospel (cf. Jn 6:1; 21:1).
2 GOMÁ Y TOMÁS, Isidro. El Evangelio explicado, vol. II: Años primero y segundo de la Vida pública de Jesús. Barcelona: Balmes, 1930, p.80.
3 ST. GREGORY OF NYSSA, apud ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Catena Aurea. In Lucam, c.V, v.5-7; 8-11.
4 MALDONADO, SJ, Juan de. Comentarios a los Cuatro Evangelios, vol. II: Evangelios de San Marcos y San Lucas. Madrid: BAC, 1951, p.478.
5 CANTALAMESSA, OFMCap, Raniero. Echad las Redes. Reflexiones sobre los Evangelios. Ciclo C. Valencia: Edicep, 2003, p.196.
6 GARCÍA MATEO, SJ, Rogelio. El misterio de la vida de Cristo en los Ejercicios ignacianos y en el “Vita Christi” Cartujano de Ludolf von Sachsen – Antología de Textos. Madrid: BAC, 2002, p.103.
7 FILLION, Louis-Claude. Vida de Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, vol. II: Vida pública. Madrid: Rialp: 2000, p.23.
8 ST. AMBROSE. Expositio evangelii secundum Lucam, L.IV, n.72. In: Obras, vol. I. Madrid: BAC, 1966, p.227.
9 GOMÁ Y TOMÁS, op. cit., p.78.
