Fourth Sunday before Lent
“Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break.”
Overview
These days everything seems to be running out: public finance, oil and gas, healthcare and social support, even wellbeing and goodwill seem to be in short supply. We look upon the world around us as a place of scarcity: whether it’s jobs, doctors’ appointments, truck drivers or natural gas – there just doesn’t seem to be enough of it. In today’s gospel, Luke 5:1-11, the fishermen at the shore have empty nets, they have worked all night and have nothing to show for it. And then miraculously, along comes Jesus and, boom, their nets are filled with a superabundance of fish. Such abundance that they can barely bear the weight of it. This seems too good to be true; the kind of miracle stories that have no relevance to us once we leave Sunday School. Looking at this familiar story afresh this week I am struck, not so much by the abundance, as by the efforts made by the community. The decision to put out to sea again, to commit yet more scarce resources to an uncertain venture, is made together. Not just by the crew of one boat but by many; the catch, when it comes, is landed by many boats. What Jesus gives to this community is the imaginative vision to take the risk but they have to do it together, all hands on deck, literally. How can this story bring us to look at the world around us as a place of abundance not of scarcity? Perhaps, the truly abundant resource here is the community. The planet may well be running dry of oil and gas and the public coffers running dry of credit, but we are not running out of people. What we need is the imagination and the vision to take the risk of pooling our resources and striving together for something better than our individual security.
FIRST READING
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
GOSPEL
Luke 5:1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
