The Net

Thursday of the Twenty Second Week in Ordinary Time

Readings for Thursday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time

Reflection:

You’ve had a really hard day at work and feel like you have not accomplished a thing when this strangely charismatic man walks up to you following by a big crowd of people. The man tells you to go back and do the same work you’ve just been trying to do for the past eight hours. At first you complain, but then think, what can it hurt and do as he asks. To your utter amazement when you do, you are successful beyond all imagining. You are so successful you have to call in your partners to help with all the results. What do you think of the man with the crowd?

Today we hear of the call of Peter from the Gospel according to Luke. I paraphrased it above for dramatic impact only because of all the Gospel stories about this event, Luke puts some meat on the bones of the story. Listen to the same event from the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew:

Mark
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew
casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Then they abandoned
their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther and saw James,
the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their
nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along
with the hired men and followed him.
(MK 1 16-20)

Matthew
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon
who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they
were fishermen. He said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of
men."
At once they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along
from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his
brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their
nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and
followed him. (MT 4 18-22)

As you can see from the other Gospels, St. Luke provides motivation for Simon Peter and his brother to follow the Lord while Mark and Matthew report only that it was a more casual invitation. There are all kinds of speculations we could make about the situation surrounding this important event. We could speculate that the main reason the four young fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James and John) followed Jesus was because they had witnessed what could only have been perceived as a miracle and were so impressed they could not refuse the invitation to go and fish for men.

We could speculate that Luke created this context based upon Peter’s post resurrection meeting with the Lord as reported in St. John’s Gospel;

After this, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of
Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way.
Together were Simon Peter, Thomas
called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee's sons, and two others
of his disciples.
Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said
to him, "We also will come with you." So they went out and got into the boat,
but that night they caught nothing.
When it was already dawn, Jesus was
standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to them, "Children, have you caught anything to eat?" They
answered him, "No."
So he said to them, "Cast the net over the right side of
the boat and you will find something." So they cast it, and were not able to
pull it in because of the number of fish.
So the disciple whom Jesus loved
said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he
tucked in his garment, for he was lightly clad, and jumped into the sea.
The other disciples came in the boat, for they were not far from shore, only about a hundred yards, dragging the net with the fish. (Jn 21 1-8)

I see we have already been trapped by our desire to analyze the Holy Scripture and I promised this would be a reflection not an exegesis. It seems that there are two significant practical applications of this event we can take away. First, Jesus called and the four fishermen dropped what they were doing and followed the Lord, leaving behind them their families and worldly goods. We can only imagine the difficulty of that decision. It could only have been made if these men had been ready spiritually to make that transition in their lives. It is something that we can emulate to a degree. For most people it is not realistic to think of just dropping everything and going off to do what we perceive to be the Lord’s work.

A second higher level message is that, like the Lord called Peter, Andrew, James and John to become fishers of men, we to are called to reach out to the people we meet. We are asked to ensnare them in the web of love the Lord has provided so they might come to know the great prize that is waiting for them.

So to summarize, today we hear of the call of Peter, his brother, and the sons of Zebedee. As they were called so we are called, to become fishers of men and to bring hope to those who need hope, love to those who need love. It is a tall order and a good reminder.
Pax