Gospel: Luke 5:1-11
One day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around him listening to the word of God, he caught sight
of two boats, left at the water’s edge by fishermen, now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There he sat, and continued to teach the crowd. When he had finished speaking, he said to
Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say
so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signaled their partners in the other
boat to come and help them. They came, and they filled both boats almost to the point of sinking. Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees,
saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were Simon’s partners,
James and John, Zebedee’s sons. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and
followed him, leaving everything.
Reflection:
Revelation is always a twinrevelation: who God is and who we
are. Before the vision of the immense grandeur and holiness of God, Isaiah
can only become self-conscious of his own sinfulness. Before the miraculous
catch of fish that Jesus worked, Peter can only murmur: “Leave me, Lord,
for I am a sinful man.” And Paul knows very well that he was so despicable
that he neither merited a visitation from God nor the title apostle.
This self-awareness is invariably a consciousness of the vast gulf
existing between God’s goodness and holiness, and our creatureliness
and sinfulness. Thankfully, within this gulf plays God’s Grace that
transforms us into whom God desires us to be—as it happened with Isaiah,
Paul, and Peter. So, perhaps I should correct myself: Revelation is always
three-pronged: Who God is, who we are, and who we can be, by God’s
Grace.
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