Coffee With God

Reflection: Luke 5:1-11

The episode of the call of the first three apostles takes place on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret. Jesus goes into the boat of Peter, asks him to put out a little off the ground, sits down and begins to teach the people. The intension of the evangelist by creating this scene is to transmit a theological message. It is not only during the liturgy on Saturday and in the environments and places of worship that Jesus proclaims the Word of God. He proclaims in all contexts. He meets people where they are at work. Jesus wants the gospel to be shared with people in their actual life situations. Jesus sits in Peter’s boat. The symbolism is obvious: the boat represents the Christian community. On the boat, there are no exceptional, holy, perfect people! There are good people, but also sinful. However, despite being occupied by sinners, it is from this boat that the Word of God is proclaimed. Action follows the proclamation of the Word. On the orders of the Master, the disciples are invited to cast their nets for a catch. It is the Christian community who, animated by the Gospel message, is dispersed through the streets of the world to carry out its mission ‘to put out to the deep for a catch’. Peter is not convinced. His experience tells him that it is not the appropriate time to fish. Human logic would suggest him to give up, but he trusts, he prefers to obey. Many times, this is also the experience of people who are involved in preaching the Gospel. In spite of the best efforts, we might feel frustrated that we have no results! Gospel reminds us just have trust. After the miraculous catch, Simon throws himself at Jesus’ knees and declares his own unworthiness: “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” It’s the way the Bible tells of the encounter of different people with the Lord: Moses covered his face because he was afraid (Ex 3:6); Elijah covered his face with his mantle (1 K 19:13). Now, Peter also feels sinful and confesses his unworthiness. This brings us to the central theme of the passage (vv. 10b-11). The main reason why Luke recounts the episode is to make it clear to the disciples of his community about the mission to which they are called: to be fishers of people. In the Bible, the waters of the sea are a symbol of the powers of evil, the forces that lead to death. The mission of the Church is to pull out the people of their hopeless condition of being engulfed by violence and hatred, war, moral corruption – all the powers of evil that destroys God’s beautiful creation. We are called to be ready without doubts to “fish at midday” when the Teacher asks for it.