Sunday, February 4, 2007 Luke 5
“When they brought their nets to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”
As a little boy, I remember standing on the beach in the early morning at Beach Haven, NJ and watching the weathered fishermen dragging their boat onto the beach and emptying their nets, sorting through the fish and showing off their skill to the summer visitors from the city who did not know a fluke from a float. Their image comes to my mind when I hear the gospel about the sorting of good fish from bad found in the dragnets of Matthew’s parable or the gospel about Jesus cooking a fish breakfast for the disciples on the shore of Lake Galilee, this among John’s stories of the resurrection, or Luke’s gospel read today about the miraculous catch of fish.
The fishermen I would see at Beach Haven launched their boats into the surf in the early morning light each day and harvested the fish from the off-shore nets they had carefully tethered there. The rest of the day some spent as carpenters or policemen or lifeguards or garbage men. There was always day work for those who did not want to spend the rest of the day in Hudson’s, the bar two blocks from the ocean. But in the men of the fishing profession in Galilee, in Peter, James, John and Andrew, Jesus saw some extraordinary passion, a passion that one generally does not associate with fishermen. If the men in Galilee were anything like the ones at Beach Haven, Jesus picked smelly, hard-scrapple, rough-tongued men to be his followers. It is astounding that they sacrificed everything for him and that their actions transformed the Western world.
This story today of the miraculous catch of fish is one of my favorites. It is a formative story for those of us who love the image of the nets overloaded with fish. In every culture that flourished along the sea or along big lakes this image is an image of plenty and success. Amid the suffering of Jesus and the pain that often accompanies repentance, it is so comforting to have this image of distended nets, an image of success and plenty. It is a formative story, too, for those of us who understand full well what the astounded Peter means when he says to the Lord: “Depart from me for I am a sinful man”; a formative story even for those who have said milder words of reluctance in the face of something astounding: “Why me?”; a formative story, too, for those of us who have ever felt supported by some inexplicable courage beyond ourselves and who thus can resonate to Jesus’ words to Peter: “Do not be afraid.”
“When they brought their nets to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”
“When they brought their nets to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”
As a little boy, I remember standing on the beach in the early morning at Beach Haven, NJ and watching the weathered fishermen dragging their boat onto the beach and emptying their nets, sorting through the fish and showing off their skill to the summer visitors from the city who did not know a fluke from a float. Their image comes to my mind when I hear the gospel about the sorting of good fish from bad found in the dragnets of Matthew’s parable or the gospel about Jesus cooking a fish breakfast for the disciples on the shore of Lake Galilee, this among John’s stories of the resurrection, or Luke’s gospel read today about the miraculous catch of fish.
The fishermen I would see at Beach Haven launched their boats into the surf in the early morning light each day and harvested the fish from the off-shore nets they had carefully tethered there. The rest of the day some spent as carpenters or policemen or lifeguards or garbage men. There was always day work for those who did not want to spend the rest of the day in Hudson’s, the bar two blocks from the ocean. But in the men of the fishing profession in Galilee, in Peter, James, John and Andrew, Jesus saw some extraordinary passion, a passion that one generally does not associate with fishermen. If the men in Galilee were anything like the ones at Beach Haven, Jesus picked smelly, hard-scrapple, rough-tongued men to be his followers. It is astounding that they sacrificed everything for him and that their actions transformed the Western world.
This story today of the miraculous catch of fish is one of my favorites. It is a formative story for those of us who love the image of the nets overloaded with fish. In every culture that flourished along the sea or along big lakes this image is an image of plenty and success. Amid the suffering of Jesus and the pain that often accompanies repentance, it is so comforting to have this image of distended nets, an image of success and plenty. It is a formative story, too, for those of us who understand full well what the astounded Peter means when he says to the Lord: “Depart from me for I am a sinful man”; a formative story even for those who have said milder words of reluctance in the face of something astounding: “Why me?”; a formative story, too, for those of us who have ever felt supported by some inexplicable courage beyond ourselves and who thus can resonate to Jesus’ words to Peter: “Do not be afraid.”
“When they brought their nets to the shore, they left everything and followed him.”
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