Msgr. Beaulieu – Captured

Captured for Preservation and Continued Life

During the first weeks of Ordinary Time, the Gospels focus upon the call of the Apostles. Among the Synoptic Gospels, Saints Mark (Mk 1:16-20) and Matthew (Mt 4:18-22) recount Jesus walking along the Sea of Galilee and, then, abruptly calling two pairs of brothers to follow Him – Peter and Andrew, James and John. It is only in the third of those three Synoptic gospels that Saint Luke recounts a miraculous catch of fish preceding the call of Simon. In that Third Gospel, the apostolic call is principally extended to Simon Peter, whereas James and John are mentioned only as an aside. When taken together, Peter, James and John constitute the inner circle of the Twelve.

In a prior incident, Jesus had been in Capernaum and healed Peter’s mother-in-law who was ill with a fever, which might have had something to do with why Simon let Jesus use his boat. Then, from offshore, “with the crowd pressing in,” Jesus continued to preach – first to the crowd along the shore, though the content of His message was not written down. After having fished all night to no avail, Jesus tells the boat-owner to head out to the deep water and lower the nets. As a seasoned fisherman, Simon must have had grave reservations about what had to seem like a futile effort. Yet, possibly humoring Jesus, he did what had been asked of him. Unexpectedly, Simon discovers that by fishing with Jesus, the catch exceeded his wildest dreams, his capacities, and his boat. Amazement is often the human reaction to the manifestation of any miracle. Simon saw in himself all that was foreign to holiness and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” He sees the overwhelming disparity between God’s power manifested in Jesus and his own mortal, compromised life. Jesus responds to Simon by saying, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men”.

The English word catching or zōgrōn (Gk. ζωγρῶν) is rare in the New Testament, but literally means not simply to catch, but to catch alive. In the New Testament, the verbal form of that word or zógreó is used to describe the act of taking something alive. Of course, fishing with nets was a matter of catching fish alive, but what were captured as live fish would soon not be alive. So, Jesus calls Simon and his partners to the new vocation of catching people so that they might live, a life-giving vocation of being caught up in God’s mission of salvation for all. Their mission was not just capturing for destruction, but to capture others for preservation and continued life.

Throughout Scripture you will see that human sin, failure, and inadequacy are no obstacles to God’s call. God calls imperfect people to do His work of salvation, people who, altogether too aware of their unworthiness, find themselves often doubting and resistant to heeding God’s call. The Lord Jesus called Simon Peter, James and John as they were and, subsequently, He worked at shaping those three and the other nine into faithful servants. In Saint John’s Gospel, you would read this, “Without me, you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Conversely, in today’s passage, you could say, “With me you can do what you never thought possible. You will even be catching men.”

Excerpted from http://www.workingpreacher.com Elisabeth Johnson. “Commentary on Luke 5:1-11.” 20 January 2013.