I’m not a fisherman, but if you are a fisherman, you probably liked today’s gospel. Jesus calls four fishermen to be fishers of men. They were actually fishing for fish, but they would go on to fish for men. Jesus is going to call Peter, James, John and Andrew to follow Him and become fishers of men.
But first a story:
Two experienced fishermen decided one day to go ice fishing. They walked out on the frozen lake, cut a hole in the ice, put worms on their hooks, and lowered their lines into the water. After about three hours they had caught nothing. Then a young boy walked by with some fishing gear. He cut a hole in the ice, put a worm on his hook, lowered the line into the water, and immediately pulled out a fish. He repeated this process over and over until a pile of fish lay on the ice. The two fishermen were amazed. One of them walked over to the boy and said, “Young man, we have been sitting here for three hours and have caught nothing, and yet you in a few minutes have caught a dozen fish. What is your secret?” The boy looked up and mumbled something that the man could not hear. The man noticed that there was bulge in the boy’s cheek. So, he said to him, “Young man, if you don’t mind, would you spit out that bubble gum so that you could speak clearly and I could understand you.” The young boy cupped his hands and spit it out. Then he said, “It’s not bubble gum. It’s my secret. You need to keep the worms warm.” Now, back to the gospel:
When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
The words of Jesus contain both a command and a promise. It’s not as if Jesus is saying, ‘Let’s go out into the deep water, put down the nets, and we’ll see what happens.’ Jesus is promising that if Peter will obey, he will catch fish. I’m sure that after a long night of fruitless fishing, this must have been hard to believe.
We can learn some useful lessons from this:
1) God never gives foolish commands—though they may look foolish at the time;
2) God intends to bless those who obey him without hesitation;
3) God’s greatest miracles usually require our cooperation.
There were certainly reasons for Peter to be skeptical. After all, the experience of the previous night seemed conclusive. As a professional fisherman, Peter knew the lake. And he knew that sometimes even the best fishermen get “skunked.”
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He could have said, “Sorry, Lord, but it’s not worth the trouble.” Or “I’m the expert here.” Now comes the time to “fish or cut bait.” What will Peter do?
I love the way Peter puts it, “Yet if you say so.” This is the watchword of the saints. Across the centuries believers have found them to be their divine marching orders. Conditions may be dark and the world may fight against us, circumstances may overwhelm us, and our fears nearly submerge us. But God speaks and his children say, “Yet if you say so.” And off we go in obedience to Almighty God.
Then Peter added, “I will let down the nets.” We still have a part to do. The fish aren’t going to jump in the boat by themselves. We still have to do what we have to do. We’ve got to go to work, we’ve got to stay on the diet, we’ve got to go to the meetings, we’ve got to go to the counselor, we’ve got to share the gospel, we’ve got to do our homework, we’ve got to write the term paper. There is still work for us to do. I believe there are many answers to prayers that await only one thing: “Let down your nets.” Put your net down into the deep water, do your part, and then God will do his. “Without God we can’t; without us he won’t.”
I would guess that most of us could identify with Peter! We too have times in our lives when it seems like we are not succeeding. We may be making great efforts to live life well. We may be working diligently and doing our best. However, these efforts don’t seem to bear much fruit. At these times, it is natural to get disheartened and frustrated. However, will we be open and respond to Jesus’ invitation to “keep lowering our nets?” Or will we say, “Enough is enough?” Or will we listen to his call, heed his voice, and trust him? May we pray for the grace to have an open mind and a willing heart!
–Dcn. Terry Murphy