ISAIAH 6:1-8/1COR.15:1-11/ LK. 5:1-11
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Apostleship as Finding God for Oneself and Finding Oneself and Others for God
Fr Galadima Bitrus, (OSA)
Dear friends, we are meditating this Sunday on the journey to apostleship, which has roots in the journey to the prophetic vocation characterized by a roughly four-stepped experience: i. Encounter with the All-mighty and All-Holy God ii. Recognition of one’s miserable condition of sin iii. Experiencing the grace of purgation (purification) iv. Mission as going out to share our experiences of being wounded persons who have received healing, sinners who have been forgiven, weaklings who have been strengthened, and unclean who have been washed.
The 1st Reading (Isa 6:1-8) is the account of the prophetic commissioning of Isaiah. The event is situated in the year of the death of King Uzziah who became king at the age of 16 years and ruled for 52 years (see 1 Kgs 15:2). His name, Uzziah (a variant of it is Azariah, Heb. Uzzîyāhȗ) means “my strength is the Lord”. He is said to have initially pleased the Lord but was later struck with leprosy for failing to stop worship at local shrines, and his son, Jotham, had to take charge of the palace as long as the father lived in that condition (see 2 Kgs 15:5; 2 Chr 26:19-21).
This was the socio-historical and political context of Isaiah’s vision and commissioning. The news of a non-nonsense God was probably still in the air, and suddenly, Isaiah beholds him seated on a high and lofty throne, enormously clothed (Isa 6:1) and covered all-over by seraphim (literally, “burning creatures”) proclaiming his transcendent holiness (“Holy, Holy, Holy”, 6:2), and accompanied by ground-shaking phenomena and pervading smoke (6:3-4). In other words, this was a battle-ready powerful king-commander of armies gushing out consuming fire and suffocating smoke, ready to reduce to nothing whoever and whatever they will encounter. As Isaiah puts it, “My own eyes beheld the king, the Lord of the armies” (6:4).
In a culture where it was believed that man could not see God and remain alive, who will not think, as Isaiah did, that he was finished (“woe to me; I am lost”) when God appeared to him as such a Powerful King and unapproachably Holy Lord? Therefore, Isaiah began to confess his utter miserable condition of a sinner without escape: he confessed being not only a man of unclean lips but living among or surrounded by people of unclean lips just like him. In some way, he felt inescapably trapped in the human sinful condition that cannot survive the gaze of the All-Holy God.
But he was wrong. When God meets a sinful person, he comes with the fullness of his might and holiness to rescue and to sanctify, not to condemn and destroy. Hence, the seemingly harmful burning creatures accompanying God were not to be mistaken for agents of condemnation and destruction; rather, they were agents of purgation or sanctification: “Now that this [live coal] has touched your lips, your guilt shall depart and your sin purged away” (6:7).
Thus, Isaiah is not finished but will become even more rooted into life by entering into communion and friendship with the God of life, becoming his willing collaborator and ready apostle. As we read: “Then I heard the voice of my Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me’” (6:8). From now henceforth, Isaiah becomes an evangelist of the Word of Life, announcing the good news that the almighty king and Lord of the armies is not one whose sight should send us to flight but one whose appearance is a sure sign of saving and sanctifying grace.
We can, therefore, be confident to let God into our life, knowing that he does not come to take our life away but to rescue, save and sanctify it from our own inescapable destructive unclean and sinful existence.
In the 2nd Reading (1 Cor 15:1-11), the Apostle Paul reminds the Corinthians about the good news of God in Christ coming into our life not to take it away, but, in fact, to make our life more abundant by giving us his own life: “That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures….” (15:3ff). In this way, Paul came to the realization of the misery and poverty of his former life apart from Christ: “unfit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God” (15:9).
To Paul too, the all-holy and mighty God made manifest in Christ, appeared in a vision similar to that of Isaiah; for he too beheld a blinding light (parallel to Isaiah’s burning creatures) and heard the divine voice much like Isaiah. That encounter became also for Paul, a moment of his “Here I am Lord, send me”, thanks to the grace of the saving and transforming presence of Christ in his life.
The Gospel Reading (Lk 5:1-11) is the account of the call and commissioning of the first four disciples of Jesus: Simon and his brother Andrew, and the two sons of Zebedee, James and John. The call is situated within the social setting of the busy fishing and apparently, also a recreational first-century lake of Gennesaret (sea of Galilee).
A large crowd had gathered around Jesus by the side of the sea, on the beach so to speak, “to hear the Word of God” (5:1). Note that the evangelist says, the people were pressing on Jesus to “hear the Word of God”, not merely to listen to Jesus speak well. Therefore, their focus was on the content, not the style, which we often get fixated on.
As he taught, Jesus sighted two empty boats by the shore of the lake and he entered one, even asking the owner (Simon) to put it a little away from the shore. He used it as his chair to sit and to teach (5:2-3). Teaching or preaching while seated is a sign of authority. This is why doctors of the Church (the bishops) have the teaching chair (in Latin and Greek, “Cathèdra”) in the central Church of the diocese (the Cathedral) since the Bishops exercise in communion with the Pope, the Church’s teaching authority or office, which the priests also participate or share in.
One may wonder how and why Simon would have allowed a stranger to occupy his boat just like that, even instructing him to move it a bit away from the seashore. Note, however, that in the world of Luke’s Gospel, Simon already knew Jesus because just before the report of this miracle, Jesus had visited Simon’s house where he found his mother-in-law suffering from a high fever and healed her (Lk 4:38-39).
So, he knew Jesus and the power of his Word, hence, was disposed to do as Jesus said. Even against the background of his own experience of a fruitless all-night-long fishing expedition, Simon counted on the power of Jesus’ Word. When Jesus asked him to cast the net (5:4), having shared his experience, he still trusted Jesus and said: “But at your word, I will let down the nets” (Lk 5:5). We too may come from different personal experiences of failures and disappointments, but we cannot risk not trusting God. He tells us to not give up but to try again. And we must learn, like Simon, to say, “If you say it, I will try again”.
Peter’s experience was tremendous. The catch was great without precedence, hence, miraculous (5:6). And Peter called out the other colleagues to help and to share (5:7), yet, both boats became filled. Here, we learn the virtue of solidarity, realizing that when God does it for us, let us not forget our comrades back in the days; for sharing makes no prosperous person poor; it only widens the scope of prosperity, creating more prosperous people. And it is an amazing and humbling experience to be lifted and to find one lifting others: Peter was amazed and humbled such that he fell at Jesus’ feet confessing his unworthiness: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man (5:8).
This is what happens when we truly experience God: we come to the realization of our misery which opens the occasion to experience the Lord’s mercy. Jesus tells Peter, as he tells us too, “Do not be afraid” (Gk, “Mē foboȗ”; 5:10). He comes into our life and makes us realize our misery, not to condemn us but to help us clean up with his transforming grace that works in us like purifying fire.
And it was a transforming experience for Peter and his colleagues who like Isiah and like Paul, had their “Here I am” moment: “they left everything and followed him” (5:11). Now that they had found the Lord and themselves, it was time to find others for the Lord. They were no longer going to be catching fish into their boats but they were going to be catching the hearts of men into the boat of Christ.
Grant Lord, that we may find you and by finding you, truly find ourselves and our brothers and sisters! Amen!
God bless your new week!
CALLED TO SAVE HUMANITY
Fr. Daniel Evbotokhai
We are called and baptized to save humanity not to destroy humanity. We may not be the best of humans for this sacred task but we must not give up the mandate. The Gospel this morning tells us that when Peter was called and caught he immediately declined because he was humbled by his unworthiness. Similarly, Isaiah in the first reading all of a sudden realized his frailty saying “woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.” Yet one of the Seraphim touched his lips with a burning coal and took away his guilt. Again, Paul said in the second reading “I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle … but by the grace of God I am what I am”. Beloved, let us not allow our weaknesses to weaken our witnessing. Your background should not be the reason your back is on the ground. If they made it we too can make it. Has God changed? He does not call the qualified but qualifies the called. John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will remain…” Therefore, if we must bear lasting fruit and save humanity we must do the following:
We must Reach out to People: The gospel confronts us with true missionary spirit. Jesus was in the synagogue in the previous chapter (Luke 4:42-44); now he is at the lakeside catching souls eventually he will be preaching at the road side. Beloved in Christ, true missionaries leave their comfort zones; they reach out to people, they go in search of the lost sheep. The Apostles and many of the saints left their comfort zones to seek Christ and seek the lost sheep. St. Francis Xavier – the patron of missionaries was a Spanish Jesuit who travelled extensively, particularly in India, Southeast Asia, and Japan, to share his faith. Where can you go for Christ? To what extent can you reach out? We must leave the supper room for the upper room in order to transform ourselves and others. We must resist certain pleasures so that we can offer good measures onto the Lord. True missionaries are ready to evangelize irrespective of comforts. Therefore, I say to you come forth from your comfort. Don’t allow the comfort of this world to make you lose the comfort of heaven.
We must Step aside and Reflect: This mission and vocation demand that each of us as in Luke.5:3-4 “put out a little away from the shore” in order to “put out into the deep water”. This is exactly the goal of our preaching. Every homily stands to set us apart not for us to fall apart; but for us to make positive impart in the society. Again, in the Church we are called to put out a little away from the shore so that we can learn how to throw our net very well for a great catch. To put out a little is to step aside and reflect. The fruit of that reflection helps us to know if we have tilted outside spiritual balance. Only by reflection and meditation we can evaluate our Christian journey. Therefore as children of God, in order for us to have a great catch like the miraculous catch in the gospel we must deep ourselves into the water of prayers, studies, and reflections. To be a holy man you must cultivate a deep interior life beyond superficiality. To be a man of the word you must set aside time in a week to study of the Bible. If possible, make it a daily routine.
We must never give up: In the gospel, Simon said to Jesus “We have worked all night long but have caught nothing” (Luke5:5). True Fishermen do not give up fishing even if they work all night and catch nothing. We too must not give up our effort in eradicating our defects and sins. Even though we fail we must not give up; no matter your sin don’t give up, you can be new again. Failure is not falling down but refusal to rise. Like Simon we may have the tendency to give up in the face of failures; like Simon we may be masters of our fields; yet nothing seem to work out for us; but don’t give up, your victory is near. Again, we may know so much about life and reality but we must equally learn to listen to the instruction of Jesus. Though Simon was an expert Jesus directed him on what to do and he got a miraculous result.
More so, every one of us needs instruction of Jesus; otherwise called spiritual direction. Irrespective of our expertise or proficiency we need spiritual direction. Through spiritual direction we cultivate our interior life to always listen to Jesus so that we can stand the failures and challenges of life. Through spiritual direction we crown our skills with favour; through spiritual direction we ease the burden of our labour; through spiritual direction we throw the net of our destiny to the direction of greater manifestation; through spiritual direction we identify our vocation in life just as Peter realized that his vocation was to be fisher of men and not fisherman. Lastly, this is also a lesson about destiny; friends, destinies may look very similar like fishers of men and fishermen but through spiritual direction you can discern your actual vocation in life.
We must never forget God. Simon said “we have worked all night long but have caught nothing” (Luke5:5). Of course they caught nothing; Psalm 127:1 says “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain.” The psalmist is expressing the idea that seeking the will of God and acting in accordance to it is essential to the success of any human venture, and that, if God does not favour an undertaking, no amount of desire, precaution, effort, or worry on the part of those involved in it will be able to accomplish it. Psalm 34:10 says strong lion suffer want and go hungry; but those who seek the Lord lack no blessings. Beloved in Christ, it is dangerous to begin any venture without God, if at all you an expert. Strong lion still go hungry; expert still fail. But those who put their trust in the Lord lack no blessing.
We must Renounce the world: The Gospel says “they left everything”. This is a major theme in Luke’s Gospel, the theme of Absolute Renunciation. A disciple must leave everything: Luke5: 11 says “When they brought their boats to the shore, they left EVERYTHING and followed Him”. In Luke 14:26 Jesus says “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother […] and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Father, Mother and one’s own life mean EVERYTHING. Luke. 18:24-34 Jesus says to the rich man “You still lack one thing. Sell EVERYTHING you have and give the money to the poor, […] then come, follow me.” We too must leave everything; the Church is a place where we learn to leave everything; it is a place where we learn the true meaning of temporal goods. The best way to leave everything is to renounce satan and his empty promises.
Let us pray: Keep your family safe, O Lord, with unfailing care, that, relying solely on the hope of heavenly grace, they may be defended always by your protection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
“If you say so . . . . depart from me”
Fr. Paul Oredipe
Brothers and sisters, this situation is overturned in the gospel of today. On the shore, there was a group of fishermen. They were repairing their nets. They have been fishing the whole night long and they have caught nothing, absolutely nothing. There then comes a carpenter who is also a preacher. He got into their boat to preach (he does not even have a boat himself). When he has finished, he told them: “Put out into deep water and pay out your nets for a catch.” A carpenter telling fishermen how to go about their work. As one would expect, Simon Peter reacted: “We worked hard all night long and caught nothing.” And he quickly added: “But if you say so, I will pay out the nets” And what happened? We know the rest of the story.
What we see here is a ready compliance with the Lord’s wish and command. The result of that ready, unhesitating obedience is a wonderful blessing. Having worked all night and very tired did not stop Peter from listening, learning and leaning on the Lord. The modern man of our time has no such patience. We calculate, plan and watch out for favourable circumstances to carry out our plans. But more often than not, our calculations end up in disappointment and failure.
The case of Peter was different. He did not rely only on his own calculations and skill. Every fisherman knew that the best time for fishing was the night time. Even though the circumstances were not favourable, he was still open, ready to obey. This readiness to believe enabled him to experience the wonder of God.
The path of our duty may sometimes be hard and disagreeable, the wisdom of the course we propose to follow may not be apparent to the world. None of these must stop us. We are to walk by faith, not mere by sight. For there is always more for the eyes of faith to see and more for the ears of faith to hear and more for the hands of faith to receive.
Our human condition and calculation may not be encouraging, but who are we to say no when the Lord has said yes, who are we to say wait when the Lord has said go? As one of our hymns reminds us: “Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.” Simon trusted and obeyed and then he received more than enough.
Simon Peter and the others were very overwhelmed by the miraculous catch of fish. There and then, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said: “Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” Peter realised, as never before, his own sinfulness and the holiness of Christ. For his own sins, he asked Christ to depart from him. But Christ showed him that, instead of drawing him away from him, Peter’s sins and weaknesses should make him to be closer and more intimate with Christ.
While our sinfulness humbles us, we should not let it get us down or make us feel that we do not belong in the company of Christ. Christ came to help us to overcome our sins and conquer our weaknesses. “I have come to call sinners, not the self-virtuous”, Christ said. God does not go away from us because we are sinners. On the contrary, He knows that, because we are sinners, we need His special help.
The experience of Peter in the Gospel is close to that of Isaiah in the First Reading and similar to the experience of Paul which he recounted in the Second Reading. Isaiah, when called by God cried out: I’m not fit for such a task, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.” Paul can never forget that once, drunk with self-righteousness and pride, he did the work of the devil rather than the work of God, and he said (as we have it in the 2nd reading today): “Of all the apostles I am the least. In fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I do not even deserve the name apostle; but by God’s grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless.”
And, in the Gospel, Peter asked Jesus to depart from him. Each of these – Isaiah, Peter and Paul – started by acknowledging his unworthiness, inadequacy and sinfulness but eventually ends up by accepting God’s invitation. And relying not on their own resources, not on their own skills, not on their own knowledge or expertise, but on God’s help, they each did a splendid job.
What we learn from this is that “if the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labour; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil. In vain is your earlier rising, you going later to rest, you who toil for the bread you eat: when he pours gifts on his beloved while they slumber.” (Pss 126/7: 1 – 2).
There is a great paradox in all this but it is true. It was Paul who said: “When I am weak, that is when I am strong.“ (2 Cor. 12:10). The meaning is that when he recognises his own weakness, the power of Christ becomes available to him and he is able to tune in to it. He never forgot what Christ had said to him: “My grace is enough for you.”
Sometimes we use our sins and weaknesses as an excuse for not even trying. Indeed both Isaiah and Peter did the same at first. Isaiah asked God to choose someone else, someone with a clean mouth. Peter asked Christ to leave him alone because he was a sinner. What happened to Peter is what happens to us.
But when we have experienced our own weaknesses, God can strengthen us. When we have experienced our own emptiness, God can fill us. When we have experienced our own poverty, God can enrich us. When we experience our own nothingness or littleness, God can recreate us into something wonderful. Then we become available to Him to do His work, and to become channels or instruments of His riches to others. No matter our past, no one is excluded from the good news of salvation and liberation that Christ has brought.
Peter’s boat in which Jesus preached stands for the Church, the family of God’s children, his beloved whom he cherished and saved. The Church is not a sanctuary of saints, but am hospital for the helpless and hopeless, a clinic for sinners.
Whatever is the means God chooses to speak to us, He awaits the same response that Peter gave Jesus. When all you are and have been tried and done with, the only sure means is to trust, rely and obey God. “IF YOU SAY SO.” There is no other sure foundation.
“If you say so.” Brothers and sisters, the Lord has said so. Let us go back and recast our net into the waters, waters of life and ocean of certainty that He is there with us on the journey to our heavenly home.
Let us go back and carry on those things, those good works that we left out of frustration, discouragement or disappointment. Let go and let God. It is only then that we can experience the powerful hand of God and see His presence around us.
We are invited to do what Peter and his friends did – to persevere in our good efforts in life. Do not give up or give in to despondency or despair. Peter recast the net one final time, and that spelled the difference between success and failure.
Knowing what we are (mere creatures with weaknesses) ‘Let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and favour and to find help in time of need.’
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit remain and be with you all the days of your life. Amen.
