GO DEEP
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February 8, 2025Have you ever thought what would be your response if God calls you to do something you’ve never done? Or how about doing something you’ve always been doing and had to do itin God’s own way?
Our Gospel this 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time reminds us of God’s invitation to participate in his mission of leading people closer to him. Jesus called Simon Peter and the brothers James and John from being fishermen to fishers of men - ordinary people called to work for extraordinary mission, Jesus used their ordinary boat to preach extraordinary teaching, Jesus has taken the ordinary experiences of these fishermen as a setting for an extraordinary miracle. These all happened because of their obedience to Jesus.“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 at your command, I will lower the nets” (Luke 5:4-5). Simon Peter could have responded by saying, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, we’ve done that all night, maybe we’ll try the next day.” But the words of Jesus have a different tone. They might have felt that his command contains an assurance that as long as they obey, everything will fall into the right places.
“I will lower the nets.” This simple response of Simon Peter paved the way for that big catch to happen. He felt of course his unworthiness of receiving this grace which also reflects what Isaiah exclaimed in the First Reading, “I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5) The feeling of unworthiness can affect our obedience to God but God sees beyond our unworthiness as long as we abide his will for us.
An encounter with Jesus will always bring transformation into our lives. Nobody meets Jesus and says nothing has changed. We may end up having a closer relationship with Him or we may drift farther away from Him, but no one ever meets Jesus and remains unchanged.The same thing can happen to all of us sooner or later.When we meet Jesus and abide His words, he transforms us and then he changes our ways. If we abide his words and take Him seriously, we may end up doing the things we never thought of doing before. And yes, many times in our life, we say “What if Jesus asks me to do something beyond my capacity?” Of course, He will as He always does. If he only asked us to do the things we usually do and have been doing all along, do we feel the need of Him in anyway? God would ask us to do the things we consider next to impossible for us to realize that with Him, nothing is unreachable.
For Simon Peter and the brothers James and John, following Jesus meant leaving behind what they got used to do, giving up their livelihood and all their possessions and following Him into an unfamiliar road. Letting go must take place. Anything that hinders our obedience to Jesus must go. At times,even good things must be given up to pave the way for better things to come. Just lower the nets, abide with Jesus’ words and you’ll see the big catch waiting ahead of you.
