5^th Sunday in ordinary Time
Lk 5:1-11

In today’s gospel we see that Jesus is teaching the crowd and his first would be disciples how to persevere and grow in faith in difficult moments of life. The first verse says that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. The other Gospel writers call it the Sea of Galilee (Mt4:18; Mk1:16). Often Sea or Ocean symbolizes an evil power, chaos, difficulties and challenges. It already symbolizes the difficulties and the challenges the crowd and the would-be first disciples are facing in their day today lives. The next verse talks about two boats which is the means Jesus would use to teach them how to stand firm in the midst of big and small waves of their lives and still grow in faith in God. It also mentions about the condition of the would-be first disciples. They are very tired of struggling in the sea which symbolizes the kind of world they live in.

Now Jesus wants to encourage them and teach them a lesson about how they should persevere in their faith, especially at challenging moments of their lives. He gets into the boat of Simon. In other word, he enters into the life of Simon not to make it more confusing but to help him at this moment of struggle which he would always do in the future also. Now he asks Simon to put his boat out in to a short distance from the shore. He wants to make use of Simon to first of all, teach him a lesson then to teach the crowd how to be strong in their faith during the time of difficulties.

Now in verse 4 Jesus asks Simon to put the boat into deep water and lower his nets. This is the only way to live your life of faith. You need to put into deep. You cannot just have a shallow faith and expect a good result. In order to have a strong faith one needs to let his nets down. What are the nets that would keep Simon from having strong faith? They could be fear, doubt, anxiety etc. Jesus wants Simon to let down all these nets which are obstacles to believing in God. So that he could have more strength and courage to follow Christ with deep faith.

In verse 5 Simon replies that he tried his best and now he is tired of everything. He wants to just give up. But before doing that he wants to try just once because of Jesus’ word. It would be unimaginable for a fisher man to follow the instruction of someone who does not know anything about fishing. Simon already has some loose association with Jesus (Jn1:40-422; 2:1-2). And he also has heard about Jesus’ miracles. Therefore, this loose association with Jesus makes him believe in what Jesus said. So, believing in Jesus’ word he is willing to let the nets of his fear, doubt and anxiety down. When he does it he is able to catch many fish. Through this act he learns to persevere in faith and learns to stand firm in the difficult times of his life. This miracle of filling the boats with full of fish makes Simon to realize his sinfulness. Therefore, he pleads Jesus to leave him and so did James and John the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon.

But on the other hand Jesus wants to encourage Simon. Because, he knew what Simon could be and what he could do for the future of the Church that Jesus would establish. Therefore, he tells Simon not to be afraid and continues with the encouraging statement that he would be fishers of men. Jesus proclaims the greatness of Simon, the great responsibility that he would have to take up in the future that is the responsibility of becoming the leader of the Apostles.

Verse 11 says that when they brought their boats to the shore they left everything and followed him. It is the former association and the miracles they have experience makes them leave everything and follow Jesus. What does it mean to the fisher men leaving their boats and nets? For fisher men nets and boats are their livelihood. It is everything in their lives. They cannot earn their livelihood without it. But they did realize that even the means of livelihood can sometime become the hindrances to following the Lord. It can make them feel independent. It may take them away from their dependence on the Lord.

In our day today living we have so many difficult moments. And Jesus wants to teach us how to persevere in in our faith during those moments as he did to the crowd and to Simon and other disciples in the gospel. The disciples responded positively to Jesus’ teaching and so they learnt how to persevere in faith in times of struggle and ultimately they were able to follow the Lord more faithfully. How do we respond to Jesus’ teaching? Are we ready to let down our nets of fear, anger, doubts and anxiety etc. in order to follow the Lord? Or do we want to continue carrying these nets and say that it is impossible to follow the Lord?

Secondly, Jesus wants us to be dependent on his power and his mercy. The disciples were completely dependent on Jesus. They proved it by leaving their nets and boats and everything they had. What are the nets and boats that we want to leave behind on order to follow the Lord?