Sunday the 9th of February 2025 - Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8/ Ps 138(137)/ 1 Corinthians 15:1-11/ Luke 5:1-11

As a seafaring nation we understand the perils of the sea. Goods are transported by sea, fishing fleets go out to catch fish for our tables, many people use the sea for recreation. We have brave people prepared to put to sea in all conditions to save those who encounter peril on the sea. People who venture onto the sea need to be prepared for what they might encounter putting their trust in training, experience, the seaworthiness of their vessels and the equipment they have. To do anything else would surely be reckless.

The first people Jesus called to his ministry were experienced fishermen. They knew the dangers of the waters they worked on; they had the equipment they needed to make a living in the fishing industry, they knew their business inside out. In the Gospel Peter and his colleagues had been fishing all night without success. They were now ashore washing their nets when Jesus asked to use their boat so that he could address the large crowd that had gathered around him. After having taught the people for some time Jesus invited the fishermen to put out into deep water and pay out their nets. Having been out all night for nothing they were understandably sceptical but did as Jesus asked. The result of their trust in Jesus was a catch so big they could hardly manage it. This encounter between these fishermen and Jesus was transforming, as a result they left everything they knew and relied upon for their living and followed Jesus.

An encounter with Jesus will always be transforming. When we meet Jesus, we are transformed in some way. When Jesus calls us through our faith he is calling us to some service in his kingdom. The magnificence of God’s kingdom is alluded to in the first reading from Isaiah. The image is one of awe and wonder, the goodness of God overwhelming the inadequacies of the writer watching the scene. This is what Peter felt when he fell on his knees aware of his sinfulness in the presence of Jesus. The praising of God made by the host of angles in the words, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory’ we still use in Mass today.

Because God is so infinitely good and we prone to do bad things the gulf between us had to be filled. This has been achieved by Jesus, God the Son, who became human, was born, lived and died as we do, so that we have a God who is very close to us, a God who can relate to our human condition. Someone we can turn to without being overawed by the experience. The watcher in the first reading is prepared by God so that he is worthy to make the offer to be sent as a messenger for God. We are all prepared through Baptism and called to be sent out by God to follow the example given by Jesus. We are trained, prepared, and equipped by God to put out into deep waters and become fishers of people just as Peter and his colleagues were.

The encounter with Jesus by the fishermen gives us an image of the church. Picture it as a boat, St Peter’s fishing boat, a boat skippered now by the successor to St Peter, Pope Francis. Jesus is still the one preaching from the boat but now his words come through the successors to the apostles, the bishops of today. They are assisted by their priests, deacons and all the baptised. As with all ships and boats the church is at the mercy of storms that spring up from time to time. We know from another time when Jesus was out in a boat with the apostles that he will calm any storm that threatens us. We can have confidence that however ferocious the storm might be the boat will not founder.

What is it we are being sent out to do? This is set out in the second reading from the letter to the church in Corinth. To preach the good news, to profess what it is we believe. We are Christians who are witnesses to a resurrected saviour. We do this by professing our faith, something we do at mass every time we say the creed, but more importantly by the way we live and behave in the face of the unbelieving world around us. We are called to endure hate, ridicule and humiliation on account of our beliefs. Through history, and even now in some parts of the world, that hate results in suffering and even death for those who profess the Christian faith.

The readings today have a certain commonality in that they show human sinfulness and inadequacy as a fertile ground for God to cultivate. There is a reality to our fallen human condition which we should not deny or flaunt but rely on God’s power to transform us into his fishers of others. God created everything from nothing and transforms our inadequacies into his greatness. It is the history of our faith as witnessed by those held up by the church to be saints. Many of these people displayed very human faults and failings but by putting their trust in God, putting out into deep waters, they were transformed into instruments of God’s work. Instead of being discouraged by our messed-up lives we can turn them over to God, as Peter did, open our hearts and follow the call.

Jesus calls us to step out into a deeper faith. Are we ready to put all our trust in him? Can we leave behind those things we cling on to, those things that give us a quiet comfortable life? Today Jesus is calling us to something beyond our familiar lives, are we prepared to push out into the deep unknown waters with him? Can I say, ‘Here I am Lord, Send me?’

God Bless Brendan