Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 6, 2007 - Twenty-second Thursday in Ordinary Time
[Colossians 1:9-14 and Luke 5:1-11]Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people."
The story of the call of Peter, James and John is not simply a story about the call of these three disciples. It is a story about the nature of discipleship. It is a matter of knowing what we can do with the help of God. The great catch of fish is a gift from Jesus, but he makes it clear that there is a catch that is more important. Peter, James and John and nine others (ten if you count Matthias later on) respond to the call (even Judas). Later on we learn the various things they are enabled to do with the power of Jesus' name. (Luke 9) Then Jesus appointed a "further seventy-two" to do the same (Chap. 10). Discipleship is not simply a matter of getting a little training and then going out to convert the world. It begins first and foremost and continues first and foremost with the individual response to Jesus. It is that relationship or its effects that the disciple shares with others. We must not assume that it will mean we will "glow in the dark." The disciple remains, as Peter, "a sinful person," continually in need of conversion just as those to whom he or she ministers. To pretend that discipleship requires that we be perfect in every way makes the whole notion impossible. What we will do, we will do with the help of Jesus, who sometimes works through our faults and shortcomings. Perhaps it was an understanding of this that led the first disciples to "leave everything and follow him." They weren't required to leave their humanity! AMEN
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