Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 2, 2010 - Thursday in the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Corinthians 3:18-23 and Luke 5:1-11]Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.
Peter and the Sons of Zebedee got more than they may have bargained for in boat rental! Jesus deliberately chooses Peter's boat and asks him to row out a bit from the shoreline. The boat was idle anyhow, as Peter noted, because they had not been able, with a full night's work, to catch anything. Jesus was also showing that there may have been some "crowd management" problems that necessitated that he either get in a boat or else be pushed into the water! When the teaching was done, Jesus pays for the use of the boat! This is when the long journey with his apostles begins! Peter, James and John become Jesus' closest associates, a kind of "inner circle" amongst the apostles. Luke tells us "When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him!" It seems to me that there are two important aspects to this incident that could challenge some or all of us! The first is for the "some." Peter, James and John would become figures in the history and meaning of the church down to the present day! Jesus chose ordinary fishermen and challenged them to become the leaders of the community that would eventually come into being. Not every one of the apostles would prove to be worthy, as Judas proved. And the challenge of "forming" them occasionally exasperated Jesus. James and John seemed to be ambitious for power. Peter could be impulsive and unreliable in his loyalty! Yet, leaders they did become! Perhaps we might keep this in mind when we are tempted to judge the leadership of the church harshly for some decisions they make - whether on the parochial, diocesan, national or international level. The second level would put us all, as it were, in the same boat! Knowing what we know now, would we let Jesus set foot in our boat? Is the big catch of fish worth our very lives? There may be a comic aspect to Zebedee sitting on top of a huge net of fish and his boys running off to join Jesus! But that has its serious side, too! Discipleship requires some intentionality and some priorities that can be disturbing. Would we prefer to have the fish and thank Jesus for his generosity? Or can we conquer our fear and join him? AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
58 ms
4
