Gospel Reflections for February 10 2019
Together in Mission Sunday
Jesus the carpenter offers advice to professional fishermen and they don’t think it makes sense. He tells them to lower their nets in the deeper part of the lake instead of near the shore where fish usually gather. We can imagine their thoughts. “You are a carpenter… what do you know about fishing?!”
Out of respect, they follow His direction and put their ship out into deeper water, and get the largest catch of fish ever! We can imagine their thoughts then, “Stay with us …and make our fishing company rich!” Yet that did not happen.
They decide to leave the fishing business and follow Jesus, despite the large catch and the promise of future fishing success. That also doesn’t make sense!
They quickly recognize there is something about being in the presence of Jesus that makes things better and they want more of it. More than a rich catch of fish they want more of Jesus, and they will not miss out on this opportunity.
You might know that my hobby is biblical archaeology. In 1986 a typical ancient fishing boat was uncovered in the Sea of Galilee precisely where this Gospel event takes place. It was reliably dated to the time of Jesus and reveals important features. It had been repaired carefully many times and with great care and expertise. That indicates boats were very valuable business assets for the owners. (The picture above is an exact replica of the ancient boat. Image courtesy of www.HolyLandPhotos.org)
We know that some of the Apostles owned several boats. This means that when they left everything to follow Jesus …they were leaving behind a lot! That reveals how powerful was the person of Jesus to them and their sense that He was the true source of lasting happiness.
They took a risk to leave everything behind. In a way, they “put out into the deeper water,” with their own lives. We also know they never regretted it.
Today is the annual collection for Together in Mission, where we have the opportunity to support poorer parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
We hope you will be generous in considering a generous gift to them. Your gift, by law, can only be used for that purpose of helping these poor parishes and schools.
We want every parish and school to be a viable place where parishioners and students can still meet the Lord today, and find the same life changing experience that the fishermen in today’s Gospel felt.
God Bless!
Fr. Dave
That is exciting to see what the Apostles’ fishing boats were like! It must have taken a lot of time and skill to make such a boat, and so they would have been very expensive (now they are priceless as historic articles!)
So the Apostles were able to give away essentially all of their worldly goods to serve the Lord and reap the benefits of happiness on earth and eternal life.to come. Most of us are not expected to give up everything as they did, but we are expected to be generous and not possessive of all that we have.
Together in Faith is an opportunity for us to share part of our wealth with those who are in need. I pray that I’ll have the Faith, Hope and Charity to be generous in this program.
Beautifully said!
Dear Father Dave,
In this reflection, I see the astonishing magnetism of Jesus and His effect on the men who became his apostles.
If Jesus were to come to earth today, how would He collect His apostles in this age of speed technology?
It’s probably silly to even think something like that because clearly, He came at the right time. I wonder how close we are to His second coming….
God bless!
Kathleen
I think Jesus would only accept face to face involvement and the personal connection. We cannot “text” our relationship with Him.
Trusting God’s plan is probably one of man’s most universal struggles (I know it is one of mine). We can talk about how much we love God but the real evidence is in our ability to trust in Him. This Gospel reminds me of my lack of humility and courage to trust God’s plan for me. How much faith, trust and courage these fishermen demonstrated to leave their successful livelihoods and follow Jesus.
Yes, I think the trust of the Disciples is so much more inspiring now.