Homily

"They left everything and followed him." This sentence that concludes the Gospel reading for the fifth Sunday of ordinary time is the true "miracle" of the fishermen’s catch. Jesus revealed himself as the first fisherman for people. The Gospel brings us to the shore of the lake with Jesus standing among the people who were, in a way, besieging him. It is perhaps a confused scene (the text notes, they "were pressing on him"), yet also beautiful. Finally, those men and women, "weary and tired like sheep without a shepherd," had found the one who knew how to speak to their lives. They ran to him in great numbers, seeking to get close to him, to touch him, even to the point of pushing him dangerously close to the shore’s edge. Jesus does not go away among the crowds though, as he had done in Nazareth, nor does he draw away irritated by them. He sees two boats mooring and asks to get into one of the boats, Simon’s; he then asks him to push off a little from the shore. From there he begins to speak to the crowd. Simon’s boat becomes the pulpit from which Jesus teaches the crowd. This time the evangelist underlines the event of the sermon rather than the content as he had done for Jesus’ sermon in Nazareth. Jesus the Teacher (Christòs Didàskalos) is a pivotal icon of Christian life. In future centuries this image will fill the Christian churches.
It is only after his sermon that "Simon’s boat" can "put out from shore," can enter the deep waters of life. In effect, just as the strength of every crewmember lies in the crew, the strength of this boat is born from Jesus’ word. It does not matter that the order given may be humanly inconceivable and odd as Peter immediately notes, "Master, we have worked all night long but I have caught nothing." But right after, the disciple adds, "Yet, if you say so, I will let down the nets." Obedience to Jesus’ words brings about the extraordinary catch, "When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break." Also our world, the world of today, characterized by "deep waters," as Pope Paul VI used to say, is in need of this boat and fishers obedient to the Gospel. Without a doubt, believers, all Christians both great and small, especially today, must rediscover the faith of Peter. It is not a question of feeling pure and without blemish. Peter certainly was not free from sin; on the contrary, the Gospels often portray him as weak and betraying. But, Peter knows how to get down on his knees.
This man, whom the Gospel shows as prostrate and on his knees before Jesus, is the image of the true believer, an example for all of us. Peter recognizes in Jesus the Kyrios, the true lord of his life. This is why he prostrates himself and exclaims, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." This is the prayer of a sinner who finds a God who is full of love and compassion especially for the weak and for sinners. God, indeed, does not draw away from the sinner; on the contrary, God draws closer, and even goes and looks for him. Jesus, the One sent by God, did not come to be surrounded by the righteous, but by sinners. He did not go to encounter the healthy, but went in search of the sick. Peter’s prayer is true. His words express his truth before God and mostly his need for salvation. Peter, on his knees, with these words on his lips, is the truest image of a religious person.
The prophet Isaiah, from whose book a passage was taken for the first reading of today’s liturgy, had already pointed out this behaviour of the religious person, "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty…and I said, ‘I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips’" (Is 6:1-5). In our world where people have created for themselves numerous thrones before which they not only prostrate, but also sacrifice their own life, it is necessary to recover the height, the depth and the oneness of God. Buffeted as we are on the "high seas" of our world, we all need to rediscover the faith of Peter that compels us to kneel before Jesus. Today, the words once spoken to Peter that day are spoken to us, we who are men and women of "unclean lips" but who kneel before God, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people." "From now on," from today on. Peter’s new beginning is also the beginning for anyone who draws close to Jesus, is the true miracle that this world awaits.