We know that employers only hire best qualified candidates. We also know that competitive schools only admit best qualified students. That is how our society is.
But in the Scripture Readings of 5th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11;
Luke 5:1-11, we are freshly reminded that God’s “hiring” method is contrary, in
fact, rather opposite from the way it is in our society. God tends to recruit
those who seem least qualified in our eyes for apostolic missions at His will.
In the readings, we see God’s “hiring” cases of Isaiah in the First Reading,
Peter in the Gospel Reading, and Paul in the Second Reading.
According to Luke 5:1-11, which is the Gospel
Reading for Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C, Jesus already eyed on Peter
(Simon) to have him as his disciple with his intention to turn this experienced
fisherman of Galilee into a new kind of fisherman, namely, a fisher of people
for the Kingdom of God. This is why Jesus came to Peter and got on his boat,
not any other boats.
For Peter, this was not the first encounter with
Jesus. Luke tells that Jesus came to Peter’s house and healed Peter’s
mother-in-law there, after preaching and exorcising in Capernaum (Luke 4:31-39).
This was after Nazarenes rejected him for
reminding them that God’s salvation was not exclusive privilege to them
just because the Messiah to fulfill the
salvific prophecy was Jesus, whom they knew, but rather extended to the
Gentiles, for its impartiality (Luke 4:16-30).
After healing her, Peter’s mother-in-law, in return,
served him and his companions with dinner (Luke 4:39). So, for Jesus, Peter was
already a familiar figure, and it was rather natural for Jesus to get on
Peter’s boat, as he had entered Peter’s house fore.
So, why did Jesus got on Peter’s boat and asked him
to put the boat a bit offshore?
On the surface, it was to teach to a pressing crowd.
But, it was really to engage in Peter and to transform him from being a
fisherman into a fisher of people – just as God changed Isaiah’s life forever
upon appearing to him in a vision, as described in the First Reading (Isaiah 6:1-2a,
3-8).
Peter must have already sensed that Jesus was not
just an extraordinary preacher, as well as, a healer, having heard him teach
and witnessing him heal many, including his mother-in-law, in Capernaum. Perhaps,
Peter could have sensed that Jesus was a man of God for having supernatural
power – even though he was not yet aware that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah),
the Son of the living God, as later he
would recognize so, aided by the Father (Matthew 16:16).
This is why Peter was cooperative to Jesus – letting
him use his boat for his own boat for his preaching to the crowd. But, Peter
was obviously unexpected that Jesus would transform him into his official
disciple.
As Jesus finished preaching to the crowd from his
boat, Peter might have thought it was all his master, Jesus, needed him for –
letting him use his boat for preaching. But, Jesus did not ask Peter to bring
his boat back to the shore in order to get off. Instead, Jesus commanded him to
fish:
Put
out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch
(Luke 5:4).
It was the day when Peter and his fellow fishermen
had a bad fishing expedition. They fished all night but caught none. Peter was
obviously not in mood for putting his nets back in water. In fact, he was
already off the boat and washing his nets when Jesus came. So, Peter must have
wondered why Jesus was asking him to put the nets deep in water to catch. Since
he caught no fish at all on that day, Peter must have thought that it made no
sense to put the nets again.
So, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets” (Luke 5:5).
It seems that Peter had thought pointless to put his
nets in water again, having caught no fish in spite of all-night-long fishing
work. Peter thought that there were no fish in the water that day. It was just
a bad day for Peter and his partners in fishing. However, Peter reluctantly
obeyed Jesus’ command to put and lower his nets in water, just because it is
Jesus commanding. Peter did as commanded by Jesus, perhaps, because he felt
obligatory to do as asked by Jesus to do for having his mother-in-law being
healed by Jesus.
Note that Peter called Jesus “master”. It means that
Peter already revered him for his extraordinary and supernatural
capabilities. Therefore he actually did
as commanded by Jesus – though he could have refused for it made no sense to
him to fish again. But Peter put his nets deep in water as commanded by
Jesus.
Voila! What a great
catch Peter finally had! His nets were getting torn with the volume and weight
of the fish.
Peter and his fellow
fishermen were fishing all night but caught nothing. But now, with Jesus’
advice, Peter made a great catch. So Peter should be so happy and thanking
Jesus, right?
But why Peter was not?
What was a point of all
this?
Peter alone, even with
his fellow fishermen, could not do what he had thought he could. But, with
Jesus and through Jesus – by obeying his command, Peter could do far more than
what he had thought.
This must have been a
very humbling experience for Peter and an important lesson for us.
But at the same time, Peter
probably felt that his pride was hurt by Jesus. Perhaps, Peter was saying to
himself, “What am I to do with this man, Jesus? I have lost my face because of
him!”, rather than feeling grateful to Jesus for enabling him to experience a
great catch. So, Peter said to Jesus, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”(Luke
5:8).
What makes Peter
sinful?
His pride, being proud
to be the best fisherman in Galilee, perhaps. This sin of pride can make Peter
think that nobody on earth know fishing in the Sea of Galilee better than him. Also,
Peter felt sinful about himself for being reluctant in obeying Jesus’ command.
Because of his pride, Peter
did not feel good about Jesus helping him catch a great number of fish on the
day when he caught no fish on his own efforts. Peter could have thought that he
could make “easy money” to keep Jesus on his boat whenever he goes fishing.
But, this did not seem to be in the picture. It was his pride that made Peter
unhappy about Jesus and therefore asked Jesus to go away from him.
These words of Peter in
reacting to Jesus for experiencing Jesus’ miraculous power on him directly, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”(Luke
5:8), echo these words of Isaiah upon seeing God in His glory in his vision,
saying, “Woe is me, I am doomed! For I am
a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have
seen the King, the LORD of hosts! (Isaiah 6:5).”
For Isaiah, God sent seraphim
to transform him from a sinner among sinners to God’s prophet to be sent,
removing his wickedness and purging his sins, by putting hot ember to his
mouth. And Isaiah became a totally a new person to serve God, saying, “Here I am. Send me!”(Isaiah 6:8).
What about Peter, then?
No, Jesus did not put
ember to Peter’s mouth to chastise him for his sin of pride. Rather, he said to
Peter:
Do
not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men (Luke
6:10).
Jesus responded to
sinful Peter’s attempt to let pride reject him with his mercy to assure of
Peter’s true vocation: fisher of people, rather than a Galilean fisherman.
At that time, Peter was
far from being a fisher of people.
So, Peter, together
with his fishing partners, James and John, left everything and simply followed
Jesus (Luke 6:11). And Jesus would send 3 years teaching Peter what it takes
him to become a fisher of people for his Kingdom – for his Church on earth, as
written in the rest of the Gospel narratives. And, as written in the Acts of
the Apostles, Peter would officially launch his service to the Lord Jesus
Christ as his fisher of people on Pentecost. Upon this confirmation with the
Holy Spirit, Peter would never turn back to his old life in the past. The Holy
Spirit will guide and empower Peter in his fishing of people – even to
Gentiles, starting with Cornelius and his family.
Speaking of Jesus calling
a sinner into the Apostolic mission, it happened also to Paul, as described in
the Second Reading (1 Corinthians 15:1-11).
As God appeared to
Isaiah in his vision when he was a sinner (Isaiah 6:1-4), Jesus appeared to
Paul in his vision when he was persecuting followers of Jesus (Acts 9:1-9). And
Jesus spoke to Paul:
Saul,
Saul, why are you persecuting me? (Acts 9:4)
At first, Paul had no
idea who was speaking to him, as it took place when Paul was knocked out of his
horse by a sudden lightening. So Paul asked, “Who are you, sir?”(Acts 9:5a).
And Jesus replied:
I
am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. Now get up and go into the city and you
will be told what you must do (Acts 9:5b-6).
Jesus explained why he
called Paul in this way to Ananias:
..for
this man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before Gentiles,
kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my
name
(Acts 9:15-16).
In the Second Reading,
Paul describes this experience of unexpected calling from Jesus in these words:
Last
of all, as to one born abnormally, he appeared to me. For I am the least of the
apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of
God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been
ineffective. Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them; not I, however, but
the grace of God that is with me (1 Corinthians
15:8-10).
Jesus came to Paul in
his vision and confronted his sin against Jesus. Yet, Jesus did not condemn
Paul. Rather, Jesus called him to serve him on an apostolic mission. And Paul left
his Pharisaic career and abandoned his career in persecuting followers of Jesus
in order to serve Jesus – just as Peter left his fishing career to follow
Jesus, upon being called and touched by his grace.
All the readings (Isaiah
6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11) for 5th Sunday in
Ordinary Time, Cycle C, are about calling – how God “recruits” for His mission.
The way God does is to “hire” least qualified, namely, a sinner, and transform
him or her into the most qualified for his or her position to do His will. In
the case of Isaiah, God called him when he was in the state of sin and he was
turned into a new person fit and ready to be sent on mission, as in the First
Reading (Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8). God the Son in Jesus directly came to Peter when
he was in the state of sin of pride, knocking out Peter’s pride by making a miraculous
catch of fish when Peter alone could not catch any. Though Peter’s wounded
pride attempted him to reject Jesus, Jesus, by his grace, called Peter not to
be afraid to follow a new vocational path, which is to catch people, instead of
fish, to build the Church for the Kingdom (Luke 5:1-11). And God the Son in
Jesus appeared in a vision to even Paul, who was against Jesus and his
follower, and called him to turn his life for him (1 Corinthians 15:1-11,
especially vv.8-10).
Isaiah, Peter, and Paul
– these three men were not “qualified” to serve God when they were called. God
could have chosen those who were better fit to serve, rather than sinners like
them but those who were righteous. But, God has everything it takes to
transform sinners into fine servants with a strong sense of justice and
compassion. So, Isaiah was transformed into a major prophet, Peter was into a
fisher of people on his Apostolic mission, as well as the entrusted shepherd of
Christ’s sheep (i.e. John 21:15-19), and Paul into an Apostle to go on his
mission far extensively to build churches, reaching out to Gentiles.
God’s calling story of
picking the “least qualified” and sinners does not end with these three:
Isaiah, Peter, and Paul. God has been calling more sinners and transforming
them into fine Saints, like St. Augustine of Hippo, St. Francis of Assisi, and
St. Ignatius of Loyola, just to name a few. And let us not forget that God has
been calling us, and we say, “Here I am, O Lord. Send me!”, whenever we hear
His call.
We are not afraid to be
called to be send like a sheep among wolves (Matthew 10:16), hearing Jesus
saying, “Be not afraid”, as said to Peter. We do not need to be timid due to a
prospect of being persecuted because of Jesus’ assurance with grace.
In 2022, Fifth Sunday
in Ordinary Time falls on the Memorial Feast of the 26 Martyrs in Nagasaki,
Japan, including St. Paul Miki, St. Pedro Bautista, St. Gonsalo Garcia, St.
Felipe de Jesus, and St. Ludovico Ibaraki. These heroes of Catholic Christian
faith followed Christ all the way to their respective crosses set on the hill
of Nishizaka, in Nagasaki, on February 5, 1597. From his cross before his
death, St. Paul Miki eloquently preached and forgave his persecutors. St.
Ludovico Ibaraki was the youngest among the twenty-six, as he was only 12.
Persecutors took pity on little Ludovico and urged him to denounce his faith in
Christ in exchange not only for saving his life but also a promise to be put
under the care of a feudal lord to become a great samurai. To Ludovico, such an
offer to apostatize did not even tempt him. Rather, he said to his tempter to
convert and become a follower of Christ, implying to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew
16:26, stupidity of forfeiting one’s soul for the sake of gaining the whole
world. St. Pedro Bautista and St.
Gonsalo Garcia worked hard for the poor in Manila before sent to Japan on their
mission. In Japan, they continued to work tirelessly especially for the poor. Assisted
by Gonzalo, Pedro established the first Catholic hospital, St. Joseph hospital,
in Kyoto, to serve the poor. Their Franciscan hospital mission was assisted by
St. Ludovico Ibaraki. St. Felipe de Jesus was a Mexican seminarian, sailing from
the Philippines, where he did pastoral work, to Mexico, to be ordained as a
priest. However, the shipwreck near the coast of Japan resulted in his arrest
and death sentence for being Christian.
Each one of the 26 martyred Saints in Nagasaki had his own call and followed faithfully all the way to their respective cross on the hill of Nishizaka. They were first arrested and cut off their ears in Kyoto and then forced to march from there pretty much all the way to Nagasaki, except some short sea routes on boasts. During this journey from Kyoto to Nagasaki, none of them were fear stricken and attempted to escape or tried to denounce their faith to save their lives. Rather, they remained joyful, keeping their spirit up all the time by praising God and chanting, especially Te Deum.
What about you? Can you
truly say, “Here I am! Send me, O Lord!” when you are called by God? Or do you
let your sin stop you from responding to your call affirmatively? Do you let
your fear keep you from following through your call? Or are you ready to follow
your call faithfully even it means to take you to your cross to become a martyr
for the greater glory of God?
