They Forsook All and Followed Him

In today’s Gospel (Luke 5:1-11) we are presented with an account that is described in all three of the synoptic Gospels, that of our Lord teaching, and then the “great catch of fish”.

Blessed Theophylact writes that our Lord entered Peter’s boat so that He could face the crowd and have all present in front of Him.  And so the Master politely “borrowed” what belonged to Peter and his partner fishermen.

But after receiving this gift willingly from them, our Lord chose to repay their kindness, and He blessed them in two ways.  First, He gave to them such an enormous catch of fish that they and their partners in a second boat could not deal with the bounty.  Second, Jesus made them disciples!  The lesser blessing came before the greater, but they could not comprehend the true magnitude of either fully.

Isn’t it astounding how our Lord sends blessings to His servants in manners consistent with their ability to grasp His actions?  On this day, with Peter, Andrew, James and John, all of whom were fishermen, He gains their attention with what else– fish!  He opens the discussions with the Samaritan woman at the well with what else—a request for water!  He gains the attention of the Magi with what tool that they would recognize—the Star!  He finds Saul of Tarsus persecuting those who are struggling to establish His fledgling Church, a man who in his Pharisaical ‘sight’ judges Christians to be worthy of death, and He gains his attention how—through sending blindness upon him!

Do we begin to see the wondrous ways of God working among His people?

And how has He attempted to work on me?  And I ask that you now ask this same question of yourself.  What skills, talents or abilities has He bestowed upon me, and when and where did He reach out through those gifts to get my attention, to have me notice that He was calling to me, to give me direction, perhaps healing, perhaps sustenance, spiritual or physical?  And if I can be blessed to think upon such things with remembrance that perhaps they did occur, what was my response?  Did I, like Saint Peter, feel a repentance that would have me calling to Him, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man’?  Or did I (as most people would), notice, but then say, “That was weird”?

The telling answer to these questions is in the response.  When Peter, Andrew, James and John were confronted with the immense catch of fish, they did not ignore the Lord’s authority over nature.  And when He told them, ‘From now on, you will catch men,’ they did as St. Luke records, ‘The forsook all and followed Him.’  St. Photini, the woman at the well, dropped her water vessels and went to evangelize the men of Sychar.  The Magi left their homelands and travelled to a place following the star, not knowing where it would lead.  Saul waited in Damascus for three days for the Lord to appoint Ananias to heal him, only to become the great Apostle!

Our Lord deals with His people in mysterious ways, calling us to live our lives for Him, if we are willing to accept His invitation and calling.  Let us serve this loving God with our whole heart.