God’s power over human weakness

February 07, 2016
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Is 6:1–2a, 3–8 2nd Reading: 1 Cor 15:1–11 (or 1 Cor 15:3–8, 11) Gospel: Lk 5:1–11

One day, as Jesus stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, with a crowd gathered around him listening to the word of God, he caught sight of two boats left at the water’s edge by the fishermen now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the shore. There he sat and continued to teach the crowd.When he had finished speaking he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did and caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats almost to the point of sinking.Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made and so were Simon’s partners, James and John, Zebedee’s sons.Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought their boats to land and followed him, leaving everything.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life Experience)

Today’s Gospel takes us to the shore of the Sea of Galilee where two fishing boats were moored. Of these two boats it was Peter’s that Jesus used so he could move back some distance from the shore to preach to the many people pressing in on him. This is just one of several passages hinting at the role Peter was to play in the Church. Recall that after the resurrection Peter and John ran to the tomb to check reports that Jesus’ body was no longer there. John arrived first but did not enter the tomb immediately in deference to Peter. In today’s Gospel it was to Peter that the Lord gave the order to lower down his net for a catch. Peter’s role became more obvious later with the giving of the keys of the kingdom of heaven to him.

Predilection was given to Peter despite his sinfulness. He himself was aware of his unworthiness when he said, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” This takes us back to the Old Testament scene of the prophet Isaiah acknowledging his unworthiness at God’s Temple (Isaiah 6:1-2, 3-8). The parallelism between Isaiah’s and Peter’s humility highlights the prevalence of God’s power over human weakness.
The story of Peter assures us that God’s power still reaches perfection even in our human weakness.—Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.

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