Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)
The Lord will complete what He has done for me. – Psalm 138:7
Great things happen when God mixes with us. – Carey Landry
Today, we are invited to consider the stories of three people – Isaiah, in our first reading (Isaiah 6:1-8); Paul, in our second reading (I Corinthians 15:1-11); and Simon Peter, in our Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11). All three had their lives profoundly changed by their encounter with God. All three received a new calling, a new mission, as a result of these encounters. Or, rather, it is better to say that, as a result of these encounters, all three discovered their true calling, and that their lives up until now had been a preparation for this very thing.
I invite you to explore these stories with me as we look at them in three stages: first, the encounter with God itself; second, what that encounter meant for their lives up to this point; third, what that encounter meant for their lives from this point on.
Before we do this, however, a word on the context of these encounters.
All three men could be seen as up-and coming people, each at the height of his powers, before their encounter with God. Isaiah was a priest, a Levite, who had the honor of serving God in the very Temple of Jerusalem itself, the center of all Israelite life and worship. Paul was a Pharisee who, by his own account, had a zeal for the traditions of his ancestors that surpassed all his peers. He had begun persecuting the Christians because he believed that they dishonored the God of Israel. He had been commissioned by the Sanhedrin itself to arrest Christians in Damascus. He had connections and growing influence. Simon Peter, as we encounter him, is clearly the leader of the group of fishermen with him. Not only that, but some archaeologists believe that they discovered his home in Capernaum, a home that was literally next door to the synagogue. We may assume from this that Simon Peter’s father, and probably Peter himself, were leaders in the synagogue community as well as successful fishermen.
Then, unexpectedly, each one encounters God in a most direct way.
Isaiah, in the Temple, has a vision of God enthroned, with seraphim all around God’s throne. Paul, on the road to Damascus, has a vision of the Risen Lord Jesus. Simon Peter, obedient to Jesus’ command, experiences an overwhelming catch of fish, the biggest he’d ever had, and during the day – when no one fished – and after they had bene out all night with no success.
In each case, the experience was not a consoling kind of feeling. Not at first, anyway. This encounter totally overwhelmed each man. Their status in their communities seemed now like nothing. All they knew was their emptiness, their weakness, their sinfulness, in the overwhelming light of God. Isaiah proclaimed that he was doomed for his own sinfulness and that of his people. Paul found himself blind, a symbol of his spiritual blindness to what God was doing in Christ. Peter begged Jesus to depart, as he (Peter) was a sinful man. In each case, each man was reassured by God and then given a new mission. Or, rather, each man discovered, for the first time, the fullness of what their mission really was.
What did this mission, this new revelation, mean for each man’s past? Did they need to totally reject it? No, their sins were forgiven, but their past was taken up into their mission and would become part of it. All that was truly good in their past would not be ignored or abandoned. It would find a new place, and its full purpose, in this mission.
Isaiah was a priest in the Temple. As such, he would have had a full education in the Torah, the Law of Moses, and in the rites of proper worship of God. He would have a certain status and credibility. All of this would serve to make people more receptive to Isaiah’s new prophetic ministry, and would give Isaiah a lot of background to draw from. Grace builds on nature. God has prepared Isaiah in just this way, so that Isaiah could bring God’s word to where it was most needed.
Paul had a deep and profound knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures and traditions. His letters also show that he had studied some Greco-Roman subjects, such as rhetoric. When Paul encountered the Risen Christ, he did not have to abandon all this. No. He now needed to reinterpret everything he knew so well in the light of the suffering, death and Resurrection of Christ. None of Paul’s past was lost; it was reclaimed, baptized, reshaped, by his newfound faith in Christ as the stone which the builders had rejected but which the Father had made into the cornerstone. Paul’s zeal and ability for self-sacrifice would now serve Christ. His intellect and his writing abilities would now serve Christ. Grace builds on nature.
Peter, as we saw, was already seen as a natural leader among his fellow fishermen and in the synagogue. Besides this, he was a fisherman. Yet, even this would not be entirely lost. Jesus told Peter that now he would be fishing for people. All Peter’s skills as a fisherman would be reshaped into assets for his future ministry as an apostle. His status as a natural leader in his community would be the foundation on which Christ would build as Christ would name Peter as the chief shepherd of His flock, the first Pope.
Notice something very interesting about each man’s story. Each one was called to take on his fullest mission only after achieving great success in his previous one. Why would God do this? Is it to make the new mission feel more like a sacrifice, in that each man would have a better idea of what he was giving up in order to say “yes” to the Lord?
Possibly. I see more in this, though. God does not want us to simply reject our past entirely. He wants us to turn away from any past sins, of course. But He was active in our lives all along. He wants us to see, first of all, the fullness of His gift to us beforehand. He wants us to see how we were truly blessed all along, even when we were unaware of God’s presence or guidance in our lives. He wants us to know that all that is truly good about our past lives will be redeemed and taken up into our new missions, given a new meaning, and made the means through which God can touch many lives. Moreover, God does this to encourage us. He wants us to see how He has been there with us all along. This will help us trust that He will remain with us in our new, fuller mission. As our psalm for today states, “The Lord will complete what He has done for me.”
Seeing this and living this, day after day, is not easy. Whenever we encounter the presence of God, we will feel small, weak, even insignificant in comparison to God Himself. Moreover, the powers of darkness will not be idle. They will try to use these feelings of weakness and insignificance against us, to discourage us, to make us doubt God’s grace or our calling. Yet, whenever such doubts assail us, we can remember this. The Lord immediately told everyone He called to not be afraid. Don’t let fear take over your hearts, minds, and lives. Know that the God who called you, and me, and all of us to our missions is with us all the way. In fact, we need to experience our emptiness before Him – not as a way of belittling us, but of helping us to open our hearts to the Lord, who longs to fill us with His love and joy. God wants to show us our deepest need so that He can be for us our deepest gift, and meet that need in astoundingly generous ways.
Whenever you encounter God in some powerful way; whenever God is calling you to something you can’t quite understand, something that seems beyond you; do not let fear make you turn away. Be open in complete trust to what the Lord has in store for you. He will give you all the grace you need to be faithful to this mission. He will send you people who will support you and guide you. He will never abandon you. He will watch over you so that His purpose in creating you will be fulfilled. All He needs from us is our trust and our love. He has already given us the capacity for both. Trust God, and discover for yourself what great things can happen when God mixes with us!