Tag archieven: fishermen

Walking on water. Logistics of the Spirit

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Homily on the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time on August 13, 2023 Wijk bij Duurstede (The Netherlands)

It is striking that before he started his long journey to Jerusalem, Jesus was active for some time in the area around Lake Genesaret. Such a huge inland sea seems like a barrier for a wandering rabbi. Because you can’t walk on water. You travel much faster by ship than on foot. This applies not only to the crossing to the other side, but also to the places along the coastline.
By using a ship, it appears that Jesus proceeded with great deliberation in his proclamation of the kingdom of God. Occasionally, fishing boats also served as a stage. Moreover, his first disciples were fishermen who were very familiar with the waters of Lake Genesareth
We can learn from this that we may also proceed with deliberation in the proclamation of the Gospel. I give a modern example. Last week the World Youth Days were held in Lisbon in de presence of pope Franciscus. About one and a half million young people from Portugal, Europe and around the world attended. The first World Youth Days were organized in 1984 at the initiative of Pope John Paul II. Since then, this international youth meeting has taken place almost every other year. The young people have now returned from Portugal, including to our diocese and our parishes. They will never forget what they have experienced with countless others. It makes them feel jointly responsible for the church in their own environment from now on.
Forty years ago, World Youth Days did not exist at all. Now they can’t be ignored again. Everyone understands how much needed they are. They are an example of how the church can reach people with the message of God’s kingdom through policy and counsel.
Similarly, Jesus acted wisely by using small boats in the proclamation of the Gospel. He thanked God, his Father, for opening the hearts of the people to his message, but that did not mean that he went without a plan.The water of the lake turned out to be an excellent means to carry out his mission very energetically
But water has its own dangers and drawbacks. Especially on Lake Genesareth. The Gospel of Matthew tells two stories about this. We just heard one of them 1). About Jesus appearing to his disciples in the dead of night while the toiling with the wind and the waves does not make any progress. In an earlier story Matthew tells that the disciples are afraid they will perish in a sudden storm, while Jesus is sleeping 2). They awaken their master and cry out in fear, “Lord, don’t you care that we perish?” Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves so that they lay down. Jesus thus taught his disciples that his mission came from God, and that nothing and no one could prevent Jesus from reaching his goal and completing his mission on earth. But in this Sunday’s story there is no mention of a storm. Not even because of the students’ fear of the waves. Of course they struggle with it. The disciples presumare afraid, but this time not for the wind and the waves. They are near exhaustion. They feel abandoned. Also by their master himself who ordered them to sail home without him. They are afraid but of something completely different.
When Jesus suddenly comes to them on foot across the lake, they think they see a ghost. That is why they tremble with fear. “Take courage” says Jesus “It is I”. They recognize his voice. Now there is only one in the Bible who can say, “I am.” Absolutely and without further explanation. That is only God. Jesus appears here in his divine form. As a foreman, Peter reacts very alertly. “Lord, if it is indeed you, tell me to come to you.” All exhaustion and frustration is over. He is immediately ready to follow Jesus. Ready for the challenges that await him. All attention now turns to Peter as the foreman of the apostles.
“Come” says Jesus as he said earlier at the first call of the apostles: “Come, follow me”. Just like then, without thinking twice, Peter gets out of the boat to join Jesus. But then when he does not look at the Lord for a moment, but at the waves, he loses ground under his feet and threatens to sink. Some interpreters think that Peter is here being punished for presumptuous conduct. But what is presumptuous about obeying the voice of the Lord? Let’s take a look at the man who now holds the Petrine ministry: Pope Francis.
Last year he started the synodal process. A huge challenge. Many said to each other, “This is going nowhere. I’m not participating. Loss of time and energy”. Others said: ‘it will be chaos, all these different views on crucial matters’. Still others: “This is contrary to the hierarchical structure of the Church. The bishops deal with the doctrine and morals of the Church. Ordinary believers should not comment on that.”
Do you think that Pope Francis, who has of course heard all those dissenting voices, has not had the feeling in recent times, just like Peter, that the ground sank under his feet when he saw all the dissenting voices and problems? Not only as a person, but also as the highest leader of the Church in our time? Do you not think that at such a time he lifted up his hands and cried out, “Lord, save me?” We may hope and pray that we have such a human pope.Jesus grabs Peter’s hand and says, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” He does not say: ‘if you were not sure, then you should not have started it, but: ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt’. In other words: “You knew you could rely on me, didn’t you? I have not abandoned you. I wanted to show you that I am always with you. “Don’t hesitate any longer”.
Of course, Pope Francis has not recklessly embarked on the challenge of the Synodal process that will conclude in Rome at the beginning of October with the Episcopal Conference. On the contrary, it is a sign of policy and consultation for the church to continue its mission in our time with modern means and possibilities and to involve the entire church in this. Like on Lake Genesareth, may we be open to the discovery that Christ is near and saves when we stretch out our hand to him. And let us also discover and recognize God’s presence in our situation. and with all the crew of the ship of the Church say:  “Truly thou art the Son of God”

Martin Los,

1) Matthew 14:22-33
2) Matthew 8:23-28

From now on you wil be catching people

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Sermon on the 5th Sunday of the year February 6 Cenakel 1) Utrecht

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people,” Jesus says 2). He speaks these words to the fishermen who have just caught an incredible catch at the word of this young rabbi, to their amazement and dismay. “From now on you will be catching people.” He does not say, “from now on you múst catch people”. As an assignment of which they do not know exactly what it means and how to do it, and therefore have justified doubts whether they will succeed in that assignment. No “from now on you wiill be catching  people”. At first Peter had answered: “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets”. They had despite their disappointment gone into business with Jesus. It is now also that word of Jesus, “be not afraid, for from now on you wil be cachting people” that asks for faith and that sets them in motion. What the disciples have just experienced as fishermen, they may now experience when they as his disciples and his apostles are sent, as his representatives, from the moment they start proclaiming the good news to people. This Gospel of this Sunday is in one image the story of the Apostles and the story of the whole Church, which is centered on the Apostles, people with their doubts and shortcomings like us, but at the same time called by the Lord to participate in the vocation of the church to catch people. That is not an impossible task. It’s a promise.
Of course we can have questions about that. They will be different every time. For generations, people have had no reservations about the term “catching people”. That is why it is good to take a moment to reflect on contemporary reserves in order to understand the message even better and to pass it on with all the more joy. We look back on slavery in our time. Countless people were deprived of their liberty and captured and transported to the Americas in overcrowded ships. The consequences of this are still visible in many forms of discrimination and denial. These images come to mind when we think of catching people. But also if we think of the countless refugees who fall into the hands of people smugglers under false pretenses. The suffering is incalculable. Also because of the unwillingness or inability of rich countries to offer them refuge or by improving their situation in their homeland. These images also come to mind when we think of people who are captured in large numbers. But we can also think of the people who are fascinated by conspiracy-theories due to disinformation and because they have lost their trust in government and all kinds of institutions, including the church. It is a crowd caught up in the issues and delusions of the day, manipulable and gullible. We cannot pass by this until we can speak of the church as catchers of men. Because also for the church there are temptations lurking to capture people in a different way and for a different life than Jesus Christ does. When the church takes the form of a bureaucracy in which people do not experience love, but encounter all kinds of incomprehensible or rigid rules. A church in which all emphasis is on organization and utility. Where believers are not an end but a means. Or a church that tries to win souls by making people afraid of the world and by pretending to be more beautiful than it realy is. Someone said:” the world is often not so bad and the church is often disappointing”.
“Be not afraid, from now on you will be catching people.” This can only mean that they will fully en wholeheartedly liberate people. The word used here in Greek—the language in which the Gospel is written—contains the word for “life.” “From now on you will give life back to people, liberate people.” Jesus makes this promise to his apostles and to the whole church that is founded on them. “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets” The point is that we don’t go to work on our own, as if Jesus were absent. Is if the world is void of longing for God en the good. And as if the church is nothing but an organisation. We must listen to Jesus in everything we do. He himself has delivered us through the sacrifice of his life and his glad tidings. He has made us children of God by faith. In this way we can stand openly in the world and bring people into contact with Christ. As individuals, but also as a community. Beacons of freedom. Like you, sisters, by your complete devotion in prayer and adoration for the mystery of Christ’s presence in our midst, in the very humblest of places. You are therefore also a sign and comfort for all fellow believers who stand in the middle of the world and who in their own way try to capture people and transfer them to the freedom of God’s children and the kingdom of God. Even though we sometimes feel small and unfit, just like Peter: “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!.” We can be part of that great mission and that great adventure of bringing people into contact with Christ who came into the world as a light for the nations, as the savior of men. In the midst of all the systems that make people unfree, and of the lies that keep people captive, and against the people smugglers and exploiters who pass over corpses. By listening to Him, by our prayer, by our worship, by our charity, we may give our fellowmen a view, hope and love. Let’s not let our enthusiasm depend on the results we see. It is about the church of which we are a part by faith. We may see the final harvest when the kingdom of God begins. We are ignited by the community of the saints who have gone before us. It is a multitude that no one can number, who sing the praises of the victory of God’s love. Amen
(C) Martin Los, pr
1) monastry of the servants of the Holy Ghost of perpetual adoration, Utrecht (Zuilen)
2) Evangelie van deze zondag Luke 5:1-11