Father Koch: In encountering Jesus, Simon recognizes he needs to repent
February 7, 2025 at 3:02 p.m.
Gospel reflection for Feb. 9, 2025, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus has begun his public ministry and is beginning to draw some attention. He has been moving about in the Galilee preaching and expelling demons. He has settled in Capernaum, a fishing village on Lake Tiberius, that was at the time a commercial center. Here fishermen would spend their nights trolling the lake for fish. Then, arriving at the shore, they would sell their wares to the waiting fishmongers who would salt them, crate them in barrels, and send them to different cities in the empire.
Imagine, then, the utter frustration of Simon and his crew -- Andrew, James, John, and Zebeddee -- as on this overnight they caught nothing at all. Coming ashore they met someone new. This teacher had been seen around town. He spoke in the synagogue last Sabbath and offered an intriguing interpretation on the prophecy of Isaiah. Likely, Simon had been there and heard him preach. Now, with a crowd following him, this preacher asked to borrow Simon’s boat so he could preach to the assembled. He got into the boat and asked them to pull off shore and from there he taught.
The sermon is unknown, instead it is on the effect it had on Simon that is the focus.
When Jesus finished preaching to the crowd he told Simon to that they go back out and try again to bring in a daily haul of fish. They cast out again and caught more fish than the boat could handle, so that they were in danger of sinking.
This event draws a parallel to the one at the end of the Gospel According to John where they bring in a catch of 163 fish.
Whatever he experienced, his response to Jesus is even more astounding than the catch: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
This is the key to understanding the vocation of Simon -- the recognition of his own need for conversion and confronting his own sinfulness.
There is no question that Simon and the others were faithful to their Jewish practices and customs. As Galileans they were observant, but certainly less strict, than their neighbors in Judea, characterized by the Pharisees and Sadducees. It is even likely, again according to St. John, the these fishermen were at first followers of John the Baptizer and may well have been baptized by him.
The parallel between the call of Isaiah, as we hear in the first reading, and the call here of St. Peter is very clear. The call comes with the internal reflection of one’s own unworthiness and a focus on their weakness. Isaiah knew he was “a man of unclean lips” meaning that he did not always follow dietary laws or the required observance of his Israelite tradition. Peter, along with the other of the Galilean disciples of Jesus, will come into conflict with the Pharisees, who will chastise them for their lax observances of the minutiae of the Mosaic Law.
As we follow the person of Simon Peter throughout the New Testament, we see his growth in understanding his role as a disciple and then as he transitions to the principal spokesman of the disciples after the Pentecost event.
While it begins here at the seashore in Capernaum, it was a life of reflection and contemplation of the Jewish Law that had prepared him for this moment. A man of about twenty-seven at the time. Simon Peter has a wife and presumably a family of his own by now. Yet he was still yearning for more, trying to discover his own relationship with God and find a deeper meaning in his life.
In this way, Simon Peter can be an example for each one of us. We see through the Gospels how he grappled with understanding Jesus and his own role within the movement that Jesus was beginning.
None of us are finished products -- we are all on the journey that the Father calls us to follow. Like Simon Peter, the biggest step on our journey is the realization that we need Jesus in our lives, and that in our sinfulness, it is reconciliation with the Father and conversion of mind, heart, and life, that propels us forward, and keeps us strong in our work for the Kingdom of God.
Father Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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Gospel reflection for Feb. 9, 2025, Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Jesus has begun his public ministry and is beginning to draw some attention. He has been moving about in the Galilee preaching and expelling demons. He has settled in Capernaum, a fishing village on Lake Tiberius, that was at the time a commercial center. Here fishermen would spend their nights trolling the lake for fish. Then, arriving at the shore, they would sell their wares to the waiting fishmongers who would salt them, crate them in barrels, and send them to different cities in the empire.
Imagine, then, the utter frustration of Simon and his crew -- Andrew, James, John, and Zebeddee -- as on this overnight they caught nothing at all. Coming ashore they met someone new. This teacher had been seen around town. He spoke in the synagogue last Sabbath and offered an intriguing interpretation on the prophecy of Isaiah. Likely, Simon had been there and heard him preach. Now, with a crowd following him, this preacher asked to borrow Simon’s boat so he could preach to the assembled. He got into the boat and asked them to pull off shore and from there he taught.
The sermon is unknown, instead it is on the effect it had on Simon that is the focus.
When Jesus finished preaching to the crowd he told Simon to that they go back out and try again to bring in a daily haul of fish. They cast out again and caught more fish than the boat could handle, so that they were in danger of sinking.
This event draws a parallel to the one at the end of the Gospel According to John where they bring in a catch of 163 fish.
Whatever he experienced, his response to Jesus is even more astounding than the catch: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
This is the key to understanding the vocation of Simon -- the recognition of his own need for conversion and confronting his own sinfulness.
There is no question that Simon and the others were faithful to their Jewish practices and customs. As Galileans they were observant, but certainly less strict, than their neighbors in Judea, characterized by the Pharisees and Sadducees. It is even likely, again according to St. John, the these fishermen were at first followers of John the Baptizer and may well have been baptized by him.
The parallel between the call of Isaiah, as we hear in the first reading, and the call here of St. Peter is very clear. The call comes with the internal reflection of one’s own unworthiness and a focus on their weakness. Isaiah knew he was “a man of unclean lips” meaning that he did not always follow dietary laws or the required observance of his Israelite tradition. Peter, along with the other of the Galilean disciples of Jesus, will come into conflict with the Pharisees, who will chastise them for their lax observances of the minutiae of the Mosaic Law.
As we follow the person of Simon Peter throughout the New Testament, we see his growth in understanding his role as a disciple and then as he transitions to the principal spokesman of the disciples after the Pentecost event.
While it begins here at the seashore in Capernaum, it was a life of reflection and contemplation of the Jewish Law that had prepared him for this moment. A man of about twenty-seven at the time. Simon Peter has a wife and presumably a family of his own by now. Yet he was still yearning for more, trying to discover his own relationship with God and find a deeper meaning in his life.
In this way, Simon Peter can be an example for each one of us. We see through the Gospels how he grappled with understanding Jesus and his own role within the movement that Jesus was beginning.
None of us are finished products -- we are all on the journey that the Father calls us to follow. Like Simon Peter, the biggest step on our journey is the realization that we need Jesus in our lives, and that in our sinfulness, it is reconciliation with the Father and conversion of mind, heart, and life, that propels us forward, and keeps us strong in our work for the Kingdom of God.
Father Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.