Gospel Reflection on Lk 5:1-11

February 9, 2025

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch." Simon said in reply, "Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets." When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

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Only twice in the gospels do we hear Jesus remark about faith. This is one. He's remarking about the great faith he finds in the centurion.

And the other one is the absence of faith in his hometown. He could do no miracles because of their lack of faith. So what is it that captured his attention? What did he see in this centurion who was, as far as we can see, of no religious history? And I think what he must have sensed in the centurion is he sensed that the centurion lived in a purpose filled world.

I give orders and they obey. Now in the purpose filled world that the Centurion lived in, the purpose is imposed on the world. This is the Roman, peace. These garrisons were sent to ensure peace and security, but they did it by imposing their will on a culture. There was purpose but it came from outside.

But what the centurion senses somehow in Jesus is that there is a deeper purpose in life that is not imposed, but unfolds. He somehow sensed in his encounter with Jesus that there's at work in creation a purpose, a plan, a power that he needs to be submissive to. And if it's the will of this purpose and plan that his servant be healed, then so be it. Do we have that same confidence about the world we live in? Do we have the same confidence that there is a purpose unfolding in this world as we speak?

It doesn't need to be imposed. It is unfolding. It is happening. What we need to do, like the centurion, is sense it, somehow find ourselves in tune with it, and work with it, whatever this purpose is. But the bigger question is, do we have the confidence that the world in which we live is has a purpose and the purpose is alive and the purpose is unfolding?

Or do we think we're in a world that is haphazard and chaotic? Or even worse, a world that's in the power of evil. Where do we find ourselves on that spectrum? Convinced we live in a world that has a purpose and it's unfolding? Neutral, we're living in a world that is evil and against us.