By Canon Gerry Conroy
I find it striking how often in the Bible, there is the injunction, not to be afraid, especially when someone encounters the supernatural. We hear it again in the Gospel today and we can sense the presence of fear overcome in the 1st reading also. Fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it can avert us to a threat to our very existence, an advisory that we should take action to protect ourselves. Whether fear is a positive thing or a negative thing in our life depends very much on the situation that gives rise to it.
If we are to understand it’s significance for St Peter and to understand if his fear has anything to tell us about our own journey through life, we must first understand what had happened to cause St Peter to respond to the miraculous catch of fish with fear. I suppose it began with the preaching of Christ in Peter’s boat. He would surely have heard what Christ was saying, but what did he think of what he heard? The real question for St Peter was probably the same question that confronts many people today and that is whether or not the things that Jesus spoke of had any significance for his life and what he experienced day in and day out, or was what Jesus had to say interesting but perhaps unrealistic for the world in which Peter had to live and work.
I tend to think that for St Peter it was unrealistic. It was just too far removed from real life, perhaps it sounded nice, but it didn’t really help him put bread on the table for his family; it didn’t put fish in his net. I say that because when Christ asked him to throw out his nets, Peter was polite; he recognised in Jesus a good man, perhaps even a holy man, but someone who didn’t really understand life. So, out of respect for Jesus as a good man, but without any real expectation of catching anything, he agreed to lower his nets into the sea for a catch. The fear came, not simply because his nets were full to overflowing, but because Peter suddenly realised that there was something of the truth in what Jesus had been saying, and if he accepted that there was truth there, it would challenge him in a way he was uncomfortable with. It would be easier for Jesus just to leave; Peter wasn’t someone who wanted to go into the ins and outs of things, the why’s and wherefores of things, he simply wanted to live and get on with life without really thinking too much about the bigger things. Each day had enough troubles of its own.
That is really the issue we all face: how seriously do we want to take what Christ says. It is easier to get on with our life and its daily problems, to live simply for the concerns of life without looking too far into the meaning and purpose of things, without considering God or his plans for us and our world. When he caught all those fish, Peter knew that if he let Christ in, his life would never be the same, he would never be able to go back to fishing because he had glimpsed that there was more to life than everyday joys and pleasures, there was more than the anxieties of life. Christ had opened up for him possibilities, showing him what he had spoken of was possible and not just some idle fancy. St Paul sums it up when he says that Christ died according to the Scriptures and rose from the dead according to the Scriptures. If we truly accept that, then life can never be the same for us either.
This hymn was sung by the choir at St Patrick’s this morning.
1. The foxes have their holes,
and the swallows have their nests,
but the son of man
has no place to lay down.
I do not offer comfort,
I do not offer wealth,
but in me will all happiness be found.
Chrorus:
Follow me, follow me, leave your home and family,
Leave your fishing nets and boats upon the shore.
Leave the seed that you have sown, leave the crops that you have grown, leave the people you have known and follow me.
2. If you would follow me,
you must leave old ways behind.
You must take my cross
and follow on my path.
You may be far from loved ones,
you may be far from home,
but my father will welcome you at last.
3. Although I go away
you will never be alone.
for the spirit will be
there to comfort you.
Though all of you may scatter,
each follow his own path,
still the spirit of love will lead you home.
Canon Conroy is parish priest of St Patrick’s, Dumbarton