Catching Men

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This coming weekend is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Here at the end of this pericope, Jesus tells Peter: “from now on you will be catching men.” Literally, the next line reads: “from the now, you shall be catching alive (zogreo) people.” The similar phrase in Matthew and Mark reads: “I will make you (to become) fishermen [halieus] of people.” (This word for “fishermen” is used in v. 2 of our text.)

The Greek verb translated “catching alive” is a compound word: zoos = “alive, living” + agreo = “capture, catch”. (This is a verb closely related to agra used in vv. 4 and 9 about “catching” the fish). Classically, it also came to mean, “to restore to life and strength, to revive.”  Maybe a more literal translation might lead us to a sense of this verse as something like “You will be restoring people to life and strength.”   This is perhaps a more captivating thought to people who don’t want to be caught in a net… but what about being “caught up in his or her love” or “captured” by love. Being caught in this way can make us feel really alive and energized – captivated!  By the end of our text, Peter and some of his friends are captivated by Jesus. They leave everything and follow him. (Stoffregen)

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Hospitality

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The first reading today from the Letter to the Hebrews carries an oft quoted verse: “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.” (Hebrews 13:2) All cultures have their own sense and operation of hospitality. I think most of us grew up is homes wherein hospitality was rarely taught but always on display. So, it is an interesting experience to live in a culture where the dynamics of hospitality are different. Such was my experience while living in Kenya.

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Calling Fishermen?

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This coming weekend is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

Many bibles add a small title to this account: “Calling Fisherman.” In the parallel accounts found in Mark 1:16-20 and Matthew 4:18-22, Jesus calls out to Peter, Andrew, James and John, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Luke’s tradition tells us a, perhaps, more nuanced account.

Upon a close reading, one sees that Jesus never says “come,” “follow,” or any thing that would be taken as a discipleship command. It is not that Jesus does not take such direct action in Luke’s gospel. Later Jesus will give the command, “Follow me,” to Levi the tax collector (5:27), who like these fishermen, “leaves everything and follows him” (5:11, 28). Rather Luke seems to intend something other than a call story here.  It is really a proclamation story. Rather than calling Simon and the others, perhaps Jesus announces to Simon (and only to Simon) what Simon will now be doing (v. 10, “from now on you will be catching men.”). Although the task is similar, the words are different from the call stories in Matthew and Mark. 

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A Phenomenal Catch

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This coming weekend is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. In the scene where Jesus calls Peter, we have a  carpenter’s son giving commands to this crew of experienced fishermen – the result is a phenomenal catch of fish. Many scholars give lots of attention to the parallels with John 21:4-8 and, while interesting, is distracting. The Johannine setting is after Jesus’ Resurrection and points to the mission of the Church. This Lucan scene is at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and points to the initial reception of those who would be disciples.

Jesus tells Simon to put into deep waters (v.4), but following that, all Jesus’ words are in the plural, directed to those in the boat along with Peter – yet it is Peter (his boat?) who responds. At the most simple level this scene captures an ancient Christian understanding: the Church as the “bark of salvation” and Peter in command – where even if others doubt, Peter’s attitude is “Jesus said it. I believe it. We’re doing this.” Simon shows what St. Paul will call “the obedience of faith.” It was certainly not reason or experience that motivated him to cast his nets back into the water at the instigation of this carpenter from the hill country. Fishing was best at night; if nothing had been caught, daytime fishing was pointless. 

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Teaching the Crowds

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This coming weekend is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Prior to Jesus calling the first disciples, he was already at the lakeside teaching.

1 While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. 3 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. 4 After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”

Twice in this section “the crowd” is mentioned. Who are they? They are people who come to Jesus to hear the word of God (v. 1). They are people who are taught by Jesus (v. 3), but are they people willing to leave everything and follow Jesus (v. 11)? In our text, there is a difference between the crowd (ochlos) and the fishermen (halieus). The crowd listens to Jesus. The fishermen act. The crowd stays on the land. The fishermen will go out into the deep. At first, Jesus and Simon go out just “a little way from the shore.” Later Jesus will ask Simon to go out to the deep water. Could these be images of different levels of trust in Jesus — the safety of the land, the slightly more dangerous position of being “a short distance from the shore,” and the quite dangerous position of being out in deep waters?

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The Nash Equilibrium and Tariffs

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I suspect many of you have seen and remember the 2001 movie, A Beautiful Mind, starring Russel Crowe as the American John Nash. Nash won a Nobel Prize  in Economics for his game theory – popularly known as the Nash Equilibrium. There are initial conditions for the “game” but that is probably only of interest to folks familiar with game theory. The Nash Equilibrium basically says, e.g. you have three players in the game – let’s say Canada, Mexico, and the United States. If each player has chosen a strategy – an action plan based on what has happened so far in the game – and no one can increase one’s own expected payoff by changing one’s strategy while the other players keep theirs unchanged, then the current set of strategy choices constitutes a Nash equilibrium.

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Writing with Intent

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This coming weekend is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time in which St. Luke described the calling of the first disciples. Christian tradition and popular biblical opinion is that St. Luke was a physician. I occupy the minority camp on that matter. There have been lots of studies comparing his writing and language to known physicians of his age. There is nothing about this Gospel (or Acts of the Apostles) that points to a physician. But as many have pointed out, there is a lot that points to another occupation: rhetorical historian (and yes, he could have been both…). As the rhetorical historian, he writes with a purpose and intent. Green [230] writes: “Within his overall narrative strategy, the initial purpose of this episode is to secure for Luke’s audience the nature of appropriate response to the ministry of Jesus. Simon’s obedience and declaration of his sinfulness, and especially the final note that Simon, James, and John “left everything and followed” contrast both with the earlier “amazement” of the crowds and with the questions and opposition characteristic of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in the later episodes of this chapter. His further statement, “Go away from me, Lord,” contrasts even more sharply with attempts by people at Nazareth and Capernaum, as it were, to keep Jesus to themselves.”

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Franciscan Martyrs of Georgia

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Many years ago I met Fr. Conrad Harkins OFM. Conrad was a friar of Holy Name Province (my province before the recent merger of the United States Franciscan OFM provinces and taught at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. When he learned I was from the south, he was eager to share that was the postulator for the five Franciscans that were martyred in 1597 near modern-day Eulonia, Georgia. The postulator is the person assigned to begin the cause of sainthood. They are responsible for gathering evidence and presenting a case to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican to initiate the process of beatification and canonization.

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The Capernaum Ministry

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This coming weekend is the 5th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle C. For the two previous weeks in the lectionary cycle, Jesus has been in Nazareth engaging the citizens of his own hometown (4:14-30). As Jesus indicated, no prophet is accepted in his own native place (v.24). Leaving Nazareth, Jesus moved on to Capernaum. Again he amazed people while teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath. While present, there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon (v.33). Jesus casts the demon from the man, again amazing the people: For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out. (v.36) Also while in Capernaum, Jesus cured Simon’s mother-in-law (vv.38-39) and all manner of people sick with various diseases (v.40) and cast out other demons (v.41). 

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The First Light of Revelation

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“Make America Great Again” – think what you will, but it is a fantastic slogan – easy to remember, tells a story of what is possible, and it is three election cycles old and we all know it. Marketing and advertising experts will tell you it hits all the marks. And stop for a moment…does anyone remember the slogans of the opponents in the last three elections? Think what you will of MAGA, it is a masterpiece in sloganeering. And we have the spinoffs: for example, Make America Healthy Again. I asked Chat-GPT for some other suggestions along the same lines and got: “Make America….” Safe Again, Energy-Independent, Strong, First, Free, Bold… “Again!”  Maybe I should copyright some of these ideas? I thought about “Make American Moral Again” or “Make America Mighty Again” – not bad, but then the slogan would be MAMA and I am not sure what that would say if I walked around with a MAMA hat.

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