Today’s questions may not be for everyone. Some of you may need to answer “no.” But that’s ok. First of all, do you own an aquarium? Do you have one in your home, or in the place where you work? If you don’t own one, do you still enjoy watching fish swim in one? Some people even have a screen saver that turns their computer monitor into a miniature fish tank. A lot of people find it relaxing to watch fish swimming by.
I don’t own an aquarium, but recently I was waiting in my internist’s office for an annual check up, and, of course, being there on time, I had only about an hour to wait for him to see me. Fortunately, he has a great aquarium in his waiting room and, so, I spent the time watching his fish. The first thing I noticed was their diversity, not only in their colors, but also in their actions. There was a stationary floater who didn’t move anything but its gills. It remained completely passive to the rapid motion of those fish darting elsewhere and everywhere. Several were nibbling at something special on the bottom of the tank, tossing up pebbles as they browsed. A few were hiding among the rocks, keeping well out of the action. Others continued to swim, but ignored the remaining fish, except when there was about to be a confrontation and then they veered off in a new direction.
I began to think there are people who act like fish. Some of us are stationary floaters who watch life going by and do not enter actively into it. Others are overly active and dart around in life just to be on the move. Some browse with our nose in the dirt and don’t see what is above us. Others of us keep on going in our own active direction until we meet up with a confrontation.
As you have no doubt already guessed, these reflections about fish lead directly to thoughts about Peter, the “big fisherman” we heard about in today’s Gospel reading. Peter did not have an aquarium in his house, but he knew a lot about fish. A few years ago, Karen and I, and several others from Christ the Good Shepherd, had the marvelous opportunity to visit Capernaum and see the archeological remains of what is known as “Peter’s House.” Capernaum is at the top of a hill, with the sea of Galilee at its base. Within a stone’s throw of Peter’s house are the remains of a synagogue which was built a few years after the time of Jesus, but probably sits on the ruins of an older one.
It was there in Capernaum that Jesus stayed between his preaching and healing journeys to the inhabitants of Galilee. It was there, at the foot of the hill, there on the seashore that Jesus met Peter and his brother, Andrew. The two brothers knew all about fish. It was their business to know about them. Every day, they went out in their boat and cast their nets into the sea. But today was different. Today, Jesus called to them to come and follow him. No longer were they to be fishermen. Now they were to be fishers of men.
In this seaside village there were other fishermen. Jesus met two more of them, James and his brother, John. They, too, had spent their entire lives working with their father Zebedee in the family business. Jesus called to them also. Jesus invited these four men to become his disciples, his followers. Have you ever wondered at what a strange event this is, the calling of the first disciples? It’s strange for several reasons. First of all, this is a reversal of the normal relationship between master and disciples. Under normal conditions, back in those days, a man chose the master he wished to follow. The disciple-to-be, on his own accord, sought out the master from whom he wanted to learn about a new life. But in today’s events, it was the master who chose the disciples. As it is said elsewhere by Jesus, “You have not chosen me; I have chosen you.”
And whom did Jesus choose? This, too, is a strange part of the events there on the shore of Galilee. He did not choose a scribe or a scholar of the Hebrew law. He did not choose someone who is rich or famous or idle and had nothing better to do. He chose four, hard-working, self-employed fishermen who had families to take care of. In the case of Peter, he had to worry even about his mother-in-law who lived with him. For James and John, there was their father Zebedee whom they left behind to follow this preacher. Which brings us to another strange part of this event.
In the case of all four fishermen, they “immediately” left what they were doing in order to follow this man who called them. Have you ever wondered about old Zebedee? One minute he’s working with his sons, just as he had every day ever since they were strong enough to help cast the nets into the sea and haul out the fish. He hoped, no doubt, that the family business would go to them when he died. And here they were, running off with this itinerant preacher.
And what about Peter? Did he hate being a fisherman and, therefore, was willing to give up his former life in an instant to become a disciple of Jesus? We know from other Gospel stories this is not the case. When he thought Jesus was gone for good, Peter took his fishermen friends back to the Sea of Galilee where he, no doubt, thought he would return to the life he had left behind. But that was not the case. Jesus had called Peter and Andrew, and James and John, to follow him for the rest of their lives.
Jesus continues to make the same invitation to each one of us. He calls us to follow him for the rest of our lives. Often our response is: “well, ok, but not right now. Give me a chance to think it over. There’s a lot left for me to do before I can follow you. I still need to devote time to my family, even to my mother-in-law. There is still the business to run, my daily obligations to fulfill. I’ll start to follow you next week, or next year, or sometime before I die.”
Some put off following Jesus the Christ because they think they must give up everything, all the essentials of life. But Jesus did not ask Peter and the others to do that. Jesus invited them to become fishers of others, rather than fishers of fish. They were called to continue to do what they had been raised to do, but, now, they had a new goal. They were able to respond so immediately because they had been preparing all of their lives to hear the call and respond to it.
Peter, no doubt for many years, had been part of that synagogue a stone’s throw from his doorstep. He had heard the prophecies about the Messiah. He was open to the call of this new preacher and he was prepared to follow him. All it took was a single event, a single response, for him to begin his new life. All it takes for us may be a single event, a single response, to see what we have been doing has, in fact, been preparing us to be open to the invitation of Jesus.
We have two choices. First of all, we can be like fish trapped in an aquarium. We can float through life, without moving anything but our gills, merely existing. We can dart around with meaningless purpose. We can keep our heads down and nibble on the things which sink to the bottom. We can hide among the rocks and pretend no one knows we are there. We can ignore others until there is a sudden confrontation.
Yes, we can be fish. Or we can be fishers. We can cast our nets into the sea of life and bring out, not trapped fish, but our live brothers and sisters. Our livelihood, our being alive, can change so that we are more completely alive. We, too, can hear the words Jesus proclaimed in today’s good news: “repent … change your lives … for the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time; January 24, 1999
Is 8:23-9:3; 1 Cor 1:10-13,17; mt 4:12-23