Our Job Is To Bring Christ To Others

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟒, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐂𝐨𝐥 𝟏:𝟗-𝟏𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟗𝟖:𝟐-𝟔 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟓:𝟏-𝟏𝟏

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “..𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆𝒏.” (𝒗.10)

         At some point in time there will be some of you who will ask what your purpose in life is. For some who may have been raised in a Christian environment, perhaps you’ll even ask what God’s purpose was in creating you. Responses may be varied and what you believe in determines the path you take.

         If, for example, you believe that your purpose is to gain fame and wealth then all your energies will be directed towards this goal from the time that you started internalizing such concept of becoming famous and wealthy.

         Most Filipinos have been baptized as Catholics and unless you grow up in a Catholic environment there is a chance you may not have received catechetical instructions since religion is not part of the curriculum in public schools. But even those who have attended religion classes in Catholic schools, they can also be consumed by the unquenchable hunger for wealth which is what we now see in the current political environ.

         The reason is simple and clear because would a person be attracted to a life of suffering, sacrifice and poverty if someone told you this is the life that you need to pursue? Do you think Levi (Matthew) would have followed Jesus if he knew that he was going to die for doing so? How about those who joined the renewal and attended the Life in the Spirit Seminar and faced numerous challenges and trials in life? Do you regret that you did?

         For Peter, James and John this second encounter with Jesus was the turning point in their lives and we will see at the end of this narrative that they pulled their boats to the shore, left everything – including their catch perhaps – and followed Jesus.

         Beneath this Gospel today is an important message for all of us – that we are to leave behind everything that belongs to our past life that has separated us from the source of Grace when we encounter Jesus and are called.

         And we can draw from Peter who felt not only embarrassed but humbled at the miracle that he personally witnessed when they drew their nets that filled their boats with fish that they were on the verge of sinking. It wasn’t like Peter, and the rest weren’t good fishermen. It was their livelihood, and they probably were familiar with the Sea of Galilee as they grew up in that place.

          But what they couldn’t see, Jesus could see far beyond than what the human eye can see. He saw in Peter, James and John the qualities that he was looking for to be his disciples.

         And Peter sets an example for all of us as he realized his nothingness at the mighty power who stood in front of him, Peter fell on his knees and in utter humility acknowledged his sinfulness. As Christians we too can, like Peter, put our pride in our pockets and acknowledge our sinfulness before the Lord.

         This is what besets many of us as we prefer to rationalize our actions instead of learning from them. We justify even that which we already know to be a sinful act rather than make amends to repair broker relationships. Take for example the personalities who are now being dragged into the so-called “flood control projects” scam.

         The grandstanding Sen. Ping Lacson revealed there were 67 Congressmen who are linked to construction companies that were awarded billions of pesos in contracts by the DPWH yet he refuses to name who these Congressmen were.

         There were also some items in the country’s national budget that were earmarked for “livelihood training projects” and there was one Senator who had plans to run for President in 2016 had funded such projects amounting to P300-million ($6.7 million at the exchange rate prevailing at the time ($1.00 = P44.50). The question that I myself asked and many of you will ask is what kind of training projects would require an expenditure of such a huge amount of public funds.

         This Gospel reading today in 𝐋𝐊 𝟓:𝟏-𝟏𝟏 reminds us that acknowledging our sinfulness is one of at least two things that we need to do when we come before the Lord. The other thing which I learned when I was already growing in the renewal movement is that I cannot do it alone.

         I cannot change myself. I cannot become what Jesus wants me to become. I cannot be a Christian by myself. I cannot possibly be the disciple I want to be. I cannot forgive. I cannot love God in the way that God wants to be loved. I cannot just love anyone; I cannot love my neighbor as God has commanded us to do. I cannot save myself. I need someone who is more powerful than I am for me to do these things. In other words, I need God who will help me change and be restored into the image and likeness of Him who created me.

         Before calling Peter and his brother Andrew, James and John, Jesus has already been preaching in the synagogues and his popularity was growing and Peter, Andrew, James and John must have heard about him but are not yet convinced at who Jesus is.

         The miracle they saw when Jesus asked them to lower their nets filling their boats in the process was the key that unlocked their doubt and when Jesus said to Peter: “𝑫𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒅; 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒐𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒆𝒏. 𝑺𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒕𝒔 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒓𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎.” (𝒗𝒗.10-11)            

         What happened to Peter, Andrew, James and John will also happen to us and many times these things happen for a reason. To Peter and the others, it opened their eyes, and they followed Jesus. Remember that they were up all night but haven’t caught anything.

         This is the same with us, especially in the confines of the Church and or the Community. Some of us may be in a situation that may seem hopeless, and the natural tendency is we wait for an opportune time before we take action. This is where we differ from Peter because if we wait for the proper time, that time may never come and we may never be able to start at all.

         Peter dropped all his years of hands-on experience as a fisherman and he did what Jesus told him to do: “𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉.” (𝒗.4) The result was a miracle.

         We may be at the crossroad of our lives now and Jesus is telling us to go out into the deep and uncharted territory and to lower our nets. It means doing what we think we can’t do. If it means we need to humble ourselves, that is to lower our nets, to put our guards down, set aside our pride, turnaround from our self-centeredness, then expect a miracle like what Jesus did to Peter.

         Remember too that there were no conditions when Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John and the rest of the Apostles. He simply said in 𝑴𝒂𝒕𝒕 4:18-22 “𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆,” and they did. Aren’t we supposed to do the same? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 4, 2025)