Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (C): Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13], 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11
I used to have a mechanic who knew the make of my car like the back of his hand. He had run the dealership’s service department until he got unhappy with corporate policies. He left to start his own business.
His shop wasn’t fancy. The furniture in the waiting room was second-hand. The floor didn’t get vacuumed often or ever. The magazines were old. It was chilly in the winter and if you wanted coffee while you waited, you needed to bring your own.
But anytime I called him and said, “I’ve got a problem with the car” he would say “bring it in.” He always found the problem, fixed it and charged me less than half of what the dealership would have charged.
If you asked him what his business was he probably would have said “car repair.” But in my opinion, his business was people. He was there when people called and he helped them when things were broken.
In this Sunday’s gospel, Peter and his friends might have said they were fishermen. But fishing is not about fish. It’s about people. Their business was feeding people.
Jesus was warning Peter and his friends that so many people were going to show up because they were hungry for help, or hope or food, that sometimes it was going to feel overwhelming. The way it felt when a catch of fish was too big for the net.
It was and is needed work in a broken world. Holy work. Peter felt too sinful to be a part of it. Isaiah felt unworthy (“unclean lips”) and Paul felt like an unlikely candidate: he had “persecuted the church of God” and was at best the 517th person the Risen One had appeared to.1 But nothing they worried about mattered. All Jesus wanted was someone who was willing to help.
When the crowd backed Jesus up to the water’s edge, he looked around, saw Peter and asked for help. Peter must have said, “Sure, I can help. That’s my boat. Hop in.”
Peace.
Photo by Ri_Ya on Pixabay
According to Paul, the Risen One had appeared to Cephas, the twelve, the five hundred, James (514 so far) and “all the apostles.” The “apostles” seem to be persons other than “the twelve,” but we don’t know who or how many they were. There must have been at least two. That would make Paul the 517th. ;-)
Love it! Hop in, chip in, it’s all good.
Brilliant! Now if we can only take whatever gift we might have and put it to good use! Thank you, Lily, for the reminder that we can all help in some way.