Homily

Why, after having caught no fish all night long, why would Peter now listen to Jesus and go back into the water to try again? Well, just before this event Luke tells us that Jesus had been preaching and teaching in this area and he had cured a man possessed by a demon and even healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, so it’s not so surprising that he would now do as Jesus asks him to do. What happens next after this great catch of fish? Peter falls to his knees and says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” I think this is very impressive, this act of humility on Peter’s part. I think if it had been me I would have said, “Can you do it again?” I would have been thinking big bucks and buying bigger boats. I would have cut Jesus in for 30% at least.

It’s a miracle, a great miracle. There are a good number of miracles in the Gospels. Jesus did not begin His mission in order to work miracles, but He did work out miraculous deeds from time to time, which pointed to His divine mission even if they did not always lead to people to believe He was the Son of God. But imagine being one of His disciples and seeing these miracles! A blind man gets his sight back, a dead girl comes back to life, lepers are instantly cured. The miracles pointed to the divinity of Jesus but no miracle ever convinced these disciples that Jesus was the Son of God. Only faith could do that. We remember the desertion that happened at the time of His crucifixion, and even the few who stayed loyally at His side when He hung on the cross could not understand what His predictions about a resurrection really meant. It took faith and time for them to put it all together.

Imagine being there to see these miracles. But our modern era does not have much sympathy for miracles. Ever since the age of Enlightenment things have grown darker as far as recognizing truly supernatural events. By reducing all of creation, either virtually or actually, to the material world many of the great men of the Enlightenment era saw no need to believe in, or certainly not talk about a reality that is greater than what we can see, or touch, or experiment on. This even crept into some areas of certain kinds of Protestant theology, where Biblical miracles were treated as natural events that could be explained using natural causes, or else the miracles were described as stories made up to teach a lesson. Sherlock Holmes would always be able to find a natural cause for every event that might seem supernatural, and in modern British television programs there always comes a point where the chief detective solving the crime declares himself to be an atheist.

Thomas Jefferson created his own New Testament to fit in with his Enlightenment ideas. He cut out all the miracles from the four Gospels in his Bible because they had no meaning for him, and it appears he thought they were fiction. Jesus was not a miracle worker, just a great teacher of moral philosophy, so we don’t need to spend time talking about these fables that went against the scientific understanding of the world. Educated folk understand scientific thinking is the only real way to discover truth and explain reality. I read a letter in the local paper a few years ago where a man explained why science is a superior and better way to understand the world than religious faith. He wrote that science is always asking questions and seeking the truth, and ready to change its opinions if it finds that this idea or that theory is not correct, whereas religious faith is not willing to change in the light of new evidence. But if you have the truth which comes from God, no new evidence can change it. It will always be true. Whereas scientific teaching can and must change with new evidence because scientific knowledge depends on limited and fallible human understanding. How does that make science superior?

Can God really change the course of natural events in this world? How many times have you prayed for something and after a short time given up on praying, because you don’t believe it will happen, or because it hasn’t happened yet, or you think God isn’t going to help out so why bother to keep asking? I surely am guilty. We remember that St. Monica prayed for her wealthy, educated son to turn to Christ for many years, seemingly against all hope, but she never gave up on it until the day he converted.

There are people who have given up on faith because they prayed for this thing or that but no miracle happened, so they no longer believe, or at the very least, they no longer care about God. What does that show about the way they understand God? They do not believe that He is their creator Who loves them beyond any understanding, they do not believe that He has a plan and a goal for each of us, and they do not believe that He desires all to live in His love and life forever. Instead, they see God Who won’t give them what they want, and therefore they are done with Him. How different is that from a child who hates his parents because they won’t let him do this or that, they won’t give her what she wants? “No, you can’t eat any more Halloween candy now and you have to go to bed.”

When people are angry with God because He will not perform the miracle or the outcome they are asking of Him, I think it shows they really do not know Who God is. They hope to turn the Almighty into a sort of personal power Who must do as I ask, or else I am done with Him. Imagine if a child’s love for his parents was based on whether or not they always gave him what he asked for. Or because they would not give her this thing or that thing, she is completely done with mom and dad. But what about us? Do we believe in a God Who can work miracles? Do we believe in a God Who loves us beyond any measure? Do we believe He desires our good at all times? Or are we tempted to see the world as a place that I can best manipulate and try to control all on my own so that I can be happy and peaceful? I read a caption under a photo in yesterday’s paper. It read, “Protestors demanding an end to police violence take cover from smoke during a demonstration in Portland. Protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at police.” This is the insanity that comes from a world which rejects the love of God and looks to its own understanding of what life is all about.

At the end of today’s Gospel reading Peter, James and John were not totally converted. But they converted enough to leave their huge catch of fish, their boat, and nets and family and their old way of life to head for a kingdom that was greater than this world. A kingdom greater than this world! Oh, who can believe that today? Let us be the people who do believe that today. May His kingdom come, may His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.