On fishing, and fishermen

Peter’s efforts prove fruitless. Until they meet Jesus and follow his improbable instructions: Put out into the deep.

Image via Pixabay

Last weekend, the world watched, enthralled, as the Catholic Church buried the Bishop of Rome. Soon, the world will tune-in to the pageantry and drama 133 cardinals gathering in conclave to elect a new one.

Such events are comparatively rare, a quality accentuated by our fast-paced media world.

Naturally, when the Church is selecting a successor to St. Peter, our thoughts go back to that first Bishop of Rome. Peter was a friend of Jesus. He walked with our Lord, heard his preaching, witnessed his transfiguration, was rebuked by Christ, and given the keys to the kingdom. He denied Jesus three times in the hour of the Lord’s trial, and entered the empty tomb on Easter morning.

And after all this — after the Passion, after the empty tomb, after meeting the Risen Lord–Peter turned to the other disciples and declared, in the Gospel at Mass this morning, “I am going fishing.” The other disciples agreed this was a good idea and went with him.

Scripture scholars will observe that Peter and the other disciples were in Galilee for good reason: Jesus told them he would meet them there. In fact, Jesus was rather insistent on this point. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples, “After I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.” This is just after the Last Supper and immediately before Jesus predicts Peter’s eventual denial.

On Easter morning, Mary Magdalene arrives at the empty tomb where she learns from the angel what has occurred. And the angel instructs her: “Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”

The Gospel of John gives us a bit more detail. The disciples do go to Galilee, but not right away. Jesus appears to them that very evening where they were hiding behind locked doors. Thomas was not with them. We all know the story. Jesus reappears a week later and the disciples are there, Thomas included, but presumably still not in Galilee.

Exegetes will tell us that the disciples’ foot-dragging in getting to Galilee suggests that they were still fearful and hesitant, despite having met the Risen Lord. Pentecost was weeks away.

Likewise with Peter’s decision to go fishing once he had returned to Galilee. Was he returning to the way things were before, going back to the rhythms of his old life, despite all he had witnessed and seen? Perhaps.

There’s an old fisherman’s joke about the name of the activity: “There’s a reason it’s called ‘fishing,’ not ‘catching.’” I don’t know if Peter ever said such a thing, but he certainly would have understood the sentiment. Peter and the disciples did go fishing that night in Galilee. They did not do any catching.

For all their efforts, those professional fishermen came back to the shore in the morning empty handed. Nor was this the only time scripture records Peter and his crew getting skunked. It had happened before.

Early in Luke’s Gospel, Peter — still called Simon at the time — returns after a night of fishing with nothing to show for his efforts. Jesus, who has been teaching the crowds, sees Peter and the boats and tells him to put out into deep water for a catch. “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.”

Peter does as he is told and “they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing.” It was then that Jesus told Peter, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

Peter’s encounters with Christ in the Gospels are thus bookended by episodes of fishing. In both encounters, Peter’s efforts and those of the other disciples, prove fruitless. Fruitless, that is, until they meet Jesus and follow his improbable instructions. Put out into the deep. Let down your nets for a catch. Cast the net over the side of the boat and you will find something.

On the shore of the lake, that morning after Easter, Peter and the disciples hauled in a great catch. But this time the net did not tear. And they recognized the Lord. And there on the shore of the lake, the Risen Christ confirmed Peter, who had denied him, and instructed him, “Feed my lambs…tend my sheep….feed my sheep.”

Then Jesus told Peter something the fisherman perhaps did not want to hear. “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

In the coming days, a new Peter will be chosen. Like the first Peter, a great charge will be laid upon him–confirm the brethren, feed the sheep. He will be led out onto the balcony of the Vatican Basilica and presented to the world. From that moment, his way will not be his own; his path may well lead where he does not want to go. He, with the other disciples at his side, will let down their nets for a catch. His own wisdom, his own cleverness, his own efforts will not suffice.

When it comes to catching men, and not just fishing, obedience to the Lord makes all the difference.

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