5th Sunday C, 2007.
Jesus needed some help because people were crowding on him and he turned to Peter. Peter went and did
what Jesus asked of him,
and then he had to sit and listen to Jesus
instead of working on his nets. He received a great reward
for his generous response to a call from Jesus.
I have had a similar experience years ago.
When I first started praying regularly I would sit for an hour every morning listening to God who said nothing
and did not even seem to be there. Then, after many,
many hours and weeks and months God was suddenly there
and communicated to me his satisfaction with me, with my life, my past and my future. In other words he said: struggle on,
but all is well.
It was a tremendous gift to me that changed my life.
I think that if we respond -like Peter- to a request from Jesus
and drop everything and do whatever he asks us to do,
we may well receive a great reward.
He may not only ask that we drop what we are doing
but he may also ask us to suspend our disbelief
or some harsh attitude that we have.
The reward of Jesus made Peter see something else as well.
In the light of Christ he saw the difference between himself
and Christ and thought he was unworthy of his company.
Jesus however knew him before he spoke to him
and still asked him to be one of his apostles.
Jesus is broadminded, much more so than most of us,
and will work with any of us.
Isaiah – as we heard in the first reading – also saw himself
as a sinner in the presence of the Lord.
‘I am a man of unclean lips,’ he said.
When the angel touched his lips with a burning charcoal
he was made clean and sinless. It was as simple as that.
God wanted Isaiah as he was, wanted Peter as he was
and wants you and me as we are.
If we want to be purified he’ll do it
but he’ll work with us as we are.
He does not want us to keep looking back and dwell on
past sins. The freer we are the more we can do for God.
So all grown-ups, let us show the children and the young how to be a free helper of Jesus.