Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

What does it mean to catch men, I think, in a nutshell it means evangelization. To go out into the whole world proclaiming the gospel to all the people. Not only by proclaiming the word, but also to live “the way” that Jesus gave us. The way we live can often be more profound than preaching, alone. Peter, although reluctant…, shows us how to live our faith, by simply trusting.

Peter was a working man, he was educated on the torah and he knew about the prophecy of the messiah, but he was also a man with a job to do and he devoted most of his time and attention to the latter endeavor. His brother Andrew was a much more spiritual man. Andrew knew about Jesus. He was a disciple of John the baptist and had heard John talk about Jesus many times. But at this point in the gospel Peter had never met Jesus, and had only heard his brother talking about Him.

It is important here to add a little context. Fishermen at this time would fish at night because that was the time that the fish were most active out looking for food. During the day they would go into the plants that were closer to shore to hide themselves from predators and wait out the heat of the day. Peter was tired, and frustrated at his lack of success in fishing the night before, and catching nothing. It was morning and they were cleaning their nets, and for all intents and purposes the time for fishin was over.

That is exactly when Jesus steps into his boat. This simple action had many deep implications though. First, is that the boat belonged to Peter, thus Peter was the captain, and he was the one in charge of what was done and said in that place. Jesus enters uninvited and sits down. Sitting down is the posture of a rabbi about to teach and so He does. Second, This scene also depicts a model for our church as a whole. The Church is Peters boat, Peter is the leader (Pope), but Jesus teaches his gospel from that church. This is why the roofs our old gothic churches always resembled that hull of a boat upside down on top of the church, because the church is the boat (aka Bark) of St. Peter, and that is where we hear our Lord preach His gospel to us.

But getting back to the story, it is at this point when Peter hears Jesus preach, that he too finally understands who this man is… the great teacher that his brother had been telling him about. But his conversion was not complete yet, so Jesus asks him for an act of faith. Jesus says “put out into the deep,” essentially go out into the water where everyone knows there are no fish! Everything in Peter told him that the request was useless, and that it would only be a waste of time. But regardless he complies. Peter decides to trust, and the reward of this simple act of faith was a catch of fish, that no one in that area had ever seen before.

This is the reward of living your life by trusting in God, whether your mind is telling you to do otherwise. That is why Peter, kneels before Jesus, and asks for forgiveness, because Peter knew his mind did not match in any way what his heart told him to do, and what his outward actions ultimately did. Peter, becuase of his lack of faith did not feel worthy of his reward. And that is when Jesus call him to be a disciple, to become a fisher of men.

The Ignatius Study Bible describes this process as the six stages of the Christian life. The six stages are the process that we all follow as we enter into the Christian life, when we go from living a life according to our will and our design into a life that is lived according to God’s design and will for it. That process follows a standard progression and it looks like this:

1. It starts with the need, the initial frustration, the difficult situation. For these fishermen, in today’s reading, it meant catching nothing;
2. Next is the invitation to trust, to put out into deep water.
3. That invitation is then followed by the disciples’ positive response. To do something that does not make any sense, but doing so because you trust the one (God) that is asking you to do it.
4. That trust is then rewarded, and the result of the trust, which in these fisherman’s case was the miraculous catch of fish.
5. In the face of so much grace, the proper reaction is humility and obedience.
6. This is the point when Jesus then calls you to go out and to be fishers of men, to be evangelists, that bring even more people to the same point of discipleship.

That is the same invitation that Jesus is offering to all of us. He is asking you too, to “put out into the deep.” How will you respond? The world loves to make fun of people of faith. They think it is rediculous to put trust and faith in an invisible God that that they believe does not exist. They believe that He has never done anything that deserves our worship and obedience. But for those of us that do believe we know this not to be true, the evidence is everywhere you look. Creation, and life is the greatest gift that God ever gave mankind, and it is the greatest proof of His existence.

So what should we learn from Peter in this reading? That the thoughts of our minds are not what we are judged by, but instead our actions and how we live our lives is what determines our future in God’s Kingdom. Our minds can think up all kinds of sin and debauchery, but we are only guilty of those sins, if we act upon them. So we should strive everyday to live our lives, by trusting God, and proclaiming the gospel of the Lord with every thing that we do, and tell everyone we meet who God is and invite them “into the deep” as well. When we do that, we too will be fishers of men, and we can catch all of those souls that are wandering aimlessly in the world.

Oh lord, help me today to better live your “way” and to proclaim your gospel to the whole world.