Going Fishing

Going Fishing

Friday in the Octave of Easter

“Then all of you and all the people of Israel should know that it was in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean whom you crucified; whom God raised from the dead; in his name this man stands before you healed. He is the stone rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”  Acts 4:10-11

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So, they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. John 21:3

Piety

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. By the LORD has this been done; it is wonderful in our eyes. Psalm 118:22-23

Study

“The stone the builders rejected” means that what is insignificant to human beings has become great through divine election. The “stone” may originally have meant the foundation stone or capstone of the Temple. The New Testament interpreted the verse as referring to the death and resurrection of Christ.  The concept has deeper roots in the Psalms and the Hebrew Bible. 

Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: See, I am laying a stone in Zion, a stone that has been tested, a precious cornerstone as a sure foundation; whoever puts faith in it will not waver. Isaiah 28:16

Flipping to the Gospel, we get a true juxtaposition of human insignificance and divine importance. When Peter declares that he is going fishing, he has no idea how true that expression would become in a metaphorical sense -- rather than in the literal sense of catching fish to sell at market.

In today’s Gospel, the act of unsuccessful fishing has forced the apostles to move their nets around.  They thought they were retreating back into the “comfort zone” of their prior expertise but were no longer as good at it as they thought they were. Through the Divine Advice of the stranger on the shore, their efforts turned into a successful expedition that opened the door for the new and different paths ahead.

Peter thought he was rejecting the commission given by Jesus and headed back to take up his nets again now that Jesus was gone.  Yet, Luke’s account of the successful fishing expedition connects with this story to show what will now be happening:

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. 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.  Luke 5:9-11

Action

What nets have you caught up in the human and distracted from the divine? The Lord is here to untangle us from our nets so we can put them down and follow the “stranger on the shore.”