Eucharistic Readings for the 5th Sunday of Epiphany: Year C
Isaiah 6:1 to 13; Psalm 138; 1st Corinthians 15:1 to 11; Luke 5:1 to 11:
“One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God.” (Luke 5:1)
These are the words that are easy to overlook or in some way, we miss their importance. Yes we could go on and talk about the abundance of obeying Jesus as made manifest in the overwhelming catch of fish caught by two boats. But I think what we really need to look at is what the crowd of people realized, that the actual word of God was coming out of the mouth of Jesus who we now hopefully realize is the Word of God in human form!
So Jesus gets in a boat we think belongs to Simon Peter and then goes out a little bit over the water. And now we have the voice of God moving over the waters (again). A quote from the opening of the Book of Genesis: “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters;” (Genesis 1:2). Once again the voice of God is moving over the waters. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light;” (Genesis 1:3). So now again the voice of God moving over the waters of Lake Gennesaret (Lake Galilee), and letting there be light for the clouded minds of the people.
We have fishermen catching more fish than needed so that they can take leave of their vocation to fulfill a calling of feeding souls. The same is true for us today. God blesses us abundantly and then calls us to bring in people to the presence of God, to the Voice of God. That same voice of God now moves in us. We must now fulfill our call to live according to our Christian principles: both for ourselves, and for those we serve, and we all will be richly blessed by God in ways we may not understand right now. All we need to do is listen to the voice of God.
As we listen to what the Spirit is saying to us, let us live to love, to serve, and to teach, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
onewhoponders 