5th
Sunday OT
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Fr.
Philip Neri Powell, OP
OLR,
NOLA
Christ
says to his Church, “Put out into the deep!” Get out there and
risk it! What do we do? Do we obey? Or do we find excuses not to? We
could, like Isaiah, spend a lot of time and energy nursing our sins,
crying over our failures, and raising these up to God as excuses for
our unwillingness to go out into the world as apostles for the Good
News. How can we bear witness to God's mercy when we ourselves are
so dirty with sin? Or, we could, like Paul, see ourselves as
“abnormally born,” that is, brought into the family of God from
another church or another faith, and then claim that our unusual
entrance into Christ's body disqualifies us from being proper
preachers of the Gospel. I'm a convert, what can I do for the
Church? Or, we could, like Simon Peter, live as weary
unbelievers, ever doubtful of Christ's power, and then ashamed of our
unbelief when he shows us what he can do. I've denied Christ too
many times, I'm unworthy of serving him as an apostle! We could
refuse, deny, demur, disbelieve, and beat ourselves up. But Christ
says, “Do not be afraid! Leave everything and follow me.” Leave
doubt, leave self, leave sin, leave the past. Leave it all. . .and
follow me.
Isaiah
leaves his history of sin behind when the seraphim purges his mouth
with the ember from God's altar. Paul leaves his history of vengeful
persecution of the Church behind when Christ appears to him on the
Damascus Road. Simon Peter leaves his long and stubborn history of
faithlessness and betrayal behind when he is consumed in the fire of
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Isaiah hears the Lord ask, “Whom
shall I send? Who will go for us?” Purged of his sin, Isaiah shouts
like a schoolboy, “Here I am, send me!” Paul sheds the scales
from his eyes and receives his commission to bring the Good News to
the Gentiles, confessing, “. . .by the grace of God I am what I
am.” And Simon Peter, upon seeing the haul in his fishing nets,
confesses his unbelief, and receives from Christ himself a heart
grown strong enough to receive the love of the Holy Spirit. Each man
abandoned his history of disobedience; each leaves behind every
obstacle, every trial, every excuse; and each follows the Lord in His
will to become prophetic and preaching legends for God's people. They
put out into the deep, and brought to the Lord a great haul of souls.
Time
and physical distance do not limit Christ. His words to Peter on the
boat are spoken directly to us, each one of us: “Put out into the
deep. . .do not be afraid.” As this world grows older and its
spiritual and moral foundations become more and more fragile, our
hold on things true, good, and beautiful seems to grow more and more
precarious. We don't need to recite the litany of sins our culture of
death revels in. It's the same list Isaiah, Paul, and Peter knew so
well. It's the same list that ancient Israel and Judah knew. It's the
same list the serpent wrote in the Garden and the same list men have
been carrying around for millennia. That list tells us how to degrade
and destroy the dignity of the human person, the image and likeness
of God that each one us shares in, the imago Dei that makes us
perfectable in Christ. It is the mission of the Enemy to tempt us
into racial suicide, to kill ourselves as the human race by
separating ourselves – one soul at a time – from our inheritance
in the Kingdom. The Deep that we are commanded to evangelize is at
once both the individual human heart and the whole human community.
And lurking in that Deepness is both Eden's serpent and Christ's
cross, both the voice of rebellion against God and the instrument of
sacrifice for God. As we choose, hear Christ Jesus say again, “Do
not be afraid.”
Whether
we find the serpent or the cross or both dwelling in the Deep, we
must not be afraid. The serpent was defeated the moment he chose to
rebel. Sin and death were crushed from eternity before the first
human walked upright. So, we can meet the serpent without fear. We
can also meet the cross without fear b/c it is through the cross that
the serpent is defeated. When we put out into the Deep of the human
heart and the human community, there is nothing there for us to fear.
Our job is a simple one: fish. Cast nets with service,
humility, mercy, and joy. Bait our hooks with all the gifts we have
been given to use for the greater glory of God. Leave behind
bitterness, resentment, jealousy, and wrath. Follow Christ in
strength, persistence, faithfulness, gladness, and sacrifice. Leave
behind worry, doubt, fear, and hostility. Follow Christ in
thanksgiving, rejoicing, praise, and courage. Now is not the time for
cowardice. Now is not the time for waffling or compromise. We have
our orders: put out into the deep! Risk, challenge, venture
out. Hold fast to Peter's boat and cast your net wide and deep.
Isaiah, Paul, and Peter made their excuses before God. He smiled and
made them into prophets and preachers. So, go ahead: make your
excuses. And watch God do His marvelous work through you.
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