In the land where our Lord was born, lived, and was crucified and resurrected, there is an incredibly beautiful lake called Gennesaret. More often we hear this body of water being called the “Sea of Galilee”, but really, it’s just a large lake in the northern part of Israel. I remember a few years ago cruising on this lake and speaking to our pilgrims about all of the miracles that made this body of water special. This was the lake that St. Peter walked upon the surface to come towards Christ. It was the lake that was calmed during a storm when our Lord, arising from a deep sleep, told the storm to be at peace…causing the disciples to be in awe at the one who even the sea and the storms obey. But before all of that, this was the lake from which came the first bishops of the Church…simple and uneducated men through whom Christianity eventually would grow and triumph.
We hear in the gospel how our Lord used an empty boat near the sea as His pulpit, while the owners of the boat were cleaning their nets after a long night of not catching a thing. Jesus then commanded Simon Peter to launch out into the depths and to cast their nets. It is here where we learn our first lesson from Gennesaret. Our Lord didn’t go into the synagogues to seek out the highest-ranking rabbis to begin his ministry…he rather sought out men who were at work. My former seminary professor Fr. Dan Kovalak once commented on this in saying that as fellow disciples of Christ, “anyone prone to laziness or idleness need not apply”…because that is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to the growth of the Church.” Fr. Dan called them “Pew Potatoes”…people who find their way to Sunday Liturgy but fail to pray and work for the Kingdom of God once they leave.
As much as I love potatoes as a Slav, and even though we don’t have pews in our Church, we cannot call ourselves disciples of Christ if we do not labor for the Kingdom of God. That is what last Sunday was all about, beginning to answer the question: “In what ways can I serve you O Lord?”
It is in the response to the workers that Christ was seeking out that we get our second lesson from Gennesaret. Simon Peter answered our Lord’s command to go out into the deep with the all too familiar grumbling that we all have when God asks us to do something:
“Lord, we have been at this all night! It’s daytime, there won’t be any fish…but because you say to do it, I will.”
Despite his grumbling, Peter did indeed go out into the depths. He cast out his net, and immediately it was filled to the brim with fish! What was needed before this great catch? Obedience to God.
Obedience and patience are probably the two virtues that everyone in this Church struggles with daily, but it is in the Gospels that we see just how importance obedience truly is. St. Nikolai of Zica made an interesting comment on this passage when it comes to the obedience of Christians. He said that the Apostles had ears and eyes…they were able to see and hear what Christ did and what He preached. Yet they still grumbled and complained when Christ asked them to do something. The real obedient example in the Gospel that we should emulate is the fish! Fish don’t have reason the way that we do! They don’t see the miracles of God in their lives. They don’t hear the word of God because they have no ears! Yet despite this, the fish heard and obeyed the word of Christ and swam into the nets!
The fish obeyed…but do we who have the ears to ear…do we obey Christ in our own lives? Let’s silently test that theory among ourselves with some of the other things our Lord will tell us to do elsewhere in the Gospel.
“Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods, do not ask for them back. Just as you want men to do with you, you also do to them likewise.”
But Jesus…that’s not fair…
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.”
But Jesus, they wronged me. Where is my justice?
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
Dear ones, what happens when we follow the example of the fish? We saw an answer of this in the power and energy that emanated from the funeral for Charlie Kirk, where his widow, in front of a nationally televised audience, remembered her first Love which was Christ, and forgave her husband’s murderer in front of the world…and perhaps no doubt inspired many to do the same in their own lives to people that had wronged them. That is what Christian Obedience looks like.
The Apostles, after their grumbling, did what the Lord commanded them, and they hit the jackpot. Enough fish to feed their families for a long time, and to sell the rest that would get them that upgrade on their house they always wanted! A fortune in fish…and what do they do? Christ tells them: “Do not be afraid. For now, you will become fishers of men.” It is here that we learn our final lesson from Gennesaret this morning. Christ says come, and they leave behind all their material riches for an even greater spiritual wealth that they were about to acquire.
On the shores of lake Gennesaret, our Lord offers up these three enormous examples of virtues that are necessary if we too are to become disciples of the Kingdom. May we continue to labor hard as workers in His vineyard…in obedience to His word…forsaking worldly and material aims in order to become beacons of Christ’s light, that permeates the darkness of the fallen world