When Jesus had finished teaching, he sat down in Simon Peter’s boat and told him and his companions to lower their nets for a catch. Although Peter said they’d fished all night and caught nothing, he added, “But, if you say so, I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught such a great number of fish that the nets began to tear.
After a fruitless night, Peter, who was an expert at fishing, could have smiled and refused Jesus’ invitation to lower the nets in broad daylight, a far worse time for fishing. Instead, going beyond his own reasoning, he trusted Jesus.
This is a typical situation that all believers are called to face. … Their faith is tested in a thousand different ways.
Following Jesus calls for decisiveness, commitment and perseverance whereas everything in the world we live in seems to invite us to take things easy, to be mediocre, and to take no notice. The task seems too great; it can’t be achieved; it’s doomed to failure from the start.
What we need is the strength to go ahead and resist the world around us, the social context, our friends and the media. It is a hard struggle … But, if we take on and welcome this struggle, we will experience that Jesus’s
extraordinary words are true and what he promised does happen. … God fills those who follow him with an abundance of gifts; he gives the hundredfold in this life as well as eternal life. It is the miraculous catch of fish being repeated.
If you say so, I will lower the nets.”
How can we put this word of life into practice? We too can make the choice that Peter made — “If you say so . . .” We can have faith in Jesus’ words and not have doubts about what he is asking of us. Quite the opposite, our whole life, our behavior and our actions can be based on his word.
Chiara Lubich
(Word of Life, February 1983)