18th Sunday after Pentecost  
2 Corinthians 9:6-11; Luke 5:1-11

"Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch" (Luke 5,4)

We read in the Gospel that Jesus, "entering one of the boats, which was Simon's", asked to put out a little away from the shore, "He sat down and taught the people from the boat." (Luke 5,3)

Crowds of people followed Jesus, and whether He was in the middle of a field, in the wilderness, in a city, people followed Him everywhere to hear the Word of God or to receive God's grace in hopes of recovering from spiritual and physical infirmities.

Christ instructed Simon (Peter) to set out a little away from the shore, because many people were crowding, pressing closer. In order for everyone to hear His teaching, it was necessary to stand further back. On another occasion, Jesus had to ascend a small mountain in order that everyone around could hear and see Him (chapter 6 in the Gospels from Matthew and Luke).

Christ did not provide or promise any material gifts to people, and the fact that masses of people followed Him everywhere testifies to their great desire to hear His sermon about salvation. (Similarly, the Church of Christ also does not promise people any material gains).

Afterwards, when He stopped teaching, He instructed Simon: “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5,4). It would appear that Jesus, having addressed the spiritual, satiated people with spiritual gifts, then wanted to materially provide for those closest to Him: that they might catch more fish. We should remember that these were fishermen whose livelihood depended on catching fish. They were fishermen not for sport, not for recreation.

Truthfully, Simon replied that they had already worked all night and in the deeper waters, and “took nothing”, and thus it would be in vain to repeat those efforts. “But at Your Word I will let down the nets." (Luke 5,5) Hearing the extraordinary preaching of Jesus, whom He called a "teacher", Simon might somehow have hoped that Jesus would really help in material gains as well. Afterall, one had to live on something...

But something happened that neither Simon nor the other fishermen had ever dreamed. There were so many fish that they filled their boat (Simon and Andrew’s, and perhaps their father Iona’s). Then they called the neighbouring Zebedee fishermen, who filled their boat and, all the boats from such a great weight of fish “began to sink" to the bottom. And, there were so many fish in the nets that the nets began to burst...

Then, "Simon (Peter)... fell at the knees of Jesus" and, moved, cried out to Him: "Lord! - depart from me, for I am a sinful man!" (Luke 5,8) Peter was enlightened by the understanding that Jesus is not just a teacher or mentor in the faith, a preacher of the Word of God, but that He is the incarnation of God or God in human flesh, because He completed the work of God.

Realizing that God, the Lord, was before him, Simon fell at the knees of Jesus and confessed that he was a sinful person and unworthy to be in the presence of the Lord. Simon and his brother Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee, Jacob and John, were overcome with terror that they were in the presence of the Lord.

Clearly, the Lord knew that both Simon and his brother and friends were sinful people, yet He also did not go searching for righteous people, but sinful people who have sincere open hearts and thirst for the Truth. "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9,13) - the Lord affirmed in another place.

Simon's recognition of his sinfulness and unworthiness was the beginning of repentance. The miracle of the fish catch should have convinced both Simon and his friends: What is impossible to do with human strength, becomes possible to do with the power and grace of God; with God everything is possible. And that is why, when Jesus, after performing a great miracle, told those fishermen that He would make them, fish catchers, catchers of people, they believed Him. They understood that Jesus is God in human flesh and therefore He is able to do everything.

So, as we can see from the evangelical story of the apostle Luke, although Jesus made a great material gain for the fishermen, He did it not for their material enrichment, but for spiritual regeneration, for a complete change of the purpose and way of their life.

Until now, they had a goal - to catch as much fish as possible, sell it profitably (part of it, of course, to consume with their family) in order to ensure the material basis of their existence.

Now their goal has become - to acquire as many people as possible, to catch them from the hustle and bustle of life and join them to the Church of Christ, for unity with God, for the salvation of their souls. Instead of the small Sea of Galilee, Christ opened before them a boundless wide sea of human souls. The miracle of catching a fish performed by Jesus convinced them of the omnipotence of His power, the grace of God. Therefore, at His call, they followed Him to become fishers of people.

This event is not merely symbolic: the earliest history of the Church of Christ testifies that they fulfilled that holy mission - bringing people to Christ. This is evidenced by the entire history of the development and life of the Church of Christ on all continents of the world, spanning almost two thousand years. And our belonging to Christ's Church, even our participation in the Divine Service today, is also evidence of the fulfilled holy mission by the first disciples of Christ - the apostles, and their successors - the bishops and priests.

And it all began with the performance of a miracle by Jesus Christ, with the catch of fish... If we were to begin the process of defining the very concept of a miracle, then we would spend a great deal of time, and probably our opinions would be divided. But we all clearly understand that a miracle is a completed action, which is beyond human capabilities.

When Jesus Christ healed the paralyzed, the blind, and the lepers without operations, without physical medicines, these were all miracles, works of God ("even if you do not believe in Me, believe the works, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father." (John 10,38)

We also now perceive that when something similar to Christ's healings happens through our prayers, it is a miracle. However, all life on earth, and many life processes that happen outside of human actions or abilities are, in fact, miracles. But because they happen, and they happen constantly, we stop being surprised and stop considering them as miracles. Nevertheless, they are manifestations of God's actions.

Consider some examples from nature. From ordinary earth, from dung, a fragrant rose or another flower grows, as do various vegetables. A fragrant sweet apple grows on a tree, yet neither in the earth, nor in the air, nor in the juice of a plant or tree will any scientist-researcher find those chemical components, scents or colours of roses, and various flowers in general.

They will not find the component elements of an apple, watermelon, melon, strawberry, or carrot. Where it all comes from, how it is produced, grows - "neither a fool nor a wise man knows anything", - as our Taras Shevchenko once wrote (in his poem Haidamaky).

In view of this, deep thinking researchers, scientists, and creative doctors inevitably come to a conclusion, to a sensing of and faith in God. For us, the faith of the great modern scientist-physician George C. Cotzias can serve as a good illustration. That doctor wrote: “My religious beliefs...give me hope for miracles. Without them, I would have left many cases (meaning sick patients) on the sidelines, which seemed hopeless, but which later became facts of life, testimonials of success....I always pray. I pray now....We must strive for unity with God.” (Readers Digest, Oct.1975, p. 2l6).

Every honest and conscientious doctor, every sick person should have faith and hope in God that God will be able to send his miraculous power for healing, for the accomplishment of every good deed. For although many things are impossible for people, with God's help everything becomes possible. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19,26).

Amen.

Note: George Constantin Cotzias (1918-1977) was a Greek medical scientist who together with his colleagues developed L-Dopa treatment, currently the most commonly used treatment for Parkinson's disease.

Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko

Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.

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