5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) February 7, 2016

5th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Is. 6:1-2a, 3-8; Ps 138; 1 Cor 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

Called To Put Out into the Deep

(duc in altum)

            I remember a story about a choir member and a pastor. Once there was a man in the choir who couldn't sing very well. The choir director suggested that he should leave the choir. Other members of the choir ask the director that he should be given more time to improve. Irritated, the choir director then decided to go to the pastor and complain.

Choir Director: "You've got to get that man out of the choir or else I'm going to resign."

So the pastor went to the man and said to him,

Priest: "Perhaps you should leave the choir."

Man: Puzzled he asked, "Why should I leave the choir?"

Priest: "Well, four or five people have told me you can't sing."

Man: "That's nothing," the man replied, "forty or fifty people have told me you can't preach!"

            Today's readings reminded us of God's calling of the three great men in the Bible and in this three calls God shows us how He can make use of the most unlikely people to fulfill His divine purpose.

            What is appealing and wonderful in these three characters are: First, they all felt unworthy of the call. Look at Isaiah in the first reading, he said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips!” (Isaiah 6:5). Look at Paul also in the second reading, he himself felt unfit to be called an apostle, because he persecuted the church of God (1 Corinthians 15:9). And Peter in our gospel fell down at Jesus' feet and said, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” (Luke 5:8). All of these three holy and great men were humiliated realizing of their personal unworthiness of God's call. And it is said, "Humility is the first and primary virtue in authentic spirituality."

             But God works wonders to whomever He called and whoever appeared to Him with humble heart. It is said by a sermon that, "When the soul confesses its sinfulness and inadequacy before God, God reaches out and absolves the sinner and renders him or her competent to serve Him." True enough Isaiah and Peter experienced it. In Isaiah's case, one of the seraphs touched his lips with a burning coal taken from the altar of the temple and said to him, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out” (Isaiah 6:7). In the case of Simon Peter, Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people” (Luke 5:10). We see that their qualification for the work of God does not come from them but from God. It is not their personal achievement; it is God's grace. Therefore, we received God's call out of His gratuitous love. That is why Paul could say, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

            Second, is their availability to do God's will and the readiness to follow His directives. As soon as Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” his immediate response was: “Here am I; send me!” (Isaiah 6:8). In the case of Peter and his partners, we are told that “they left everything and followed him” (Luke 15:11) without looking back. And Paul threw himself with so much zeal into God's work that he worked harder than all those who were called before him, though as he is quick to points out, “it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10).

            Today, the good Lord continues to ask us: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Are you ready to say “Here am I; send me!”

            He needs you to His herald to all men! He needs you to be like Isaiah, who will proclaim the Good News of God's love in the temple, our chapel, prayer meetings and in our BEC's sharing or like Paul, who will announce it in foreign lands to the ends of the earth, or like Peter, who will speak up for God in the workplace and bring their coworkers and business partners to know and follow the Lord.

            Feel unworthy and incompetent to work for God? You're not alone! Thus, let us learn from Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me."

            Do not be afraid. Rest assured that the Lord himself will see to it that He renders you fit for the job He wants you to do for Him, as He did with Isaiah, with Paul, and with Peter.

EndNote:

I indebted much of this reflection from the sermon of Fr. Ernest Munachi Ezeogu, may his soul rest in peace in the bosom of our good Lord!