Faith Of A Fisherman III

To educate our passions is to be human enough to be kind. And kindness in itself, like faith, is a mystery. The fact that we cannot understand human needs spurs the invitation to be more human through kindness. Kindness is what draws all of us together. To be drawn by faith is to inhabit a larger world because we understand that there is more to what we see. 

One of the problems of our world today is that faith leads us into a smaller world and makes us into smaller human beings who only thrive on being petty. We have been made to believe that there is value in being petty, that being faithful means looking into a particular hole, living a particular way of life, or being with particular people and being a particular human being. Anything that doesn’t fall into the broader category in which you see yourself or interpret your world to be is outside the realms of your compassion or kindness.

But the opposite is actually true. Faith makes our world immeasurably large because it exposes us to opportunities that make us believe that we have the capacity to make a huge impact in our world. Faith opens our eyes to the possibilities of miracles - that God intervenes in our affairs and often makes the impossible possible for us - but God uses people like you and me to make the impossible possible.

Faith makes it possible for us to launch our nets even when we do not know we will draw any fish. To reach out in faith is to be a fisherman. It is to take a particular act, buoyed by the words of Simon Peter: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” This is a kind of conviction that surpasses reason. And if I remember, faith isn’t constrained by reason.

There’s a famous sixteenth-century woodcut that shows a human figure pushing its head through the firmament of heaven. This person has pushed through it and is suddenly looking up into the sky they’ve never seen before, a sky that is packed with strange stars.

The woodcut represents what people realized that the world was immeasurably larger than they thought. And that is what faith helps us to understand, that the world is larger than we ever thought, that we are not the center of the world, but we can transform the world only if we are willing to launch back our nets in the water - in other words, if we can reach out.

If you would ponder with me a little longer on the image of the woodcut, this is what authentic faith ought to be about - the woodcut represents a real understanding of what a tradition of religious practice does for you, pushing you through the smooth painted surface out toward a sky of stars you have never seen before. Faith pushes you to experience what you have never experienced before.

This is how the disciples felt that they were ‘pushed’ to experience something they hadn’t experienced before. But remember, they were open to experimenting. For you and I to experience the miracle of something we haven’t seen before, we should in fact be open to surrendering to what the Lord is asking us to do. We should be open to experimenting with the Lord.

I believe that is the point of reaching out in faith, to experience a miracle you never thought was possible. But you gave yourself the chance to live into that miracle.

I don’t know how many of you believe in miracles. I do believe in miracles. I believe that miracles do happen. Waking up in the morning to me is a miracle. Being able to speak, hear, and see my loved ones is a miracle. Picking up my phone and checking my messages, then responding to them, is a miracle - this is because not every person who went to bed like you did woke up. And that is something to be appreciated.

But I make my world a little narrow if the only miracle I see is me waking up from sleep. The world is a lot bigger than my own waking up. I give thanks to God for the gift of another day. And I recognize that others have woken up in the world, too. This is the recognition that makes me a little human every day. I get to remind myself that the miracle isn’t only about me.

It is for this reason that we should have the faith of fishermen - nothing is guaranteed in life. A fisherman understands that nothing is guaranteed in life, especially when he ventures out to the open seas and is left at the mercy of every danger imaginable. But he believes that he will safely return home with some fish.  

Peter and his friends, and all fishermen who go out to sea in their canoes, understand that nothing is guaranteed. They are grateful if they catch some fish, but never resentful if they catch nothing.

Come to think of it, we are all fishermen and women because we are supposed to be fishers of men and women. You may ask yourself, 'I don't know how to fish, so how can I be a fisherman?' Well, we fish for people every day, and when we fish for people, it really isn’t about what we say; it is about what we do.

And the doing part is the action part, and dropping the net into the sea is the kindness part.

Reaching out in faith insists that I know it is difficult, daunting, hard, doesn’t make sense, but yet, we will do it anyway because that fulfills the human calling.

To reach out in faith is to insist that we are not saddled by any difficulty in doing the work of grace. It is to insist that it is even a privilege to do the work of grace.

To reach out in faith is to believe that faith is fulfilling, not easy, but fulfilling. It is also to recognize that the world is larger than any one of us, doesn’t center on any one of us, and it doesn’t have to make us small because we are supposed to make the world work for everyone.

To reach out in faith is to have the faith of a fisherman, who goes out to sea knowing that nothing is guaranteed, but he goes anyway.

As we celebrate the miracle of Easter, we are each reminded of the infinite capacity of God to change the human circumstance. If there’s ever one event that reminds me of this belief, it is the season of Easter. This belief also invites me to offer myself, in joyful obedience and surrender to this one God through whom all things came into being and through whom we are each affirmed as being human.

One of the places where Jesus revealed Himself to His disciples after His resurrection was on the shore. The disciples had gone fishing because they thought that the story of their friend was over. They had gone fishing because they thought the story of being human was over. But Jesus met them at the shore and then joined them in eating broiled fish. Jesus, by this, confirmed to his friends that he was truly alive and not a ghost.

He then asked Simon Peter, that same man who betrayed him three times and who first said these words to Jesus: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Jesus asked him, “Simon Peter, do you love me?” Simon actually got frustrated because he asked him the same question three times.

Jesus asks us this same question every day. I invite you to please replace Simon Peter’s name with your own name: “..., do you love me?” Jesus asks. If the response is yes, then Jesus is inviting us to feed the sheep, care for the sheep, and tend the sheep. To educate your passion is to feed, care, and tend the sheep. And heaven knows there are more than we can ever count.

We are fishermen. We carry the faith of fishermen. We live with the knowledge that nothing is guaranteed. The only guarantee we have is the God who invites us to "Put out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch." And we respond to this invitation with faith because we are fishermen who love God.

And because we love God, we see the sheep we need to feed, tend, and take care of - we are immersed in the work of grace.

Happy Easter, my fellow fisherman.

Manny+

(This piece concludes the Faith of a Fisherman series I began during Lent. You can read the others here.)