Peter with a past

       Yesterday we had delightful company and we chatted and reminisced quite a bit. At one point, referring to dating, someone said that they were not looking for someone without baggage, everyone has baggage. They simply wanted to find someone who had baggage that somewhat matched their own. Interesting and insightful. 

       I am reminded of that this morning when this passage notes that Simon ( Peter ) states ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’  Peter has a history it would seem by his own admission. Peter has baggage and I would ask so what? God chooses whom She chooses, who are we to judge? The proof is in the moving forward, the proof is in a change of heart and how we act in contrition and in concert with the Spirit. The past it seems is not as critical to God if based on today's passage information.

         As if to highlight that God makes her own decisions and offers solutions in the oddest places and people, see what happens to the fishermen ( Peter, et al. ) in today's passage. These rough and tumble guys are strong, professional fisherman. It is Jesus, the professional carpenter who tells them after an apparent useless night of fishing to set out their nets once again.  I could easily hear the fisherman saying to the carpenter, 'listen bud, you may know the word of God and how to make a fine bench but we know how to fish. The fish aren't out there today.' But the fact is, they did listen and their bounty was to point of sinking their boats with the catch.  Don't you find that interesting?

       I also find it interesting that this fisherman with some kind of past is the one Jesus chooses as "the rock" on which to build his church on earth. I might have done a better job search, maybe held some interviews, someone at least with some experience. Not so God. 

        As if Jesus isn't radical enough with his message, we need to know that God too is a radical in whom is chosen. Guess what, we are all chosen! The peoples that we might judge as least likely or the ones that society marginalizes, they are the ones that God not only chooses but is the source of our answers, the unexpected solutions to our questions and problems. Just as Jesus was not what the Jews were expecting as a savior, just as Jesus the carpenter was not who was expected to solve the fisherman's failed night of work, just as Peter with a past was not who would be expected to lead, so too are we the unexpected solutions, no matter our past.

      We move forward in faith today and tomorrow, loving, caring, trying to listen to the word of God and how the Spirit guides us to greater love and heaven here on earth.

Luke 5:1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken;and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.