He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to pull out a little from the
shore. There he sat, and continued to teach the crowd.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your
nets for a catch.” Simon replied, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if
you say so, I will lower the nets.” This they did, and caught such a large number of fish that
their nets began to break. They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them.
They came, and they filled both boats almost to the point of sinking.

Upon seeing this, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful
man!” For he and his companions were amazed at the catch they had made, and so were
Simon’s partners, James and John,

Zebedee’s sons.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. You will catch people from now on.” So they brought
their boats to land and followed him, leaving everything.

Reflect:

Simon Peter was a fool, in the worldly sense that Paul speaks about today. Having experienced
the extraordinary catch of the fish resulting from the genius of Jesus, a worldwise fisherman should
have immediately sensed a grand business opportunity. Wouldn’t it be great to have Jesus joining
him and then they could go fishing every day, Jesus would use his sixth sense and locate where the
fish were, and boom! They would have great catch, big money, and grow rich together! So, Peter
should have invited Jesus for a cup of tea and asked him to join his company, with a proposal of profit
sharing. But Peter doesn’t do any of that; the only thing he can do is to be utterly conscious of his own
unworthiness before the holiness of Jesus, fall to his knees, and beg Jesus to leave him, a sinful man.
World-wise, a fool. But Kingdom-wise, he belonged. No wonder Jesus simply wouldn’t let go of him.

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