Try again (Luke 5:1-11)
We are living in a society that cancels God, and it is becoming deep-rooted more often than we are realising it, with people becoming ever more clear-cut in this position. God talks are a clear sign of mental retardation because you are making the voices in your head real, whereas they are like “The Force” in Star Wars and less like a “Heaven Father who stays up at night worrying about you”. We can clearly see this play out in a conversation between a lady and an atheist: an old lady comes out onto her front porch every morning and shouts, “Praise the Lord!” And every morning the atheist next door yells back, “There is no God!” This goes on for weeks. “Praise the Lord!” yells the old lady. “There is no God!” responds the neighbour. As time goes by, the lady runs into financial difficulties and has trouble buying food. She goes out onto the porch and asks God for help with groceries, then says, “Praise the Lord!” The next morning when she goes out onto the porch, there are the groceries she asked for. Of course, she shouts, “Praise the Lord!” The atheist jumps out from behind a bush and says, “Ha! I bought those groceries. There is no God!” The old lady looks at him and smiles. She shouts, “Praise the Lord! Not only did you provide for me, Lord, you made Satan pay for the groceries!” (Cart 110). Clearly, this is the reality of our society, one that is seeking to give up on God.
But we cannot cancel God because the society that we live in is God’s creation and we ourselves are not only human beings but we are also spiritual beings, always seeking connections, to creation evident in our wondering and seeking knowledge about things related to us; the very creation of God. So in our endeavours, we are seeking connections to God albeit knowingly or unknowingly. This is the message of our gospel text today that the people pressed around Jesus (LK 5:1). This is saying that the people move into a position of contact with Jesus. This is what we are doing in our wondering and seeking, to move into a position of contact with God; we are seeking connections through God’s very own creation; using the very gifts of His wonderful creation.
Friends, the presence of Simon Peter in the gospel text speaks powerfully to me. Simon Peter says to Jesus, “Master, [I am tired!] because we worked hard all night long and caught nothing” (Lk 5:5). Studying philosophy for three, four years can get us all worn out. Just imagine how tiring it is for Simon Peter to fish repeatedly – in fact, the verse says for itself: “We worked hard all night long and caught nothing”. But Jesus says to him, “try again” – “put out into the deep” (Lk 5:4). This is saying that God has not given up on me, hence I should not give up on myself. This is very profound and it is my message to all of us today. Try again when you read that difficult text in metaphysics class – lit and burn the midnight candle. Try again when you meet almost the same course you were in two semesters ago. Try again when you meet that boring class. Try again when you meet a cancel culture in the community. Try again because Jesus says this to you for He has not given up on you despite your toils. In our trying again(s), let us keep tabs on our examen because it is a conduit through which we become aware that God never gives up on us.
As we go about our study of wondering and seeking knowledge about things related to us, let us always keep in mind the bigger picture: God and how He is ever-present to us in our practice of the examen – we will be awestruck at the wonders and knowledge, the catch awaiting our nets. We pray for the grace of trying again(s) in our journey and may the Lord bless His words in our hearts both now and forever more.
Reflection By
Michael Ikpodon Akatsi SJ