My Father’s Coat

We must make doing God’s Will our number one priority

In today’s Gospel Lesson, Jesus is standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, where Simon Peter and others have been fishing all night without success. The fishermen, having given up, are cleaning their nets. Jesus steps into Simon Peter’s boat and begins preaching to the crowd following Him. When He has finished speaking, He says to Simon Peter, “Put into the deep water and cast out your nets for a catch.”

What follows is miraculous. The nets fill with so many fish that they begin to break, and the catch is so abundant it nearly sinks their boats. Then, the fishermen bring their boats back to land. They are “completely overcome” by the catch they have made, Luke tells us, and Simon Peter falls at the knees of Jesus. Jesus says to Him, “Do not be afraid, from now on it is men you will catch.” Whereupon the fishermen leave everything and…