5th Sunday after Trinity - 10 Jul 1955
10 July 1955, St. John’s Chapel
Luke 5:1-11: “And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.” ‘Depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord.'
The context (The Gospel - St Luke 5:1-11) – The disciples had toiled all night trying to catch fish. They took nothing. But now Christ comes into the boat and asks them to go out into the deep and let down their nets. Simon said, “Master we have toiled all night, but we have been unsuccessful. However, as you want us to try again, we will do so.” The result was marvellous. They caught a great multitude of fish, so much so that the net broke. They called for help from those in the other ships. Both ships were filled with fish and the ships began to sink. When Peter saw this miraculous happening, he fell down at Jesus’ feet saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
Peter realised that Christ was far removed from him in power, knowledge and holiness. We would know something of this feeling when we are in the presence of a saintly man. The very atmosphere is charged. St. Peter felt the gulf between him and Christ. So he comes out with the words, ‘Depart from me, O Lord.’
When we come face to face with God as He is, His majesty and holiness we realise that we are unworthy to be in such a presence. There are two ways in which we react to such a situation. One way would be to avoid coming into such a presence. In our moments of worship, in our quiet times of study and prayer we come into the presence of God and to a realisation of His holiness. So, we sometimes avoid coming into such an experience. We avoid times of worship, Bible study and prayer. It makes us uncomfortable to be in the presence of God.
But there is another way in which people have responded to such a situation. They are aware of their sins and have sought God’s help to be cleansed. By coming into the presence of God, they have been cleansed of their sins. Isaiah in his vision of the Holy One says, “Woe is me, for I am undone.” The vision of God helped Isaiah to be cleansed of all his sins, and he went as God’s prophet.
Every Holy Communion service must be an occasion when we come to have a knowledge and experience of God. The hymns we sing, the prayers we join in saying, the lessons we hear read, and more than these the illumination that comes to us in our moments of silence, all bring us to an experience of God. We realise how holy He is and how sinful we are. We must pray to God to be cleansed from all our sins so that we may be worthy to come into His presence.