God Chooses the Ineligible

“when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”- Luke 5:8

Simon Peter was fed up with all the nights work as it turned unfruitful. After the rushes of his efforts, Simon Peter was washing the nets to set off. He might be having a heavy heart of complaints and concerns of an unsatisfied effort in the deep far sea. He might be reflecting upon the wastefulness of a night with a hope set to next night but without a guarantee in success.

This is when Jesus intervened. He asked 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.” - Luke 5:4-5

Simon Peter tried this chance because He was facing a failure and His unfruitful efforts reflected on Him

When he submitted to try as Jesus said,

“When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.”- Luke 5:6-8

The futility of human efforts was turned into a surplus catch when Jesus intervened. This made Simon realize his nothingness and ineligibility, he confessed;

“But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8

Here appears the amazing plan of Our Lord, immersed in His mercy and love for His children,

“Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” -Luke 5:10

This touch of living word melts the hard crust of earth

“The Lord, God of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts,”-Amos 9:5

Even though the catch of fish was beyond his imagination and could have brought him good fortune in world, he left all of them and followed Jesus. “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him”- Luke 5:11

This is how Lord chooses us.

In the life of this world we wander in its rushes, we do many things that keeps us happy and content but still go for more because we are never satisfied. This is the coarse of the regular worldly life. A search for satisfaction. In this journey, we often come across a check point were we breakdown as a response from the world. This is when we look into us and reflect our past efforts. In the rushes we blast out but in silence our inner self reflects to us.

The self reflection brings out the unrighteous, impatient ways that we went through, the unfruitful efforts we made. The wound that it inflicted on us and the wounds that we inflicted on others, the selfish motives, proud approaches and painful separations. We realize, we are defeated by this world. This is when we realize Our Lord. All the time He was near us, but we were busy that we missed His presence. But when are lonely now, lost and depressed, we hear this silent call from our Lord. “I call you in your ineligibility”

He says, “I chose you because of your ineligibility. I am building you as My house, to shelter many. You -the house may loose its paint, or may get affected by fungus turning you black, you may be exposed to severe weather but DO NOT BE AFRAID, I am seeing You. Just expose your damages to Me, I shall repair you with my mercy and paint you with my Love. Your maintenance may cause you to suffer a bit, but it is for your good, to renew you and purify you again, so that you are built and maintained in perfection. But the thing you must do, is perfect submission by accepting Me as your master, never hide your patchworks, expose your damages to Me, so that I can refurbish you and use you for many. So that along with you I save many.”

When He say this to us, we feel the warm touch of love in our heart, no matter how we are God needs us, He loves us and wishes to envelope us with His love and purify us with His mercy. This melts us, our hard hearts, to flow like a stream and join the fathoms of love and mercy of Lord. Our submission not only saves us, but many through us. This is the perfect satisfaction and it is everlasting and ever increasing.

But If we fail to submit our self to Lord, our efforts will go in vain”.

“Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.” -Psalms 127:1

“(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later. Christ, however, was faithful over God’s house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope.” -Hebrews 3:4-6

Let us submit all our efforts and past life to the caring hands of God, lets accept Him as our Lord and Master, Confess all our damages to Him as and when it appears, let Him envelope us with His mercy and love and thus we are built for Him and whom He gives us. Leave all our worldly surplus supplies and follow Him, let Him use us fruitfully.

For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. -1 Corinthians 1:25

Prayer

Thank you Lord for loving us unconditionally.

We cry out to You oh Lord, we are not worthy, we are ineligible. Even though we knew You, we fail in our submissions unto You. Cleanse us, we expose us to You, envelop us in Your unending Love and mercy. Build us as Your house in Your perfection for You mission. Thank You Lord for speaking to us today. Thank You for filling us with Your spirit and renewing us towards Your hope and strength.

Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Readings

Ephesians 1:3-14

1 John 4:10

Ephesians 2:19-22

Psalms 31