We see it in the life of Saint Peter when he was called after fishing all night. There=s a young rabbi preaching near the shore where Peter=s boats are. Peter puts his nets in order. He probably feels a little disappointed. Jesus decides to get into Peter=s boat and asks Peter to move it out a little bit so he can finish preaching because of the press of the crowd.

            In that very gesture Peter sees that this young rabbi treating him man to man and so he acquiesces and does it. Peter may not have been paying attention to what Jesus was saying but now Peter is forced to pay attention because Jesus is in the boat. Peter doesn=t know the rabbi very well yet. Peter listens to the rest of Jesus= preaching. When Jesus is finished he says to Peter, AMove out into the deep.@ Peter is an experienced fisherman and is sure that there are no fish in the area, but again he has moved to some type of rapport in listening to Jesus speak and Peter says, AWe haven=t caught anything all night but as you say, I will do it.@ He follows Jesus= instructions. Peter catches a tremendous amount of fish. Peter fears that the boat will sink, and he calls for another boat to help. The response from Peter is not, AOh, boy! We=ve got it made! Now I don=t have to worry about finances for a couple of months@ No; his response is rather deep. Peter falls before the rabbi and says, ALord, depart from me for I am a sinful man.@ So Peter doesn=t call Jesus rabbi now, Peter calls him Jesus. Which means Peter sees in Jesus the presence and the person of God.

            It is interesting that when we are in the presence of God we see our sinfulness. Perhaps it=s the other way around as well. If we really want to see our sinfulness correctly, we have to see ourselves in the light of Jesus.

            Peter is sizing up his life, and he is basically drawn to the conclusion that he can=t possibly have any relationship with the Lord because of what he knows about himself. That failure was there all the time, he just never saw it. Now, in the presence of the Lord Peter sees the truth about himself and he=s big enough to acknowledge it and expose himself before the Lord and say, AIt=s me, I am a sinner.@ Peter thinks that the Lord doesn=t need him or has no relationship with him. Jesus reverses the situation. Jesus says, AI will make you fishers of men.@

            What we see in this is that God is not looking for competence. God is really asking us to live in humility in such a way that we expose our wounds and our needs for His love and His strength. It is precisely in that combination of humility and openness to God=s power and love that we become effective in our ministry.

            In our AImagine 21" workshop, we are challenged to expand our Acomfort zones@ in light of the gospel and in the context of humility and openness to God=s love.

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