Gospel For Gays

Gayness at its best: that’s Peter

by Jeremiah Bartram on 01/02/10 at 9:27 am

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets.  He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore.  Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.  When he had finished speaking, he said to 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.”  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.  But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”  For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.  Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”  When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him. Luke 5, 1-11; reading for Sunday, February 7.

Commentators

NRSV:  The Lake of Gennesaret is the Sea of Galilee.

Hardy notes that at this point in the story according to the other gospels, Jesus had already gathered his disciples.  In the accounts of Matthew and Mark, it is a simple summons (Mt 13, 1-3a; Mk 4, 1-2); here, in Hardy’s words, “Luke leads up to it with a story that is clearly intended to offer some explanation of the men’s instant and surprising decision to follow Jesus.”

Both Matthew and Mark show Jesus getting into a boat and teaching from it – but neither tells the story of the miraculous catch.  In Hardy’s words:  “The story finds a suggestive echo in John 21, where Jesus, this time after the resurrection, again enables Simon to make an exceptional catch of fish.  Both stories appear to have been freely written up by the evangelists to bring out a symbolic meaning, and both may go back to what was perhaps originally a single event.”

Gospel for gays

Jesus borrows Peter’s boat while he and his companions are cleaning their nets after a fruitless night on the water.

He already knows Peter:  he visited his house and healed his mother-in-law of a fever (Lk 4, 38-39).  So we can assume that as Peter and the others work, they are listening to Jesus’ sermon.  And then, after the teaching is complete (An hour?  Three hours?), at Jesus’ suggestion, Peter and his companions put out into deep water and put down the nets.

This is contrary to normal professional practice.  You don’t catch fish during the day.  Besides, the nets are clean; we’re tired – we worked all night; it’s a stupid idea, a waste of time.  It’s against the norm; against nature, really.  But out of respect for Jesus, Peter does it.

**

Note that Jesus is in the boat with them when the nets are suddenly and miraculously filled with fish:  he has been teaching from the boat and does not leave it.  We can be certain of this important detail, because Peter’s wonderful reaction takes place before the fish are landed:  “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’“

Without Jesus, under favorable (natural) conditions:  no fish.  With him, under unfavorable (unnatural) conditions:  unheard-of abundance.

This illustrates Jesus’ later promise that wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst.

**

Jesus himself points to the moral of this story:  from now on, it is people, not fish, you will catch.  The incident is a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven – which obviously does not follow the rules of nature.

Mark does not include the story of the miraculous catch of fish, but he does include the call of Peter, Andrew, James and John.  In Mark’s account, they leave their nets to follow Jesus.  In Luke’s version, they leave everything – a big difference.

The miraculous catch and leaving everything are brilliantly connected here.  Hardy rather cautiously makes the catch the rationale for the sudden decision of those first disciples.  Fair enough.

But what Luke is really showing us is a paradox:  leave everything and you will have everything.  On your own, you fish all night without catching anything.  With Jesus in the boat:  abundance.

So in leaving everything you are leaving a fruitless labor, and in return, you will receive abundance.

To him who has, more will be given; to him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  Or, a slightly different application:  my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

If God provided such a catch now, God will continue provide for all of them (and their families).  That was the act of faith that Peter and his business partners made, when they left “everything” to follow the Lord.

**

I love Peter’s reaction to this miracle:  “Go away from me, for I am a sinful man”; and then, once the fish are ashore, without further hesitation, he leaves “everything” and follows Jesus.

I used to attend a church that had lay preachers, and one of them always drew attention to Peter’s follies:  silly Peter, so enthusiastic – he jumps into the water and then he sinks; he wants to make tents on the Mount of the Transfiguration; he disowns Jesus on the night of the passion.  Can’t live up to his dreams!

I always sensed the following subtext:  Peter = the (male) Vatican = stupid.

But I relate to Peter.

Indeed, I see a lot of gayness in his character.  That impulsiveness, that willingness to jump in and take risks for the leader he so obviously loves, that tendency toward the grand gesture.  His singular courage.

Gayness at its best, that’s Peter.  He makes mistakes (as do I); but with one exception, they are mistakes rooted in a generous heart.

**

“I am a sinful man.”

It’s unfashionable to call ourselves “sinners” nowadays, and it is particularly counter-culture for gay people to think that way, because for so long we’ve heard other people call our love-making and even our sexuality a “sin” rather than something created and blessed by the God of unnatural abundance, the God who breaks natural rules to create a miraculous catch of fish.

It’s understandable for gay people to react that way to the idea of “sin”.

What is not understandable is a systemic refusal to acknowledge our part in the huge evils that go on around us:  the wars, the arms race, the discrimination, the lack of justice, the lack of love, the casual indifferences of daily life.

That’s what sin’s about:  our complicity, conscious or unconscious, in all that darkness; our blindness in the face of all that darkness; our failure to fight against that darkness.

When Peter calls himself a sinner, he is overwhelmed by the gap between his own littleness and the grandeur of Jesus, which is suddenly apparent to him.

I don’t think we need to be afraid to declare ourselves sinners in that sense.

**

And so this rich reading leaves me with four reflections:

• Unnatural abundance is characteristic of Jesus’ Kingdom;
• Leaving everything means finding everything – and more;
• The gayness of Peter; and
• I’m not betraying my gay nature to call myself a sinner.

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