Nice Boys

Learning how to be a better friend

Luke 5:1-8

While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.” When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their nets were tearing. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come to help them. They came and filled both boats so that the boats were in danger of sinking. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

          One of the most precious and priceless joys of life is a true friend. Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher, extolled friendship saying, “Without friends, no one would want to live, even if he had all other goods.” That is, life would be worthless without friends. Wouldn’t you agree? When I was in high school, our principal, Fr. George Tribou, told us if we had three good friends in life, we should count ourselves very lucky. I remember s

coffing at that, thinking, “Well, if I was a crotchety old priest like you I would be worried about friends, too! But look at me: I’m a handsome, strapping, young man. I’m the king of the world! Everybody wants to be my friend!” But now that I’m the crotchety old priest, I realize that Fr. Tribou was right: true friendships are few and far between. How many good friends do you have, I mean really good friends?

          One of the great blessings of friendship is that we can be ourselves with our friends. We don’t have to “put on airs” or pretend to be someone we’re not. With our friends, we can finally relax deep down. One night a teenage girl brought her new boyfriend home to meet her parents, and they were appalled by his appearance: he wore a leather jacket, motorcycle boots, tattoos, and had a pierced nose. Later, the parents pulled their daughter aside and confessed their concerns. “Dear,” said the mother diplomatically, “he doesn’t seem very nice.” “Oh, please, mom,” replied the daughter dismissively, “if he wasn’t nice, why would he be doing 500 hours of community service?” I mean, don’t all nice boys do 500 hours of community service? Friendships are precious and priceless.

          In the gospel today we see what happens when Jesus becomes Peter’s best friend. Bishop Robert Barron noted the great significance of Jesus climbing into Peter’s boat. He said: “When Jesus entered into Peter’s boat, he also entered profoundly into Peter’s life.” You see, Peter’s boat was his livelihood, and it would be like someone getting into your car, they would be getting into your private space, invading your personal life. But notice the two amazing things that happen next. First, Jesus blesses Peter with an extraordinary catch of fish. Jesus’ friendship often brings great blessings, sometimes even worldly blessings. Just look at me: I scored being pastor of Immaculate Conception Church! How cool is that?? But secondly, Peter becomes keenly aware of his own sinfulness. The gospel records, “Peter fell at the knees of Jesus and said, ‘Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man’.”  In other words, when Jesus becomes our friend, when he gets in our boat and into our lives, we not only can be ourselves, but we also can see ourselves. And what we see is our sins; that we, too, probably need to do 500 hours of community service. Scott Hahn often says that “Jesus loves us just the way we are, but he loves us too much to let us stay that way.” Like all true friendships, becoming friends with Jesus changes us for the better. Friendships are precious and priceless, and none moreso than Jesus’ friendship.

          Now, let me turn the tables and ask the question from another direction. We know Jesus is a faithful friend to us, but what kind of friend are we to him? Do we treat Jesus as well as we treat our other friends? For instance, we stay up till 2 am texting our friends, but how late have we stayed up talking with Jesus in prayer? A friend of mine begins to yawn as soon as he makes “The Sign of the Cross.” We love to “retweet” and “share” and “like” what our friends post on social media, but when was the last time you shared something Jesus said or did on social media? Before we make major decisions, like who to vote for as president, we talk to our friends and we ask their advice and we listen to their counsel. Sometimes we even vote like they do. But have we sought Jesus’ opinion about who should be the next president? Who would your friend, Jesus, vote for, do you think? Would Jesus be proud of how you will cast your vote? We “creep” on our friends’ Facebook to see what they are doing, but do we “creep” on the Bible (God’s Facebook) to see what Jesus did? In other words, what would you think of a friend who only wanted to see you for an hour on Sunday (and he often would leave early), a friend who only called you when he needed something or when he was in trouble, a friend who always blamed you whenever anything went wrong? He or she wouldn’t be much of a friend, would they? I guess Fr. Tribou was right even about Jesus’ friends; if Jesus had 3 good friends in life, he should consider himself very lucky indeed.

          This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent. This year, instead of giving up chocolate or alcohol or watching T.V., do something to work on your friendship with Jesus. That’s what Lent is really all about. Ask yourself: what can I do this Lent to be a better friend to Jesus, to become one of his good friends? And if you can’t think of anything else, maybe you can start with 500 hours of community service, as, you know, all the nice boys do.

          Praised be Jesus Christ!