Whale of a Tale

Seeing our faith journey as a fishing story

05/01/2022

Jn 21:1-14 At that time, Jesus revealed himself again to his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way. Together were Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We also will come with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. When it was already dawn, Jesus was standing on the shore; but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, have you caught anything to eat?” They answered him, “No.” So he said to them, “Cast the net over the right side of the boat and you will find something.” So they cast it, and were not able to pull it in because of the number of fish. So the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” When they climbed out on shore, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you just caught.” So Simon Peter went over and dragged the net ashore full of one hundred fifty-three large fish. Even though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come, have breakfast.” And none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they realized it was the Lord.

Everyone who has ever gone fishing has eventually told a fishing story, not of the fish they caught but of the one that got away. And by the way, the more times they tell the story, the bigger the fish gets. Now, the greatest fishing story ever told was Moby Dick by Herman Melville. In this story, though, Melville did not have to exaggerate the size of the fish because Captain Ahab was pursuing the great white whale.

The novel was both the “tale of a whale” and a “whale of the tale”. I actually listened to an audio book of the novel, consisting of 16 CDs, and it took me over two years to complete it driving around Fort Smith in my car. The story was as long as the fish! I even got seasick several times and had to pull over to the side of the road.

There are many layers of meaning and symbolism in this epic fishing story, probably as deep as the ocean where the White Whale, Moby Dick, swims. But I just want to point out one, and most people would probably disagree with me. See if you can catch my drift. Captain Ahab chases Moby Dick all over the seven seas until the final showdown where Ahab sacrifices his life to try to catch the White Whale.

My own interpretation is that Ahab is like Christ who gives his own life to catch each of us Christians. In other words, Captain Ahab loved Moby Dick more than life itself, and Jesus loves each of us more than his human life. Jesus is willing to die to catch each of us, and we are far more precious to him than the White Whale was to Captain Ahab.

In the gospel today, we hear another great fishing story, involving someone who probably told plenty of fishing stories himself, namely, St. Peter the Fisherman. In this case, though, the fish in question is not the great White Whale but St. Peter himself (Peter is the fish, whom Jesus wants to catch. And, by the way, it was not easy for Jesus to catch Peter; he was almost the big one that got away.

Do you remember how dramatically Peter denied Jesus three times warming himself by a charcoal fire in the high priest’s courtyard a couple of weeks ago on Good Friday? But it is only after dying for him that Jesus is able to sort of “catch Peter”, and thus Peter finally he professes his love three times today, realizing how much Jesus loves him.

But noticed that the context for catching Peter is fishing, and this episode in John 21 was identical to the first time Jesus caught Peter’s attention in Luke 5 when Peter first fell in love with Jesus. Both are fishing stories that share three striking similarities. First, Peter and friends are fishing all night and catch nothing. Second, Jesus advises them where they can catch more fish.

And third, they catch so many fish the boats almost sink. In the first fishing story from Luke 5, Peter acknowledges his sin, and in the second fishing story from John 21, Peter acknowledges his love. The point is that Peter was a hard fish to catch, and it took Jesus three years of preaching, teaching and finally dying, to reel Peter into his boat.

My friends, I would suggest to you that Peter’s fishing story, where he is the great white whale that Jesus like Captain Ahab is dying to catch, is parallel to our own fishing stories, where we are the fish Jesus is after. But in our case, it takes Jesus a lot longer than 3 years to haul us in. Let me explain what I mean. For cradle Catholics, we first fall in love with the Lord when we receive our first Holy Communion, preceded by confession. Remember that?

Like Peter in Luke 5, we acknowledge our sins and start to follow the Lord. We cannot wait to go to Mass every Sunday. But as I give Communion to each innocent child, I ask myself, “How many of you will deny even knowing Jesus when you turn 18, go to college, and stop going to Mass?” Like poor Peter on Good Friday, we warm ourselves by the charcoal fires of this world (called college and frat parties), and deny Jesus a lot more than three times.

But our Lord, like Captain Ahab, does not give up so easily. He will chase us all over the seven seas and to the ends of the earth. How so? Maybe he sends a Catholic wife into our life, and she invites us to go back to Mass. Then he uses the bait of precious children to teach us our forgotten faith by their words and example. And finally we retire and stop chasing after money, sex, and power, and maybe decide to go fishing instead.

Have you noticed how many grandfathers like to take their grandchildren fishing? That is the one thing my dad always wants to do with his grandchildren. And maybe in a moment of prayerful silence, as grandfather and grandson sit side-by-side in the boat waiting for the water to move and the line to give a tug, it occurs to them who is really the Fisherman (Jesus), and who is really the fish (you and me).

Like Peter in the gospel we realize that Jesus has been fishing for us from the time we were that 7 year-old making our first Holy Communion, and we finally profess our love for him, maybe only at the end of our life. We begin to glimpse that Luke 5 and John 21 are not only about Peter, but about each of us, and captures our own Christian story. And that is the best fishing story of all. Indeed, it is a whale of a tale.

Praised be Jesus Christ!