Homily Three on the First Sunday of Luke (St. John of Kronstadt)

Homily Three on the First Sunday of Luke 

18th Sunday after Pentecost

By St. John of Kronstadt

“And He sat down and taught the people from the boat.” (Luke 5:3)

Brethren, what do I see? What is this spectacle at which heaven itself marvels? The eternal Son of God, the Creator of Angels, borne upon the Cherubim, the Creator of heaven and earth, surrounded by a small number of His chosen disciples, sits in a boat tossed by the waves of the sea; the eternal Word of the unoriginate Father Himself, in the humble form of a man, teaches a people immersed in the darkness of ignorance. O boundless goodness, O boundless condescension! Behold, man, what your God, your Creator, your Savior has done for you! He Himself came to enlighten you, to teach you the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His will. He Himself came to save you, a perishing sinner. Behold how precious and exalted He considers your salvation! And how do you value this condescension—and your own salvation? O, it seems that you have forgotten who you are and why you came into this world. You have forgotten that you are a being created in the image of God; that you are immortal in soul and will one day also be immortal in a transformed, spiritual body; you have forgotten that you are called to practice righteousness and holiness and to fulfill the commandments of God, which “are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3), according to the word of the Apostle. You do the will of your own flesh, sinful and destructive, and you have sunk into lawlessness and are drowning in it.

But let us see what our wondrous Teacher does next. When He had finished teaching, He said to Simon, the owner of the boat: “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered Him: “Master, we have labored all night and caught nothing; nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great multitude of fish, and their net was breaking. And they beckoned to their partners who were in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at the knees of Jesus and said: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” For astonishment had seized him and all who were with him because of the catch of fish which they had taken, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men” (Luke 5:1–11).

Wondrous are the works of our wondrous Teacher! One creative gesture, and the multitude of fish in the sea filled the fishermen’s net. Here, upon the earth, stood a multitude of people, drawn by His heavenly teaching and miracles; and here, in the nets, was a multitude of speechless fish, portraying humanity, which stands speechless before divine righteousness. But Peter did not catch so many fish at the Savior’s command for himself and his companions, because, as the Gospel goes on to say, “when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.” Thus, the wealth of the sea went to the people, among whom there were undoubtedly many poor; the people received the rich catch, as though in reward for listening to the word of God.

And what has our divine Teacher left us, and what shall we receive from Him? He has left us His saving, sweet, wondrous word. Let us make use of it as a priceless treasure for our enlightenment and salvation. What, then, shall we take from this word, specifically from today’s word, for our edification? We, the shepherds and fishers of human souls, shall take for our edification the words spoken by the Lord to Peter: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will catch men”; that is, let us, to the best of our understanding and with the utmost zeal, care for the salvation of human souls who are perishing in the abyss of sin. And all of us, both you and we, shall take as our lesson the final words of today’s Gospel: “They left everything and followed Him.”

There are many edifying thoughts in these words. The Apostles left everything for the Lord, for the salvation of people and of themselves: both their boats with the fish, and their nets, and their homes, and their relatives, and their habits and attachments, which they could not have failed to possess as human beings, and their own will. They left everything and followed their heavenly Teacher to the end of their lives, along His saving way of the Cross; they followed His holy will, renounced themselves and sin, and began to practice only the righteousness of God. They earnestly cared for the salvation of people from their sins; they taught the will of God; they brought those who had gone astray onto the path of righteousness and salvation; and those who had been enlightened, cleansed, sanctified, and renewed by the grace of God, they brought to the Heavenly Father, into the eternal dwellings.

Let us also imitate the Apostles insofar as we can. They left everything and followed the Lord. Let us also leave—not, I do not say, everything: our homes, possessions, and relatives; this is not required of everyone—but let us leave sin, our passions, our sinful inclinations, sinful and harmful habits, everything that draws us toward sin, that harms us, that dishonors us, that defiles us, that draws us toward eternal destruction, that separates us from God, from His holiness and righteousness, and that deprives us of eternal life. O, how many sins there are within us, this destructive seed of the devil, this accursed seed that chokes the wheat of God! We—our souls—are the wheat of God, because we were created in the image and likeness of God.

Let us therefore, with the help of God, be pure wheat belonging to God. Let us strive always to have pure thoughts, pure and holy desires and intentions; let us both speak and practice the pure righteousness of God. And the thorns of the devil—sin—let us uproot from our hearts by every means, even if this work should be very, very distasteful to us, even if it must be done with sorrow and suffering. For it is better to endure and suffer for a little while than to perish forever. Amen.

Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.