Imagine going to the kitchen to make chocolate chip cookies and getting out all of the ingredients, only to find the flour tin dead empty! Drat, no cookies. Then, the doorbell rings. It’s Jesus. We invite him in to the living room where we relax and shoot the breeze. “Got any chocolate chip cookies?” He says. “No,” we say, wondering about the coincidence of the question. “Would you please go bake me some,” Jesus asks. “Hmmmm,” we say, “But I’m all out of flour, I just checked.” Jesus pauses for a moment and says “Check again.” Lo and behold, we walk into the kitchen, remove the lid from the flour tin, and find it filled to the brim.

Or we’re at the office, where we’ve been trying all week to sell the back page of the catalog to a deep-pocket customer named Mr. Smith. We’ve talked to him numerous times, and Smith’s explained that his business is down, he’s cutting budgets and staff, and there’s no way in tarnation he’ll be able to buy an ad this month, or for that matter, for the rest of the year. Then, Jesus walks in. We offer him a chair and start shooting the breeze. “I see you still haven’t sold that back page yet,” he says, strangely familiar with our business. “Nope, it’s bone dry out there,” we say. Then Jesus says, “Why don’t you call Mr. Smith?” Boy, how did Jesus know that I just got off the phone with him? “Funny you should ask,” we say, “I’ve talked with Mr. Smith every day this week and he says he’s in no position to buy.” “Try calling him again,” Jesus says. And when Smith picks up on the first ring we find out that not only is he willing to buy this month’s back page, but he wants the inside cover as well, and a full schedule through 2011.

Sales inexplicably materializing in the office!
Flour mysteriously appearing in the kitchen!
Can we see why St. Peter, in this Sunday’s Gospel reading, did exactly what you and I would have done had our fishing boats all of the sudden starting listing with the weight of all that abundance?

And when we think about it we understand that this story’s not about fish, or flour, or making sales quotas. It’s about God making God’s self known to us.
Sure, this was a very impressive miracle, but it was no less dramatic than the miracle that convinced you and me about who Jesus was and is in our lives. Maybe it happened at Baptism, or Confirmation, or an amazing sunset, or when a tragedy struck, or slowly over time when we somehow became utterly convinced that God was with us.

This story begs us to recall that first miracle that revealed God to you and me. But perhaps more importantly, it also asks us to consider what we’ve been doing as a result. Have we too, ‘left everything and followed Him?’ How have we gone fishing for men? If we’ve really witnessed the miracle of Jesus making himself known to us, then what are we doing with it?

Reading
The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls
Missional Renaissance – Reggie McNeal
Rediscovering Values – Jim Wallis