A
few years ago I sat beside a man at a wedding reception who began
telling me about all the wonderful things his family had achieved.
They were very impressive. He went on to say that he really felt that
we should do away with that part of the mass at the beginning when we
say that we are sinners. We shouldn’t be putting ourselves down. We
should be focusing on the fact that we are good.
He
is right that we shouldn’t put ourselves down, but to acknowledge
that we are sinners is not to put ourselves down. That is simply to
acknowledge what we are. God is holy and we are not. That is
the reality. God is the Creator, and we are the created. That is also
why we acknowledge our sinfulness at the beginning of every mass and
why the Lord asks us to confess our sins and to receive his grace. It
is arrogant of us to think that we don’t need to.
In
the readings of the mass today we are being given the same message in
different ways. The first reading was written hundreds of years
before Jesus came. This man Isaiah, whoever he was, had a
vision of God in his glory and he was terrified. His first
reaction was to realise that he was a sinner. He says, ‘I am doomed
for I am a man of unclean lips.’ The holiness of God which he was
allowed to experience made him realise straight away that he was a
sinner. Then the Lord sends an angel to cleanse him of his sins. He
doesn’t say to Isaiah ‘Don’t worry about it’, but
instead he takes away his sinfulness. And then God is happy to use
this man Isaiah as his messenger, but first He needed him to see that
he was nothing of himself.
Something
similar happens in the Gospel reading. Peter, James and John were
fishing. Jesus used their boat as a stage to preach from and then
Jesus tells them to put out for a catch. Now the fishermen knew their
trade and you can tell from what Peter says to Jesus that he was
politely saying, ‘Look preacher, we know our trade, why don’t you
stick to your trade, but so as not to offend you we will drop the
nets.’ And then Jesus shows them who they are dealing with by
working a miracle they would understand. He made the impossible
happen and through a miracle they could relate to. What is
interesting is Peter’s reaction. Wouldn’t you imagine that he
would say something like, ‘Wow, how did you do that?’ He was an
expert fisherman and he knew that this was a miracle, but the first
thing he said was, ‘Leave me Lord I am a sinful man’. He became
aware straight away of his own sinfulness and the holiness of Jesus.
However, it was Jesus who said, ‘Do not be afraid.’ Jesus didn’t
say ‘It doesn’t matter’, he said, ‘Do not be afraid.’
One
of the most basic experiences we have in the presence of God’s
holiness is to recognise that we are sinners before God. To
acknowledge that and to confess it is what God asks us to do. Not to
confess it, is arrogant on our part, because we are basically saying
I don’t need to confess that I am a sinner.
Every
time that Jesus met someone who was possessed by an evil spirit, they
nearly always cried out, ‘What do you want with us Jesus of
Nazareth? We know who you are; the holy one of God.’ The demons
knew who he was and they knew their place.
What
is beautiful in both of these accounts is that God is not afraid to
use us because we are sinners. On the contrary, He tells us not to be
afraid. We must repent, yes, but we must also realise that God is
happy to work with us as we are, in our weakness. God doesn’t need
us to be perfect, but only to be open to him.
Peter said: ‘Leave me Lord, I am a sinful man.’
Jesus replied: ‘Do not be afraid. From now on it
is men you will catch.’
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