Theme: Discipleship
The first reading reveals the solemn calling of Isaiah by God to be a prophet. However, due to the death of king Uzziah, Isaiah was filled with sorrow. He was then unable to recognise that it was the Lord sitting upon the throne and not that it was empty. Similar to Isaiah, many of us with all our sorrows, disappointments and pains, often let our feelings cloud our mind. We then find it hard to see God’s presence during these difficult times. The loss of our loved ones, the possession of certain things taken away from us should never drive us to be distant from him. Our Father’s ultimate mission is to reveal to us his love. He wants to lead us towards him. Isaiah then recognised that despite the earthly king that has been laid in the grave, the true king of Israel was the Lord of hosts. Recognising this, the sense of loss that he was feeling vanished. He gained new strength to serve the Lord and answered, “Here I am, send me”.
In the second reading, Paul is proclaiming the truth of Jesus’s resurrection to the Corinthian Christians. These are a group of people that had been swayed by false teaching or blended Christian ideas. Paul takes on the responsibility to correct their thinking and writes them a letter teaching them about what resurrection from the dead means. Are we able to stand firm with confidence and rooted in faith to testify as a witness to Jesus’s death and resurrection? Like the Corinthian Christians, there are many believers who have strayed away from the church for many years. Some that have lost their faith in God and are now living a worthless life. Similarly, just like Paul we need to look out for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ by speaking the truth boldly and proclaiming the Good News to them with the hope that they will have a change of heart and live out the faith.
In the Gospel, we see a crowd gathered around Jesus to hear the word of God. He then looks over at the boats standing by the lake and got into one of them to teach. He then instructed Simon to go out into the deep waters and for the disciples to let down their nets. They had tried all day and they did not catch any fish. However, he placed his full trust and faith in Jesus and did as he said. In comparison to Simon, do we listen attentively to God when he speaks to us, and do as he say without doubt and without making any excuses? What elements in our lives hinder us from putting our full trust in him? All who were there with Simon were in awe of what Jesus had showed them, they left the old life behind and followed Jesus. Often, we can disregard our Father’s direction and take things into our own hands. However, the crux of a true disciple of Jesus is to learn, follow, and be taught by the Master.
Written by:
Ephrem Music Ministry