路加福音5:1-11
5 耶稣站在革尼撒勒湖边，众人拥挤他，要听 神的道。 2 他看见两只船停在湖边，渔夫离开船洗网去了。 3 他上了西门的那一只船，请他撑开，离岸不远，就坐下，从船上教导众人。 4 讲完了，就对西门说：“把船开到水深的地方，下网打鱼！” 5 西门说：“主啊，我们整夜劳苦，毫无所得，不过，我愿照你的话下网。” 6 他们下了网，就圈住很多鱼，网几乎裂开， 7 就招呼另外那只船上的同伴来帮助，他们就来把两只船装满，甚至船要下沉。 8 西门．彼得看见这种情景，就俯伏在耶稣膝前，说：“主啊，离开我，因为我是个罪人。” 9 他和跟他在一起的人，因这网所打的鱼，都十分惊骇。 10 西门的伙伴，西庇太的儿子雅各、约翰也是这样。耶稣对西门说：“不要怕！从今以后，你要作得人的渔夫了。” 11 他们把两只船拢了岸，撇下一切，跟从了耶稣。
Reflection 反思
If we had been there that morning on the shore of the Lake of Galilee listening to Jesus preach to the people about the love of God for all mankind, the coming of the Kingdom and what it means to live in community and in communion with those whom we share the world, we would have seen a man sitting offshore in a boat surrounded by a crowd of attentive listeners. Nearby, were some tired and discouraged fishermen who after an unsuccessful night of fishing, were cleaning and mending their nets before going home to eat and sleep. As they worked, perhaps they listened to what was being taught and wondered; who is this man preaching to us about the Kingdom that is to come? Was He the one creating all the uproar in Nazareth lately? Is He the Messiah we have been waiting for?
如果那天早上我们在加利利湖畔听耶稣向人们宣讲上帝对全人类的爱，王国的到来，以及在社区中生活和与我们分享世界的人交流的意义，我们就会看到一个人坐在岸边的船上，周围围着一群专心的听众。附近有一些疲惫而沮丧的渔民，他们在一夜捕鱼失败后，正在清洗和修补渔网，然后回家吃饭和睡觉。当他们工作的时候，也许他们听了所教的内容而感到奇怪；向我们宣讲将要来的国的是谁呢。最近在拿撒勒闹腾的就是他吗？他是我们一直在等待的弥赛亚吗？
We are told that Jesus stopped speaking to the people and spoke to Simon Peter in whose boat he was seated, saying to him “Simon push out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch”. Simon hesitated momentarily because he was sure there were no fish to be caught, and he may even have been thinking Hold on there for one moment, don’t you think I know how to catch fish? But what he did was act with trust and obedience when he heard the request and the authority with which it was spoken. Soon Simon was overwhelmed with the amount of fish in the net and called out to the other fishermen for help because his boat was in danger of sinking. At this point in the scripture we are told Simon Peter confesses his sinfulness and calls Jesus “Lord”. In response Jesus asks Simon to follow him and become a fisher of men.
我们被告知，耶稣停止对人们说话，对他坐在船上的西门彼得说：“西门，把船推到深水里，下网打鱼。”西门犹豫了一会儿，因为他确信没有鱼可捕，他甚至可能在想等一下，你以为我不知道怎么捕鱼吗？但他既听见所吩咐的，和所吩咐的权柄，就存信顺服的心去行。很快，西门被网里的鱼弄得不知所措，他向其他渔民求救，因为他的船有沉没的危险。在这一点上，我们被告知西门彼得承认他的罪，称耶稣为“主”。作为回应，耶稣要求西门跟随他，成为一个渔夫。
Some of the best stories are fish stories and living on the ocean as we do here in Vancouver many of you may have gone fishing at one time or another. If so, you will know fishing is hard work requiring a great deal of patience, hope and uncertainty. I suspect that if you don’t have a fish story of your own you will have heard one at sometime. I too have some fish stories I can attest to.
一些最好的故事是关于鱼的故事和生活在海洋上的故事，就像我们在温哥华一样，你们中的许多人可能曾经或其他时候去钓鱼。如果是这样，你就会知道钓鱼是一项艰苦的工作，需要很大的耐心、希望和不确定性。我怀疑，如果你没有自己的鱼的故事，你将在某个时候听到一个。我也有一些关于鱼的故事可以证明。
The story that comes to my mind took place when I was about ten years of age and living in Northern Ontario. That morning as I had often done, I went ice fishing with my mother. We walked nearly two miles to Herman Lake and once there my mother chose a spot not too far off shore where she chopped two holes through the ice and then set up two lines. Next we cleared a space nearby, collected some broken branches and started a fire on the ice within easy access of the lines. After that, we watched and waited for the dip of the pole and line to indicate a fish had taken the bait. We waited a long time. The holes my mother had cut seemed big enough in the beginning but by the time we caught the fish that cold winter day the hole had begun to freeze over and was no longer wide enough to pull the fish through. My mother let the line down again and began to enlarge the hole. When she pulled up the line for the second time the fish was gone. I remember being very disappointed.
这个故事发生在我大约十岁的时候，当时我住在安大略省北部。那天早上，像往常一样，我和妈妈一起去冰上钓鱼。我们走了将近两英里到赫尔曼湖，到了那里，我母亲选了一个离海岸不远的地方，在冰面上凿了两个洞，然后搭了两条线。接下来，我们在附近清理了一块空地，收集了一些折断的树枝，在电线容易接近的冰面上生起了火。在那之后，我们观察着，等待着鱼竿和鱼线的下沉，表明有鱼上钩了。我们等了很长时间。一开始，妈妈挖的洞似乎足够大，但在那个寒冷的冬天，当我们抓到鱼的时候，洞已经开始结冰，不再足够宽，不能把鱼拉出来了。妈妈又把钓索放下来，开始把洞扩大。当她第二次拉起鱼线时，鱼已经不见了。我记得当时非常失望。
In my world, in the world of the People of the Book and in the world of Indigenous people, storytelling is important and fishing stories are high on the list of favourites. Usually these stories are about the fish that got away, the fish that was never caught, sometimes about a lucky strike and lately even reconciliation stories about the fishermen of the East Coast. But the story we have heard today is very different. It is a story about the many fish that were caught and the promise that there are many more waiting to be caught by Simon, his friends and fishermen today.
在我的世界里，在有书的人的世界里，在土著人民的世界里，讲故事很重要，钓鱼故事在我最喜欢的故事清单上名列前茅。通常这些故事都是关于逃跑的鱼，没有被抓住的鱼，有时是关于幸运的袭击，最近甚至是关于东海岸渔民的和解故事。但是我们今天听到的故事是非常不同的。这是一个关于许多被捕获的鱼的故事，并且承诺有更多的鱼等待着被西门、他的朋友和渔民捕获。
So who was Simon Peter and what do we know about him and why was he chosen? It is safe to say that he was a leader of men who employed others to work with and for him. As a fisherman he held an important position as a supplier of the food for the people, but in many ways he was an ordinary person without prestige and position in society. As a Jew he would have been involved in the life of the synagogue and believed in the coming of a Messiah. But from the Gospel of Luke we don’t know if he was he at the wedding in Cana or if he was in the synagogue on the Sabbath when Jesus read Isaiah from the Scroll and said the scripture had been fulfilled or if he had seen Jesus cast out demons? We are told though that Jesus made Simon’s mother-in-law feel well enough to attend to her duties when he came to Simon’s house as a visitor, so it seems he was not a stranger. Perhaps Jesus was the manifestation in person of the God Simon worshipped, the God he knew who loved him and would save his people. We just don’t know.
那么西门彼得是谁？我们对他有什么了解？他为什么被选中？可以肯定地说，他是那些雇佣他人与他一起工作或为他工作的人的领导者。作为一个渔夫，他为人们提供食物，有着重要的地位，但在许多方面，他是一个普通人，在社会上没有声望和地位。作为一个犹太人，他会参与犹太会堂的生活，并相信弥赛亚的到来。但是从路加福音中我们不知道他是在迦拿的婚礼上还是在安息日的犹太教堂里当耶稣从书卷中读以赛亚书并说圣经已经应验了还是他看到耶稣赶鬼？我们被告知，当耶稣作为客人来到西门的家时，他使西门的岳母感觉很好，可以去做她的工作，所以他似乎不是一个陌生人。也许耶稣是西门所崇拜的神的化身，他知道这位神爱他，会拯救他的百姓。我们只是不知道。
Of this we can be sure, that on the day when Simon was asked to cast out his net, and later to follow Jesus he knew his life was about to change. He was obedient, willing and aware of his limitations. If he had doubts they did not hold him back from action. Jesus was looking for men like himself and not men who were rich or powerful. Simon saw himself reflected in the eyes of someone he revered. Jesus made Simon feel special, needed and even worthy enough to leave the life he was living as a fisherman and to become a fisher of men. Did Jesus see in Simon Peter a man who would make a great effort and not give up too soon, a man who would attempt what at first seemed hopeless even to the point of waiting for a miracle.
We know that later in his discipleship Peter would say when asked “Who do you say I am?” he had replied “You are the Son of God” We also know in a moment of weakness Peter would deny Jesus and run away and later be ashamed of his actions. So how did it happen that such an ordinary person came to be the Rock on which the Christian church would be built and what was it that Jesus saw in Simon Peter that he might see in you and me.
我们可以肯定的是，当西门被要求撒网，后来跟随耶稣的那一天，他知道他的生活即将改变。他很听话，心甘情愿，也知道自己的局限性。即使他有疑虑，他们也不会阻止他采取行动。耶稣要找的是像他一样的人，而不是有钱有势的人。西门在他尊敬的人的眼中看到了自己的影子。耶稣让西门觉得自己是特别的，被需要的，甚至有足够的价值，让他可以离开打鱼的生活，成为一个得人的渔夫。耶稣是否在西门彼得身上看到了一个人，他会付出巨大的努力，不会轻易放弃，一个人会尝试一开始看起来无望的事情，甚至等待奇迹的出现？
我们知道，后来彼得当门徒的时候，有人问他：“你说我是谁？”我们也知道彼得在软弱的时候会否认耶稣，然后逃跑，后来又为自己的行为感到羞愧。那么，这样一个普通人是如何成为基督教堂的基石的呢？耶稣在西门彼得身上看到了什么，他也可能在你我身上看到了什么呢？
In the broad scope of our faith, we claim as ours the Commandments of Moses, The Lord’s Prayer, The Sermon on the Mount and the Apostles Creed and we know for certain these are all vital to our faith but how does that understanding translate into simple action, between us and our neighbors? Can we demonstrate Christ’s message of love and sacrifice as a way of living? I believe we can.
在我们广泛的信仰范围内，我们宣称摩西的诫命、主祷文、登山宝训和使徒信经都是我们的，我们肯定知道这些对我们的信仰都是至关重要的，但这种理解如何转化为我们和邻居之间的简单行动呢？我们能把基督的爱和牺牲作为一种生活方式吗？我相信我们可以。
If we doubt God’s love for us, in spite of our insignificance, we show our lack of faith in a loving Creator. We need to put aside the jealousy and the sadness we feel that our life compared to that of a more successful person either in the eyes of society or in the mind of God is less worthy. We need to believe we are special and we have been given a free will to become who we want to be.
如果我们怀疑上帝对我们的爱，尽管我们微不足道，我们表明我们对慈爱的造物主缺乏信心。我们需要放下嫉妒和悲伤，我们觉得我们的生活与一个更成功的人相比，无论是在社会的眼中还是在上帝的心目中都是不值得的。我们需要相信我们是特别的，我们被赋予了成为我们想成为的人的自由意志。
Most people think of themselves as successful and special because others have led them to believe they are. We can if we try make all those we meet feel special, because that is the power of love that has been given to us in the Spirit. When we don’t make people feel special in any way we deny them the love of God that dwells in us as Christians who are here to live in communion with others in our world. Love for one another changes both us and those whom we love. Thanks be to God.
大多数人认为自己是成功的、特别的，因为别人引导他们这样认为。如果我们试着让我们遇到的每个人都感到特别，我们就能做到，因为那是圣灵赋予我们的爱的力量。当我们不以任何方式让人们感到特别时，我们就否认了上帝的爱，作为基督徒，上帝的爱住在我们里面，我们在这里与世界上的其他人交流。彼此相爱会改变我们和我们所爱的人。 感谢上帝。