The Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost (1 Cor. 9:6–11; Lk. 5:1–11)

The fishermen had labored all night and caught nothing; but when the Lord entered their boat and, after His preaching, told them to let down the net[1], they caught so much that they could not haul it in and the net broke. This is the image of all labor without God’s help, and of labor with God’s help. As long as a person labors alone and seeks to achieve something by his own powers alone—everything slips through his fingers; but when the Lord draws near—good things begin to flow one after another. In the spiritual and moral sphere, the impossibility of success without the Lord is palpably clear: ”apart from Me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:5)—so said the Lord. And this law operates in every person. Just as a branch, if not grafted onto the tree, not only bears no fruit but even dries up and loses its vitality, so too people, if they are not in living communion with the Lord, cannot bear the fruits of righteousness that are of value for eternal life. Whatever good does sometimes appear in them is only good in appearance; it is deficient in substance—like a wild apple, which may look fine on the outside, but taste it, and it is sour. In outward, worldly matters it is just as palpably evident: some people strive and strive, and nothing comes of it. But when God’s blessing descends—somehow everything comes together. Those who are attentive to themselves and to the ways of life know these truths from experience.