Wordplay

If you're looking for something actually good to read, I'd recommend Dan's post on grace that he wrote Friday. It's pretty fantastic.


If you're still with me, I'm taking a small break from my posts on faith / justification for a moment to wish my one (two?) readers a happy March, and to share something I noticed this morning as we went through Luke five in church.

To wit, compare 5.5 and 5.8:

"And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net."

"When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

There is a transition here in Peter's relationship to Jesus. In 5.5, he uses the word EPISTATA (επιστατα), an unusual word (in the NT) that generally means "overseer" (perhaps too literally, one who is appointed above another). But after he brings in the not-so-proverbial boatload of fish, Jesus is no longer a master, but Lord, KURIOS (κυριε).

And take care to note that in the former verse, he is "Simon," but in the latter he is "Simon Peter."

A similar transition happens in verses 7 and 10, although it's somewhat more subtle in translation:

"7 And they beckoned unto their partners, ..."

"10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon."

The word for partners in verse 7 is METOCOS (μετοχοις), but the word in verse 10 is KOINONOS (κοινωνοι). The roots of the word used in verse 7 are "with" and "to hold onto," which brings to my mind an idea of competition. But the latter word is one of sharing and fellowship.

The miracle that Jesus works instantly transforms his relationship with the newly-minted disciples, and their relationships with each other.


I don't want to go away from this passage without hitting what is perhaps a more central point, and that is how Christ speaks to Peter. I find Peter's words of contrition appropriate: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." But at the beginning, as at the end, Jesus speaks gracefully to him: "Fear not."

One of the threads of the gospel is the utterance of those two words. We read it in the greetings of the angels to Mary and Zacharias, and to the shepherds. Jesus repeats it in refrain many times to his own, coupling it often with statements of his deity (as they are tossed on the waves, he comes to them and says, "Fear not. I am").

It's difficult to know exactly how to conclude this; but at least it has made me thankful.