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On the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, we heard the Gospel about the miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11). This miraculous fishing episode is toward the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry. On the same day, at Matins we read the fifth Resurrection Gospel (Luke 24:12-35), which is about the journey of the two disciples to Emmaus. Before the meeting of these two with the Lord, the text relates how the Apostle Peter was informed of the Lord’s resurrection, how he ran to the tomb to confirm that the tomb was empty and “the linen cloths lying by themselves”, and how he left “marveling to himself at what had happened”.

We might expect God would make things simpler. For example, to tell the disciples outright, very clearly, that He had risen. They wouldn’t need so many signs and proofs, after which they nonetheless would still be “marveling at what had happened”. Well, He doesn’t do this. Some come to the tomb, others leave… Especially Mary Magdalene, who visited the tomb several times without realizing what had happened. The disciples who were going to Emmaus experienced something similar, “their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him,” and when they recognized Him, He disappeared.

We have the expectation that everything will be easy, clear, evident. Especially with God, we think everything should be easy because He’s all-powerful. And we don’t understand why we struggle. At the miraculous catch of fish, we observe the same phenomenon. The Lord had just begun working miracles, He was already surrounded by people and, finding Himself on the lakeshore, He asks Peter to give Him the boat so that He could preach to the multitudes from the boat, who were already crowding Him on land. We see the virtue of obedience in Saint Peter. He was a fisherman, who had labored and tired and was also downcast because he hadn’t caught anything. In this context, the Teacher asks for his boat to preach to the multitudes. And Saint Peter obeys. More than this, he remained with the multitude and listened to the Lord’s preaching.

After the Lord finishes, He tells Peter to send the boat out into the deep and to throw down the nets again. Here, we see the difference between hearing a word and putting it into practice. Peter to the Lord’s words together with the multitude and was animated by them. But only when the Lord tells him to send out the boat, does he pass from theory into practice. And we see how difficult it was for Peter to obey. At the Lord’s command to throw down the nets, Saint Peter responds that he struggled all night and didn’t catch anything. But even though he knew those waters very well, he suspends himself, including his exhaustion and expertise, and obeys the Lord. This essentially is obedience. You have no reason to do something, but for the Lord’s word, you do it anyways. It is the highest virtue and the only true, authentic way of opening up to God.

In particular, we note how great a difference there is between our expectations and how God acts. Saint Peter expected, possibly, to return home after the Teacher finished preaching. It would be only human. Well, God had another plan.

Ultimately, this idea is summed up by Elder Arsenie Papacioc, who often said that “the problem with people is that they await roasted quail from the sky.” Meaning, we expect salvation to be easy. And God will continually take us out of our comfort zone. The same happened with Saint Peter. First, the Lord called him to be an apostle (cf. Luke 5:10), then He discovered Himself as Messiah (cf. Matthew 16:16), then He scolded him (cf. Matthew 16:23), then He warned him (cf. John 13:38), then He let him taste the bitterness of falling (cf. Matthew 26:75), then He commissioned him to proclaim His resurrection (cf. Mark 16:7), then He forgave him at the Sea of Tiberias (cf. John 21:15-17), and so on. Saint Peter, like us, needed to grow in his familiarity with the Lord. This familiarity is gained gradually, step by step. And it transforms you; it begets you spiritually.

It is similar with us: even if we once acquired God’s peace in a certain context, we need to acquire it again in the situation we find ourselves in. For example, maybe we came to know God in our parents, where we grew up, but now we have to discover Him again in marriage. Just like we discovered God in one situation, we have to discover Him again each time. Just like Saint Peter, step by step. We shouldn’t expect something else from the Savior. We don’t win by doing easy things. In fact, even the process of seeking, of crying out, of shedding tears is how we discover God, because that’s how a place for God is prepared within us. It’s not a knowledge of the type: I see Him and I’ve received Him. No! Because God is not like this. It is internal transformation. And the road to God is essential, not necessarily the meeting with Him, because the road toward Him prepares you to see Him. Elder Aimilianos of Simonos Petra says that no matter how great of revelations God might give us, we cannot maintain them. You reached that point, but you can’t stay there. We want to keep Him as our possession. This is the creature complex, we want to have possessions and security. But with God, this is not possible. The road to Him, however, this openness to seeking Him, bears witness that we’ve already met Him.

We need to become accustomed with His style. We, instead of acting, remain in this question “Why?!”. And we lose so much time and energy thinking that whatever is happening to us, the trials we’re passing through, are not from God. Well, they’re all from God. As Elder Zacharias Zacharou says: “God sets our struggle before us.” Why?! So that we can grow, so that we can become enlarged and true, so that we can know ourselves and become true humans. If we read Saint Silouan’s life, we observe the same thing. It could have been easier. Why did he have to live hell every night for 15 years, to learn something?! Because that’s how God is. He wants us to grow, our heart to be purified, and our inner eye to open more. Otherwise, we cannot know Him, we cannot see God. If the soil is not tilled, it cannot keep and fertilize the seed.

These are the two essential things: our meeting with God always surprises us and, if things are difficult, it means this is God’s dispensation for us. Even a temptation is permitted by God so that He can prove how much you love Him, so that He can watch you rise above the temptation. I know that God descended even into hell, so I can surely find Him in any difficult situation. My focus should be how to find Him in the context I’m in now. This is how we walk the path to salvation, through action and trust, without tiring. And we will see ourselves becoming more and more enlarged, wise, understanding, human.