Once again we are given an opportunity to stand in awe with the apostles. Peter, in his usual way of speaking out, may well have said "Oh, my God!" when he saw the large catch of fish. Peter and his team had already cleaned their nets from a fishing trip that had no yield. Once Jesus finished preaching from Peter's boat, he asked the fisherman to put the boats farther out into the water and drop the net once again. We "know the rest of the story."
Peter was coming to the awareness that Jesus was much more than an itinerant preacher. He was so focused on his own weakness as a man that he asked Jesus to leave his presence because he was beginning to realize that this Jesus was much more than an itinerant preacher.
Perhaps we might incorporate Paul's words from the first reading into understanding this moment. "If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool, so as to become wise."
A genuine part of what wisdom literature calls "fear of the Lord," is realizing that God is God and I am not. For this insight we might be thankful because what it says to us is that God has been fishing with us and has caught us. With us, as with Peter, Jesus will not leave. We are particularly blessed because we, too, belong "to Christ and Christ to God." So, that phrase, "fear of the Lord" may be something that turns us off but when we look at it more reflectively, we should see that we are so terribly loved for Jesus Christ.
