Here is a link to our Gospel reading for today from Matthew:
http://bit.ly/1ivc4o2
And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:19-20
The story of Jesus’ call of Peter, Andrew, James and John has always fascinated me. It is a very short but potent story. We have these men. Presumably normal every day kinds of people. People who get up each morning and do the hard work of earning a living to support their families. People who regularly participate in their religious community, going to synagogue every week and yearly to the Temple in Jerusalem. People who are faithfully carrying on the work of their fathers and grandfathers. And then we have Jesus. Jesus approaches them and says very little, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” He doesn’t preach a great sermon, heal the sick, offer them great wealth or security. He says next to nothing. He only promises them that he will make them fishers of people. That is it. And immediately these men walk away from all their security, all their comfort, all that they have known and all that they have been. Immediately they embrace Jesus’ call to them and they leave behind all that they had worked their whole lives to create, in order to embrace the life that Jesus is offering to them. It is actually a pretty stunning story when you really take some time to think about it. Who leaves everything behind, all that they have, to follow a man who has said only one sentence to them?