This Sunday’s Gospel story shows Jesus in the very beginning of his public ministry. For approximately 30 years, he led a hidden life as a son in the Nazareth home of Mary and Joseph, a member of the local community and he “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him” (Lk 2:40). Now, we see him as he “left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum” which was located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (or Lake Gennesaret). As Jesus was walking by the lake, he saw two fishermen casting a net into the sea: Simon and his brother Andrew. He said to them words that were stunningly unusual: “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Their immediate positive answer turned over their way of living. The same happened with another pair of brothers whom Jesus also called: James and John. In those times, usually a student sought out a teacher or master. In this case, it was the opposite: it was the master who called his students.
Jesus’ call of these particular men and their positive response to it raises two connected questions: What was so special in these fishermen that Jesus chose them to be his disciples, and what was so special about Jesus that they immediately left everything on the shore of the lake?
These fishermen were ordinary, hardworking people, fulfilling diligently their duties as husbands, fathers and sons. St. Paul, a person who was called as the last one to be an apostle, underlined the lack of earthly excellence in the people chosen by Jesus: “Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (1Cor 1:26). These four fishermen from today’s Gospel were simply just men, in the sense that they recognized moral responsibilities, harmonies, proportions, with their families, with coworkers, and with nature. They therefore had an ear for the Voice that breaks from the depths and traverses every layer of existence and experience. This is the Voice that marvelously vivifies all it touches and does not stop until it reaches the inner part of the heart. Jesus surely looked at the fishermen’s work and penetrated their hearts. And what did he find there? He found sincere men, not perfect, but sincere. That this very element seems to be crucial in becoming an apostle, and generally, to be a Christian is confirmed by Jesus’ testimony about another apostle, Bartholomew, when he stated: “there is no duplicity in him” (J 1:47). Only a sincere and truthful person is able and willing to look for the truth, and finding it, follow it with all his or her heart.
The act of “fishing men” to which Jesus called the Apostles raises two questions: (1) by what means, and (2) for what purpose? The simplicity and awesomeness of the ruse applied by Jesus is clearly visible. The newly elected Apostles recognized somehow that they are called by someone special, an amazing person, the Messiah, or maybe even someone greater. By no means were they forced to follow Jesus; they were not deceived by any kind of propaganda or lie but by the power of truth. They responded positively because of the authority and attractiveness of the person who called them: the incarnate Son of the Living God. This is the only ruse that Jesus used and the only one the Church has been using for centuries and millennia.
Next, we have to ask for what purpose are men to be “caught.” Surely the waters in which they are to fish represent the engulfing “waters of death” as presented in the Psalms – the waters which are like an abyss and are violent. Out of these waters no one comes forth by his own power. It is Christ and his “fishermen of men” working on behalf of him who “fishes up” people and delivers them from captivity, enabling them to participate in the mystery of building up the Kingdom.
The fishermen’s immediate answer to Jesus became an inspiration for generations of those who began to believe. To leave everything and to follow promises empty-handed, to feel the beginning of interior movement – in other words, life according to the Gospel, following Jesus without conditions – is only for adventuresome and imaginative hearts, hearts that want to go beyond, to go higher, hearts that want to penetrate the divine reality of things. Evangelical living is not for the lukewarm, that is, those who do not have the faith that trusts absolutely in the one who has called them. Jesus calls us freely, unconditionally; to respond to him adequately we must respond in the same way. Why do I follow you? Because you are who you are, Lord, and because “you have the words of everlasting life.” The fishermen’s immediate answer to Jesus became an inspiration for generations of those who began to believe. To leave everything and to follow promises empty-handed, to feel the beginning of interior movement – in other words, life according to the Gospel, following Jesus without conditions – is only for adventuresome and imaginative hearts, hearts that want to go beyond, to go higher, hearts that want to penetrate the divine reality of things. Evangelical living is not for the lukewarm, that is, those who do not have the faith that trusts absolutely in the one who has called them. Jesus calls us freely, unconditionally; to respond to him adequately we must respond in the same way. Why do I follow you? Because you are who you are, Lord, and because “you have the words of everlasting life.”
Fr. Mark Jurzyk