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January 21, 2024: Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle B
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As they left their respective boats on that day long ago, did these two sets of brothers have any idea what they were leaving behind and walking toward? It takes a great deal of courage to leave behind what is familiar and comfortable, and walk toward an unknown future. A future of unpredictable results; a future of unpredictable places.
It would be fair to say that the day Peter and Andrew, James and John left their boats and livelihood, but not yet their families, they had no idea what their future looked like. If we study in school to be a teacher, a nurse, a doctor, a firefighter or police officer, or deliver for UPS or be a Postal Carrier, with such moves we can at least mentally picture some ideas of what it must be like to walk in those shoes every day, living out our personal vocation from God.
But these two sets of brothers, they had no idea what their future held as they left their boats, and what they thought was their vocation, following the voice and path of Jesus of Nazareth, and wherever he would take them. The reason they didn’t know, of course, was because what Jesus did was all new.
People back then, like today, they followed certain other people who were leaders, or influential people. They follow someone with the hopes of gaining something good for themselves. They attached themselves to the coattails of others, hoping for that person’s success that would partly become their own success. When the leader’s stock price rose to a high number, they would sell their personal stock and profit from it.
Sort of like what’s called a start-up company. Get in early, work hard for a short time, sell off to a larger company, and take the money and run. Or, do nothing productive for the rest of your life.
Well, God’s new start-up company with our Lord Jesus at the helm, is a company where, when we begin working for him because he has called our name and number, we don’t sell off some day to take it easy for years on end. The Apostles will come to realize this part of Christian discipleship.
Remember that Gospel story of tearing down small, old barns and building bigger barns for one man’s many possessions? Where he could lay back and admire his accomplishments? And how that story ends? How “your life will be demanded of you tonight?” For us Catholics, there’s no end to our discipleship for Jesus until we see him face-to-face.
Did the two sets of brothers know this as they left their boats that day? That Jesus was calling them to lifelong discipleship? They likely thought it was more like last week’s Gospel, where Andrew heard John the Baptist say, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” while pointing at Jesus.
How Andrew followed Jesus, and the Lord turned around asking Andrew, “What are you looking for?” And Andrew responds, “Where are you staying?” “Come and see,” Jesus retorts. And Andrew, who went to get his brother Cephas, spent the afternoon with Jesus. Just one afternoon.
Well, in Mark’s Gospel, with the calling of the two sets of brothers, their “afternoon” will be a lifetime. One very long afternoon that will take in some of the most incredible things they will see and hear over 3 years, along with some of the most wrenching personal experiences they will witness. Such as an arrest, a Passion, and a crucifixion they could not have predicted the day they left the boat. One very long afternoon.
But in the end, a spectacular afternoon that culminates in the words, “He is risen.”. This is the eventual result for all of us who decide to leave our boat, follow Jesus, and stay with him.
So much preaching at this moment in our Christian faith is concerned with the influence and power of the culture in which we live. There is much good to be seen in the name of Jesus. People helping people. Kindness, courtesy, decency, generosity, caring for those in need. I’m blessed to know many such people, including you.
But all those folks who desperately want Jesus to return yesterday; “Maranatha; Come, Lord Jesus…” What can, and what will put his return on hold, like we actually have a say in when the Lord returns, which we do not, are the countless acts of love that millions of people perform each day. For God sees the bigger picture.
On the other hand, it’s likely also true that bodies and souls are being lost each day because our culture’s power and influence takes them away from embracing any level of discipleship for Christ. This I have seen also. In other words, when Jesus calls their name, they ignore him and stay on the boat. Where it’s comfortable, safe, easy, familiar, what we know and want. Not what God wants, but what I want.
When Peter, Andrew, James and John left their livelihood the day Jesus called them, they were uninformed of both the minefield and the Divine grace they were stepping into. They had good thoughts as the voice of God tugged at their hearts. They had good hearing, because they left immediately. But in the end, they trusted the One who called.
Trusted to the point that the truest and greatest purpose of their lives was going to be fulfilled in the life of the One who called them. Just as it is for us. We can give the two sets of brothers this much rope early on in their calling. The rope of trust. The rope of “all will be very good at sunset.”
The same applies to our discipleship. There have been “arrests, Passions, and crucifixions.” But also, true freedom, resurrections, and the power of love. For those who leave the boat and trust in the Lord for he is an eternal Rock, we will be glad and rejoice we have been courageous enough to answer the call each day, and stay with him.