Reading
Matthew 4:18-22
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
Comment
Andrew, as reported in the Gospel of John (Jn 1:40-41), had already met Jesus during the preaching of John the Baptist, recognizing him as the Lamb of God and promptly announcing to his brother Peter that he had found the Messiah awaited by Israel. After having followed Christ as ordinary disciples, the two brothers are now called to serve the cause of the gospel with greater radicality.
Unlike the disciples of Jewish masters who choose their master, it is Jesus who chooses those he wants to follow him. There is a mysterious strength and authority in him if this simple invitation to follow him is enough to obtain a prompt response from the disciples and the immediate renunciation of everything.
The instruments Jesus chooses to establish his kingdom are humble and considered of little worth by the world. Even the way in which he wishes to establish his kingdom is humble: he could have set up a school of theology, and certainly numerous students would have gone to him; he could have raised an army to fight Israel's oppressors; but he chooses common men, to establish the kingdom by preaching.
Thus he chooses his apostles not among the learned of the Sanhedrin, but among the fishermen on the shores of the lake of Gennesaret (which the Jews called the "Sea of Galilee"). At the moment of their call, these men leave everything: family, work, and companions; a radically new life begins for them. Yet they will not go "empty-handed"; Jesus will promise them: «everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life» (Mt 19:29).
There is a certain continuity between what the apostles are before their call and their function in the service of Jesus: they were fishers of fish, and now they will be fishers of men. Following Christ does not mortify our nature, our talents, or what distinguishes our personality. He rather enhances all these aspects bringing them to full maturity.
Jesus calls us to keep nothing for ourselves, to sacrifice everything to his grace, to find that freedom that alone can allow us to "set sail" and to cast the net of his love upon humanity, gathering it together in his presence.
Prayer
Give us a generous heart, o Lord, to follow you without hesitation and work for the glory of your name and at the service of our neighbor. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
