Immediately after Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan river a voice came from heaven saying  ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him. (Mark 1:9-13)

**

Sunday January 21st’s gospel opens after this. John had been arrested and Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.

It is easy to miss the significance of Jesus’ message that the kingdom of God has come near. It is a vague phrase without trumpets or the large celebrations that accompany a coronation. No conquering army installed new leaders. Instead, it was a quiet declaration that a change has come that has the potential to free people from the bondage of sin and open up the adoption as children of God. (I can’t help but think of the joy of The Beach Cares Syrian family of five, who have struggled to stay alive in a refugee camp in Lebanon for eight years, sometimes eating grass, who received the simple bureaucratic notice that their visas had been approved and their flights were being arranged for January 30th, 2024. No trumpets, no instant removal from their cold and hunger, but a paper message that brought the potential of life change and freedom a huge step closer and engaged their imagination and energized them in a way that no meal or warm coat could.)

**

Then Jesus added, repent, and believe in the good news.’

Perhaps Jesus saw the lassitude arising from centuries of waiting. Maybe he sensed doubt about the prophetic vision. It could be that he observed the rote practice in worship and slippage in the observance of the commandments and he urged the people to prepare to enter into the celebration of the day.

Yet his words emphasized readiness for the potential of the coming kingdom, not the failings of the people. He encouraged people with the sense of possibility…the good news…. and engaged their hopes and desires not only for freedom from external oppression but a life in which they became better, more complete versions of themselves.

**

The gospel continues,

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’

And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Jesus’ message about the coming kingdom and its potential to fish for people ignited the hearts and minds of Simon and Andrew so that immediately they left their nets and followed him. They may have sensed that their encounter with this person would not only give them an experience to talk about but would change them for the better. They would become examples of the kingdom.

Jesus’ play on words… from fishermen to fish for people … represents a kind of transformation. Fishermen was what they had been. Fishing for people was what they would now do.

Still, it was not the mere words but the power and magnetism of the person who said them. Something about Jesus himself addressed the core of Simon and Andrew’s being. Their immediate response tells us about Jesus’ presence and his ability to draw people to himself.

This magnetism continued,

As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

The adverb immediately describes how Jesus acted when he saw James and John. This hints at Jesus’ own instant perception that these two would be good disciples. Along with Peter, James and John would become part of Jesus’ inner circle. The word also suggests some urgency on Jesus’ part. He did not take time to get to know them or let them know him. There was work to be done spreading the good news.

Regardless, they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. Whatever calculation they made about their obligation to their father, their own livelihood and their prospects when following Jesus, his attraction was such that they appear to have left at his call.

**

  • As brothers, I imagine that Simon and Andrew, James and John were close. They not only grew up together but worked together. They could intuit each other’s responses with only a glance… not even needing a nod. I wonder about how they shared their experience of this encounter with Jesus. It was novel and had the potential to be life-altering. Did they look at each other? Did they smile in mutual agreement? Or was Jesus’ power such that they focused only on him and their personal response?
  • Did Jesus speak to some unexpressed yearning for goodness and love in the souls of the brothers and gave it a voice that was his?
  • Do you wonder if Simon and Andrew, James and John may have followed Jesus as an escape from their hard lives as fishers and that they only came to recognize the significance of their call gradually?
  • Do you envy the two sets of brothers for the clarity of their calls? What would it be like to have that instant recognition?  

Peace

Michael