“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.”
They were fishermen, but they will be fishers of men. God was calling them to leave behind what they were, in order to become who they really are. It was a pretty abrupt departure from the life they had known and grown comfortable with. Now they were being asked to move from proficiency to mystery. They would have to leave behind a life and an identity they had grown accustomed to and familiar with, in order to step out into the great unknown.
But isn’t that always what
life with Jesus is like? Leaving behind
the comfortable and familiar, in order to embrace a life of risky dependence. Trading autonomy for obedience and control
for surrender. Saying goodbye to comfort
and proficiency, since they cause us to stop short of the life God is beckoning
toward, and saying an unreserved yes to Jesus, regardless of what that
might mean.
We might be tempted to try
to convince ourselves that this calling was only for them, but it’s not. It is for us as well. These brave souls were willing to leave everything
behind—their boats, their nets, and even their own father—in order to follow the
call of Jesus. Are we?
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