3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Have you ever had the experience of being approached by a born-again Christian and been asked the question “Have you received Jesus into your life as your personal savior?” It has happened to me a few times and I have been tempted to ask them where in the Bible does it tell you that Christianity is all about receiving Jesus into your life and making him your personal savior. Because I can save you the time of looking – nowhere in the Bible does it tell us that we must receive Jesus into our lives, on the other hand, there are many places where we are told to enter into Jesus’ life to let Jesus receive us into his life and to make his life our own. In our hyper-individualized society we have got it backwards: instead of entering into Jesus’ life, we expect him enter into our lives. In this case we still remain the at the centre of our own lives. Jesus’ call to us does not displace anything in our lives.

This is not what happens in today’s gospel, we do not see Simon and Andrew, James and John saying to Jesus: “Hey Jesus, come on over and join us, there’s a space over here for you in our boat.” No, it happens the other way round. It is Jesus who says to them, follow me, a command that enjoins them to leave what is familiar to them, their Father, their families, their occupation, their village and set out on an adventure with him. In a similar way, Jesus’ call to us should in some way call us out of ourselves, out of the darkness of our own self-preoccupation into the light of discipleship and service of others.

Many of us today might find it hard to give credence to the alacrity with which the disciples respond to Jesus’ call. It is for this reason that many scripture scholars have suggested that this is an abbreviated version that Matthew is giving us of a long drawn out discernment process that the disciples went through as they gradually got to know Jesus and slowly move into a space where they might heed his call and gather up the courage to make such a radical commitment to Jesus and his mission. However, to take such a position is to forget how compelling the call of Jesus would have been for these first disciples. Jesus’ call is the promise of adventure for these fishermen who have only known the reality of this small fishing town on the shores of Lake Galilee. Perhaps Jesus discerned in them a longing for something greater, and all that they needed was one little nudge to set them off on a journey. Perhaps they had experienced for some time and longing for something more, a little niggling question in the back of their minds “was this all there was to life?” We might ask ourselves today, where do I experience the little nudge of God calling me to leave my own comfort zone and answer a call to service of others in world and in the Church?

As I was searching for a comparison, for a present-day equivalent of what happened on that sea-shore at Galilee, what immediately came to mind was the metaphor of falling in love at first sight. Cast your minds back to the time that this happened to you, if it did happen, or if it didn’t happen at least to a time when your attention was captured by a beautiful woman or a tall, dark handsome young man. You are riveted, you suddenly come alive, your senses are sharpened. Your heartrate quickens and your whole being longs for this person to notice you, you wonder if she or he will notice you, if you are worth being noticed. If this person, apart from just being graceful and compellingly attractive, is also a celebrity, you would be at once exhilarated by this person’s fame, but also perhaps slightly sad, knowing how deep is the chasm that separates your mundane and ordinary life from their jet-setting lifestyle. You know how unlikely it is that they will notice you. This was the experience of the disciples that day on the beach. Yet, Jesus does notice them, he sees them and he calls them. The fact that Jesus had singled them out makes him all the more attractive, compelling and fascinating.

But not everyone who met Jesus responded to him in this way. There were those who, when they met Jesus did not experience an electrifying presence, did not see his radiance, he did not light up their lives and raise their hearts to heaven when he came into their presence. All they saw was a carpenter from Nazareth, all they saw was some upstart preacher who had delusions of grandeur. Their hearts were not primed to see Jesus for who he truly was.

I have heard a lot of vocation stories in my many years of being a Jesuit. One vocation story in particular stands out for me. It is the story of a Jesuit from an Irish Catholic family who grew up in Boston. Growing up he did not come from a very wealthy family, and his parents had to scrimp and save to put their six children through school. There was not much money left over after taking care of all their needs. The kids had to earn their own pocket money. So as soon as he was old enough, at about 13 years old, Patrick decided to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and go along to the local golf club and get a job as a caddy to earn some extra money. His first day of caddying was a sweltering summer day, and having spent the whole morning in the sweltering heat, the team of three guys he was caddying for arrived at the 9th hole. At the 9th hole, it was a tradition that the first person who teed off would head up to the club house which was just a short walk away and get drinks for the rest of the players. He would then join the other players at the hole. As Patrick saw the first guy coming back with the cold drinks, he could see the beads of sweat drips down the glasses. His whole mouth was dry and he would have given anything to be able to quench his thirst in the sweltering heat of the midday sun. But his heart sank when he saw that there were only three glasses, one for each player. It was then that Patrick asked himself a question that was to stay with him for the rest of his life: “does he see me? Does this guy who bought three drinks see me as a person? Do my needs count for him?” It was then that Patrick got his vocation: he wanted to be someone who saw other people.

Jesus was someone who saw other people, saw them for who they were. The disciples were able to see Jesus for who he was, which is why they were able to heed his call. Jesus saw in them this quality and knew that he could make of them fishers of men and women. This is a call that he addresses to each of us. Jesus is not calling us to leave our jobs, families and set out and roam across the countryside preaching the kingdom. But I think he is calling us to be each in our own way fishers of men and women. In order to do this we need to learn to see how he sees. To learn to look upon each person as worthy of our attention and our love. It is this quality that will attract other people to us and ultimately to our Lord and Master. What makes us attractive people is not so much what we have accomplished, how much we know or what we do, rather it is how much attention we give to those around us, how interested we are in their lives. When we see people for who they are, when we are able to affirm them in their talents and give them the little nudge they need to take a leap of faith to put their talents to the service of others, then we become like Jesus. So may we like the disciples become fascinated with this Jesus who sees us for the talented and gifted individuals that we are and may we respond generously to his call to be fishers of men and women.

Questions for reflection

1. Do I see other people? Do I notice them? Do I notice their talents and their needs?
2. What are the comfort zones that Jesus might be calling me to leave in order to step into the unfamiliar and serve others and the Kingdom of God?