3rd Sunday of Ordinary Time
The Sundays of Ordinary Time lead us through the three years of Christ’s public ministry. Every Sunday we listen to the word of God in the Readings at Mass. Throughout the whole year we see the message of salvation placed before us as the scriptures tell us about the message of salvation. From the Angel at the annunciation to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. From the temptation of Jesus to the Last Supper in the upper room. From the Cross of Good Friday and the resurrection from the tomb on Easter Sunday to Pentecost when the Church began with the Holy Spirit coming down on the Apostles. This the story of salvation and we are part of that story wherever we are today . We began last week with his identification as the Lamb of God by John the Baptist and this week we hear how he called the Apostles to follow him.
In our Gospel story this Sunday we hear about Jesus calling Andrew, Simon, Peter, James son of Zebedee and his brother John to follow him. As Jesus travelled around Galilee, he built up a following. Biblical scholars speculate that the Galileans would network and form groups around social, economic, or religious issues. Even though the Romans put down revolts with brutal efficiency, large Jewish protests did influence official decisions especially at the local level. There certainly was strength in numbers. Part-time fishermen like Peter Andrew, James and John would easily leave their daily tasks, if the group they joined promised to protect and enhance their way of life. Proclaiming the Kingdom was a message with political undertones for Jews and Jesus quickly amassed an audience. When Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he left Nazareth and went to Capernaum. Herod Antipas was ruler of this territory. It is here that Jesus goes to take up the dangerous mission of John, to proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom.
Jesus then proceeds to call Peter, Andrew, James and his brother John to follow him as disciples. Through Jesus, what has been spoken through the prophet Isaiah is at last fulfilled: “. . . the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light, God manifests Himself as ‘The Light’ that disperses the darkness and then the joy and happiness became real in Jesus presence amongst them. He is the promised light that has come into their midst. The light that shines brightly marks God’s first merciful and free step towards humanity. This gospel story is not just an echo from the past it is very much for us today as it was long ago. Are we listening to Jesus saying to us today, “Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men?” We are totally free to accept or refuse the invitation for us to take up the vocation that is there for us. Some people are called to the Priesthood, or Religious Life, others to marriage, or to the single life there are many other vocations in life all of them are different and yet they are all calls that we are given and accepted freely.
Each person had their unique role at the beginning of Jesus ministry just as each of us have a unique role to play now. The fishermen abandon both their work, and their family ties. Something momentous is happening in their lives and they see the Call of Jesus as just that, a momentous event in their lives that they can’t ignore. It was amid the preoccupations of the day that the Lord called his disciples, and he called them by name. So the question to be asked of each of us is are we prepared to take up the call to be fishers of men where we are? Being fishers of men does not necessarily mean that we leave our families and our lives behind though many take up this part of the challenge. As followers of Jesus the challenge for us is to be an example of faith in all we do and say and as a result of this we will be fishers of men because people out there will see how we live our lives and will want to follow us to see where we are going and when we get there all of us will find the lasting things of great value that are the things of God and his Church.
Fullerton T 