Transcript:

This passage Jesus said to Simon and his brother Andrew follow me and I will make you fish for people. And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Right from the beginning of his gospel Mark points to the fact that Jesus’ mission was never meant to be one that he was to carry out on his own. The goal was to reconcile everything, to reconcile all to God, and naturally this involves the building of a community, and so the necessity of extending an invitation to others to help make this possible. And I think it’s good to remember that the sea is a symbol of the forces of chaos prior to the creative action of God’s Spirit. If we think back to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, everything was dark and chaotic, and then God’s Spirit came and changed everything and brought this newness to life, and so it’s good to remember this in this passage, that the sea is a symbol of the forces of chaos, but God’s creative action in the Spirit does something remarkable, and so when Jesus calls the fishermen from the sea, we are witnessing his Spirit, call them to be part of a new creation, and, in being called to follow, Simon and Andrew are being called to carry out Jesus’ mission of rescuing others from the sea, in other words, from the chaos, from the darkness. They are to fish for people, and so fishers of fish can become fishers of people for the kingdom. And, of course, Simon and Andrew will need to learn a new form of casting. No longer will they be casting a net, but they’ll be casting now to catch fish for the kingdom.

And there’s also an urgency to the call. And there’s also an urgency to the call. And immediately they left their nets and followed him With no hesitation or bargaining. The fishermen simply leave the instruments of their trade and they go after Jesus. Following Jesus must come before all else, no matter how important, and it requires a complete and wholehearted response. So, in other words, we’re beginning to talk about detachment, calls us to be attached to people and to things in such a way that we are willing to let them go whenever we’re called to do so, and we can leave what we love only when called and graced to do so. And so Jesus’ first disciples did leave their father and their nets, and we are called to respond, just as Simon and his brother Andrew did.