PUT DOWN YOUR NETS
Maybe all they needed was the invitation.
Maybe they felt called, but Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John were simple fisher-folk. They were poor, likely illiterate. They probably smelled like fish. If any one of them had announced that he felt called to serve God in a special way, people would have laughed at him.
Religious leaders were educated, powerful, and politically savvy. Religious leaders did not spend their evenings mending nets in a hut.
Although they were humble, the fishers were special. They had courage and trust, and so they became the first disciples of Jesus.
Listen to Jesus’ words: “Put down your nets and follow me, for I will make you fish for people.” The implication: “Follow me right now. You may not sleep on it, or talk it over with your families. Come with me and I will change you in ways you cannot imagine.”
Jesus was asking them to make a decision of profound courage. When he said “Follow me,” he meant, “Be homeless with me; be persecuted with me; suffer with me; give up everything that is comfortable, familiar.”
And the first disciples said yes. They took a terrible risk -- their lives were never the same. But after they chose to follow him, Jesus never abandoned them. For each there was always a place at the table.
Just like the first disciples, we are invited by Jesus to take risks to follow him. Following Jesus means giving up what is familiar; it means changing our lives in radical ways. Yet we can put down our nets because we know that wherever we go, God is with us. The God who called us will uphold us through whatever may come.
Loving God, bless us each day with the courage of Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, that we may respond to Christ’s invitation with fearless faith and powerful trust. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
