The call of God demands a sacrifice, and it implies a blessing. In the book of Genesis, we read God calling Abraham. In fact, God asks Abraham to leave his native place, Ur, and also his kith and kin. In faith, Abraham abandoned himself completely to the will of God, and we see how Abraham becomes a blessing. The same pattern of life experiences we encounter in the lives of all those who are chosen by God. Isaac, Jacob, his son Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, etc. In today’s first reading, we see God sending the prophet Jonah to Nineveh. In the first part of the story, we see that the prophet Jonah was not ready to accept God’s call. He tried to run away from the mission entrusted to him. After a while, he realizes that his journey without God has become a curse for everyone. He was thrown into the sea from his ship and spent three days inside the whale. This experience transforms him. Finally, he accepts his call to be a prophet to the people of Nineveh to preach the conversion. When he proclaims the message of repentance, people listen to him, and they express the sign of repentance by embracing fasting and other mortifications. Thus, Jonah becomes a blessing to the people of Nineveh. When it comes to the New Testament, the pattern we see in Jesus’ invitation to become a disciple is the acceptance of a sacrifice that results in a blessing later. In today’s gospel, we see Jesus beginning his public ministry by exhorting people to repent and believe in the gospel. Immediately, he chose his close collaborators to witness all that he does so that his mission may carry on through their instrumentality. The call narrative of Simon and Andrew reveals to us that it was totally an unexpected call. Both Simon and Andrew may or may not have heard about Jesus, and even in their wildest imaginations, they might not have thought that Jesus would call them. They were seasoned fishermen. It is said that they abandoned their nets and boats and followed Jesus. It implies one thing: they could not resist the call of Jesus. Jesus told them that he would make them fishers of men. Every call is an initiative by Jesus, as we read in the gospel of Mark. He called whom he wanted.
We come across the call narrative of Andrew and his brother James in the same passage. They were sitting on their boat and mending the nets along with their father and other collaborators. When they received their call, they were together with their father. As usual, when they received their call, they had to leave everything behind and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. Their father was with them on the boat, but they left him in the care of their fellow workers. We may wonder, why did they leave their father in the boat? Isn’t it their responsibility to take care of their father? At least one of them could have remained with him. Anyhow, we need to understand the specialty of Jesus’ call. When Jesus calls someone, he is calling that person to enter into communion and a relationship with him. This relationship should take precedence over all the other relationships. We are not abandoning any relationship, but we prioritise our relationship with Jesus as the most important one in our lives.
As we reflect on this gospel passage, let us be aware that we too are called and chosen by Jesus to become his disciples. We are called to continue the same mission that Jesus established here to proclaim repentance and invite them to receive the gospel message. By doing this mission, we become fishermen, both men and women. We also need to keep in mind that we did not choose him; he chose us. Therefore, let us deepen our relationship with him by prioritizing our relationship journey with him over all the other relationships in our lives.