Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica III per Annum B
21 January 2024

 In the selection from St. John’s Gospel last Sunday we heard about two of John the Baptist’s disciples, Andrew and an unnamed disciple, and later Simon Peter, who encounter Jesus and begin following him.  You might wonder whether today’s Gospel selection is the same scene, just St. Marks’ version and, if so, you might wonder why would we hear again about the calling of some of those same disciples?  Is it the same calling or not?  And how might we understand the immediate and sudden way in which the selection today tells us those disciples dropped everything to follow the Lord?

Last week’s account and this Sunday’s account are actually two different chronological events.  We know this because last week John the Baptist himself was in the passage, pointing his own disciples to the Lord.  “Behold, the Lamb of God”, he said to his two disciples.  Today we hear of a different moment from St. Mark, for he places it in a different chronological moment.  He writes that the calling we hear about today took place “after John had been arrested.”

We know that John the Baptist himself was a rather serious and dedicated man of God, living in the desert, preaching, leading a disciplined and penitential life, and calling God’s people to repent.  If these same disciples we hear about today were first John’s own disciples, it is reasonable to conclude that they too were rather dedicated, well-formed, and righteous men of God.  While the Scriptures do not give us all the details, we might conclude that after John the Baptist’s ministry ended due to his arrest and eventual death, perhaps those disciples returned to their former homes and way of life and work.  This puts them in Galilee, where they are fishermen in the episode we hear today, and where Jesus now comes to call them himself.  So, if you get the idea from today’s passage that Jesus simply shows up unknown and says “follow me”, and they drop everything to do so… you need not think that.  It is clear these disciples had encountered the Lord before, they had spoken to him, and they had stayed with him some (as John’s selection last week told us).

Jesus’ message that the time of fulfillment and the kingdom of God is at hand resonates with these serious disciples of John the Baptist.  His claim to make them “fishers of men” resonates too.  All of this helps us understand their readiness to immediately follow the Lord.  The term “fishers of men” has a ring to it of a prophecy from Jeremiah 16.  In that text, the prophet speaks of a time when people will no longer speak of how God brought his people out of Egypt in the exodus, but rather how he brought them back from exile, sort of a new exodus, to their promised land.  Jeremiah says that God will send many fishers to gather his people and to bring them back.  This prophecy can serve to signal that some new activity of God, some new movement of His people, would be celebrated.  Something like a new exodus.  It can serve to signal some type of new exodus, a new gathering of God’s people.  When you consider that John the Baptist himself was preparing the way for something new, and pointing to Jesus, and that John was conducting his ministry most powerfully at the Jordan River, where the first exodus ended, we might then understand the immediate attraction and response of John’s own disciples when Jesus shows up, says the kingdom is at hand, and calls them to be fishers of men.  They had been expecting something new, a new exodus, and in Jesus they see it is happening.  And they want to respond immediately.

Do you ever compare yourself to today’s Gospel selection, and that seemingly immediate response of the disciples, and wonder whether you would be willing to follow the Lord so definitely, so conclusively?  I suggest we note that these disciples encountered Jesus initially, and then some time later there was progression and maturation such that they were ready to follow him and commit to him.  In other words, notice that our life as disciples, too, is not about just a one-time encounter.  Our life too is supposed to progress and mature.  The first encounter matters, but so does the next encounter, and the next… all the moments of progression and life with the Lord.  What this can tell us is that any tendency to view life as a disciple as about just one moment, is dismissing the importance of progression and may be a flawed approach.  To put this in a catholic context, if we were to think that my life with the Lord is just about my baptism or just about other isolated moments where I come to get a sacrament (as critically important as those are) and not about progression and maturation in gospel living, then we are mistaken.  If we were to think that I turn on “Jesus time” by coming to Mass once a week and that does it, we are missing all the things that should be happening daily to mark our maturation as disciples.  No, the story of our life as disciples is not the mistaken view of today’s passage that Jesus showed up unannounced and unknown, said “follow me”, and they dropped everything and did so.  Rather, there was first desire on their part to be godly.  There was initial conversion with John the Baptist.  There was relationship with other disciples by which they were pointed to Jesus and had an initial encounter with him.  There was maturation and progression in faith such that they responded so conclusively in the passage we hear today.  And, as we know, there is a whole lot more to the story because those same disciples had to learn from the Master, and there were many more mistakes and repentance that would mark the journey that leads us to now view those apostles as such revered saints.

If you evaluate yourself against the response of the disciples in today’s passage, thinking their response to be this kind of out of nowhere response and think your response may be lacking, then perhaps we can look back to last Sunday’s passage from John for a few pointers.  Do you want to respond more fully to the Lord?  Then let’s take some cues from what happened in the initial encounter with the Lord that we heard about last Sunday.  Like John’s disciples heard, at every Mass we have pointed out to us the presence of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”  After hearing that, are you willing to imagine the Lord asking you (like last week’s Gospel), “What are you looking for?”  Are you willing to dwell on that and respond to the Lord?  What are you looking for in life?  What is important to you?  What are your goals?  What do your daily activities reveal are your true priorities?  And do those match up with your stated priorities?  Are your priorities the Lord and being his disciple?  Where do you feel lacking or empty or not satisfied in life?  Do the things you seek after provide lasting peace?

Next pointer, what was the follow up question from the disciples last week?  “Rabbi, where are you staying?”  Our encounter with the Lord is not just one time.  Are you willing to stay with the Lord to come and see?  We worship the Lord here at Mass.  This provides us some crucial moments to stay with the Lord.  We worship him present when the Holy Eucharist is elevated at the altar for those few moments.  Worthy reception of the sacrament is the fullest participation in the Holy Mass.  But what about more than that?  The disciples from last week’s passage went and stayed that day with the Lord.  What are you willing to do to extend your time with the Lord?  What are you willing to do to take time to reveal yourself and your life to the Lord?  What are you willing to do to take time to encounter him and get to know him, not just at Mass, but in your daily living, at home, and among other disciples?  Going to stay with the Lord can happen quite literally in our adoration chapel where we are in the presence of the Lamb of God, his presence in sacramental form.  What a place to pray!  What a place to ask yourself “What am I looking for?”  Going to stay with the Lord can and should happen, too, in our homes, at work and school, in the car, when we travel, in our thoughts, in our efforts at personal prayer time.  Going to stay with the Lord happens too in fellowship with other believers.  We are not islands unto ourselves.  There we come to vocalize our faith, to share it, to be inspired by the faith of others, and to have help in being accountable with other followers of the Lord.

All of this helps aid progression and maturation in the faith.  It follows the pattern we saw from last Sunday’s Gospel selection to this Sunday’s.  I suggest that the fruit of reviewing those questions from last Sunday’s passage, helps set the stage for the unfolding of this Sunday’s passage in our own lives.  Our encounter with the Lord is nourished and matures such that the stage can be set for what we see in today’s passage.  We are prepared for deeper life with the Lord such that when he calls us to follow him in various ways into the new exodus, we are prepared to conclusively commit ourselves to follow him and to leave behind the “nets”, the things that tangle us and so often get placed ahead of life with the Lord.  The Lord’s call is ever new for us too: “The kingdom of God is at hand.  Repent, and believe in the gospel.”