In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Whom would you call, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, to be the future leaders of a movement, preachers of faithfulness, heralds of the Gospel? It would be sensible to look for orators and public speakers, those who already have leadership experience, those who can motivate others. But the Lord looks to fishermen—hardly likely to have any of these characteristics—to be the Apostles of his Church.
Today marks the second time Andrew and Peter had been called. They had already been disciples of the Forerunner and Andrew had heard the Great Prophet say of Christ, “Behold the Lamb of God!” (John 1:36) Andrew brought his brother to the Lord who gave him a new name, Peter. (v. 42) And Christ taught them, prepared them, made them ready for him to make the call. After the Baptist’s arrest, they returned to their fishing but still waiting for the call of the Lord.
And now the moment of Christ “to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,” (Luke 4:19; cf. Leviticus 25:10) has come and he comes to Andrew and to Peter and says to them “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And having had the preparation with the Forerunner and with Christ, they both immediately leave their nets and follow him.
We have received such a preparation, through our baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit, through participation in the life of the Church and today, here and now—two millennia after calling Andrew and Peter, James and John—the Lord is calling me to be a leader of his Church. Leader through service, leader through sacrifice, leader through placing others before myself. I may feel that I am not the great public speaker nor proven in the art of leadership—I am not what the Lord needs—yet as he has made use of fishermen so, too, can he make use of me. To me the Lord is calling out, “Follow me.”
And I prevaricate and dither: “I have done enough already, it is for others.” I want to stay with my nets, where I feel at ease and need not push myself beyond my comfort zone. “I will do it at a later date when it is less risky:” I reason to myself, “then I will be a true disciple of Christ but I can’t do it just yet.” And the Lord looks on me with compassion and I am ashamed—I have been baptised with him so that I may rise with him, I have received the heavenly Spirit, I have found the True Faith, and bringing all this to my mind, the Lord says, “Follow me.”
What, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, will be your response? What will be mine? For leadership in the Church—which is to say service in the Church—is expected of all: we are all called to follow Christ through our service to one another and our service to the world. The Lord, today, is calling each of you to serve, to activate once again the baptism and chrismation we have received and follow him.
And each of us may think we have nothing to offer yet the Lord says “Follow me.”
And each of us may think that now is a bad time yet the Lord says “Follow me.”
And each of us may think another should do the task yet the Lord says “Follow me.”
Let us my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, here and today, listen to the call of the Lord and act upon it. Let us encourage one another to rise to the challenge, to leave what is comfortable and serve the Lord through service to one another and our world. Let us be the Christians who God is calling us to be.
“Follow me,” says the Lord, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
To our risen and glorified God and Saviour Jesus Christ be all glory, honour and might, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, glory and honor and peace for every one who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
— Romans 2:10–16
At that time, as Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left their boat and their father, and followed him. And he went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people.
— Matthew 4:18–23