Matthew 4:12 - 23
I talked with an 87 year old man over at the nursing home the other day. He is Lutheran. He told me about his minister who had been a successful accountant until he was 35, and then decided to answer a call to the ministry. He went to the seminary and was ordained a Lutheran minister, and now takes care of a congregation in a nearby town. When he answered the call, he was married and had young children. I don’t know all the details. The thing is the man I spoke to had a revival of his own faith, and says that the congregation grew and became more enthusiastic, all under the influence of the minister, who is now in his sixties. The point is, he didn’t have to abruptly change careers. He didn’t have to decrease his income and accept a lower pay for the rest of his career. There is nothing wrong with being an accountant. So what happened?
I think we get some insight in today’s gospel. We have different stories about the calling of the first apostles. In John, the Baptist points out Jesus to his disciples as the Lamb of God, and Andrew and another disciple go up to Jesus who says, “What do you want?” and they say, “we want to see where you live”, Jesus replies, “Come and see”. Not long after that, Andrew goes to Peter and says, “ We have found the Messiah''. And Peter goes and sees as well, and becomes a disciple. In Luke, Jesus works a miracle. He tells Peter to cast his nets once again after a night of no success. Peter does so and catches more fish than he can handle. He falls to his knees and says, “Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinful man!” And Jesus says, “Follow me and i will make you a fisher of men.” And Matthew and Mark tell the story you heard today -- Jesus simply walks by and says, “Come after me and I will make you fishers of men.” And they do, and so do James and John. We don’t know what Jesus said to them -- it just says he called them.
Some people try to make sense of these different stories by saying that the story of John was a call to be a disciple, and the second call, to be “fishers of men'', was an invitation to be an apostle. That makes sense, of course. Theoretically, all of us are disciples in one way another. A disciple is someone who commits himself or herself to following the teachings of a master. Our Church transmits the teachings of Jesus and because we try to follow what he taught - the ten commandments, the eight beatitudes, our prayer life, our sacrifices, our charitable actions -- to the extent that we imitate Christ, we are disciples. In Jesus’ time throughout the Roman world, there were little congregations of a master and his disciples; in some cases the effort to imitate the master involved wearing the same clothing, trying to speak with the same accent, growing a beard just like the master -- and oddly enough, that’s what we are supposed to be doing as well, that’s why we receive Holy Communion -- by eating the body and drinking the blood of our savior, we pray that he will transform us into other Christs, adopted sons and daughters of his father.
But it appears that Peter and probably Andrew, James and John were being asked to take another step, and to become apostles. A disciple imitates the master. An apostle is someone who tries to win other disciples for the master. An apostle wants to see the master’s influence spread, and does what he can to achieve that. If you go to your bible, you will see that Peterand John boldly preached in the temple after Pentecost. We don’t hear much about James except in Paul’s epistles. And we hear almost nothing about Andrew after he introduces Peter to Jesus. James, John and Peter left some writings as well. John, a lot of theology; Peter, theology and practical advice; James a short note about practical matters. But we only have legends about Andrew.
The Lutheran pastor began as a disciple, but somewhere felt called to be an apostle, enough so that he made a major change in his life, as did the four apostles we hear about today. When Jesus preaches that we should repent, that means, change the way we think, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Our four disciples show the nearness of the kingdom by their action, their casting off the old and taking on the new.
We are all disciples. Some of us are called to be apostles. You don’t have to be ordained. All you need is to be sensitive to unrest in your heart, a desire to see that more people know Jesus and have the opportunity to be disciples. If the kingdom is at hand, and it is, maybe you are someone who is called to make a break in your life, to change the way you think, to give at least some of your energy to winning disciples for Jesus. The Lutheran minister who changed the life of the man I visited heard the call of Jesus. In a parish like ours, Jesus is calling many of us to become apostles. Listen for his call and if you hear it, follow him and don’t look back.
