Mark 1:14-20
Last week we heard John's version of
the calling of the first apostles. You remember – John the Baptist
said to Andrew and another of his disciples, “There goes the Lamb
of God”. And they got up and followed him. Later, Andrew went
and brought Peter to Jesus, where Jesus gave him a new name. This
week we hear Mark's version; Jesus comes into town and tells Peter
and Andrew to follow him, and later James and John . Which is the
true story?
There are some people who figure that
if it is in the bible that's the way it happened, and when they come
to something like this, they try to figure out how both could be
true. And one solution that has been given is that the first story
took place before the second. Andrew and Peter, and presumably James
and John, had been invited by Jesus to be disciples – to come and
see. They had been listening to his preaching and were part of the
crowds that followed him. But they kept their day jobs. Later,
Jesus asked them to join his inner circle. So maybe both stories are
true.
But what we just did is something
called “harmonizing” the gospels. We made up a story to explain
how both accounts could be true. Now that's all well and good and
there are some excellent Lives of Christ which do a lot of this; but
sometimes it's better to let the gospel story speak for itself.
And I think what Mark is trying to
emphasize is the fact that the first four apostles gave up everything
– family, possessions, livelihood – to follow Jesus. Whether
they gave everything up gradually or suddenly is not the point. In
fact, after the Resurrection when Peter can't think what to do next,
he decides to go fishing. He returned to doing what he did best.
I think it's good that there are two
stories. It emphasizes that Jesus doesn't call us just once, but
many times in our lives. He is always saying, “repent, for the
kingdom of God is at hand.” It is not in the future, it is at
hand, and our job is to change the way we think and act in light of
this fact; that's what “repent” really means.
How do we know when we are being
called? Because I suspect that if Jesus' call was obvious, none of
us would have a problem answering his call, even if it meant going
out and living in the desert. After all, if we are doing his will,
what do we have to worry about? Some people have those kind of calls
– A brother deacon who recently passed away, went on a Cursillo at
the invitation of a friend, and had an overwhelming sense that he was
called to the diaconate. I, on the other hand, thought about it off
and on from the time it became a possibility for a married man, which
was about fifty years ago. I was busy being a physician and helping
raise a family, but every now and then the idea would surface again.
I took care of a patient whose son was a deacon, and they encouraged
me to look into it. I finally did, and although I never had an
experience like my brother deacon, I gradually accepted the fact that
this was probably God's will.
So how do we know something is God's
will? The answer is that it is something that brings us closer to
the kingdom of God. Saint Paul tells us that Jesus' disciples are
all called to charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When we see that we are
not practicing these virtues, we know we aren't answering out call.
But Jesus also calls us to specific
things, and I think that's more difficult. When I met my wife, I
fell in love, and she did as well, and that was a call to marry.
Next thing I knew, I was called to be a father. Later on a
grandfather. When I was in college, I felt called to be a physician.
As I studied medicine, I felt called to be a specialist in Internal
Medicine. And as I was studying that field, I felt called to be a
specialist in Cancer Medicine. Did all these calls come from God? I
think so but I can't prove it.
I think when God calls us, there are
three things that suggest the call is from God.
First, we find that we have a desire
to do something we are not presently doing, and what we want to do we
can see is a good thing, which somehow will bring the kingdom of God
closer.
Second, we have an aptitude for the
task at hand. You don't get a call to be a father unless you are
married. You don't get a call to be a deacon unless you are a
Catholic man who takes his faith seriously.
Third, you recognize that if you
answer the call, you have to give something up. We see that over and
over in the gospels; the four apostles give up everything to follow
Jesus; the rich young man can't give up his many possessions and
chooses not to follow Jesus. Mother Theresa gave up her life as a
teaching sister for middle-class Indian children to follow Jesus into
the slums. Sometimes we give up time, sometimes other opportunities,
sometimes we have to make great sacrifices. But you can't answer
Jesus' call without taking up a little bit of his cross.
And remember, Jesus keeps calling. He
keeps inviting us to go deeper, to draw closer to him, So many of the
saints answered the call within a call. St Therese of Liseaux as a
Carmelite sister felt called to a unique vocation of embodying love.
Saint Maximillian Kolbe as a Franciscan priest felt called to embrace
martyrdom and give up his life for someone else.
You and I find ourselves in certain
states of life – we have professions that occupy most of our waking
hours; we have relationships that demand our attention and our
energy, and we have our own spiritual development to attend to. And
the Kingdom of God is at hand, and Jesus asks us to change the way we
think, to sense the closeness of the kingdom, and then to recognize
that he is always calling us and we need to train ourselves to hear
and answer that call.
Someone once said that the only real
tragedy is to not become a saint. And becoming a saint goes part and
parcel with answering the call of Jesus.
