Isa 8:23-9:3; I Cor 1:10-13,17; St Matt 4:12-23
In today’s Gospel we see Matthew’s account of the start of Jesus’ public ministry - a very significant point of course in His life and in His work. St Matthew shows us that Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee – in the region associated by the prophet Isaiah with “the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” - a land described by Isaiah as walking in darkness yet promised a great light - Matthew lets us to see that what Isaiah longed for is now happening.
Galilee in Jesus’s time was a small area (about 45 miles from north to south); it was a major route from Syria to Egypt; in Our Lord’s time it was under the control of Herod Antipas (the son of Herod the Great); and it was a place where the main industries were farming and fishing - and so it’s no surprise that so many of Our Lord’s parables mention these trades - and it was a place where religious doctrines were spread by travelling preachers.
Galilee was perhaps a place which was hungry for light. Jesus travels along in this land, preaching and calling people. And today we see Him calling some fishermen - Simon and Andrew, and James and John. It’s significant that Jesus doesn't begin his ministry in the temple or among the powerful, but among ordinary people, in their ordinary work. Perhaps God's light breaks in not where we expect it, but where it is most needed. These were ordinary men - but men who heard Him and immediately took that step to follow Him - they were people who saw something extraordinary in Jesus - One who somehow captivated them in a way which others did not - the fishermen were people who recognised that this man who was calling them could offer them something fundamentally true and fundamentally different to all that the world they lived in could offer - truth, forgiveness, and ultimately life in its fullness.
We’re told that when the two disciples Simon and Andrew hear our Lord’s call they simply leave their nets - they leave what they were doing unfinished - and they follow Him straight away. It’s an extraordinary thing to do, it’s almost a child-like faith and trust in Jesus. It probably seems to most of us a very difficult thing to do - simply to leave your nets (not asking any questions at all) - and just to follow Jesus.
It brings me back to my own journey to the priesthood - when I started to recognise a sense of calling to the priesthood. When I look back I can remember being in church at about 12 or 13 and thinking that I wish I could preach or serve others as a Christian, feeling a gentle pulling on my heart, a slight unsettledness in a good way, a nudging - but it never really registered to me that maybe this was God gently nudging or calling me - it was only when I was about 18 that my sense that God was may possibly be calling me to become a priest became a bit more clearer. Then in my early 20s I would have these type of feelings and question marks - but I would then go to church and see the service and think “no, I couldn’t do that, that’s not me” so I’d put the thoughts aside. But then they’d only come back again - a week or so later - and then again I’d dismiss them. I remember that I would read articles and books about vocation and priesthood which were affirming but I’d still feel that this wasn’t for me - I actually felt a bit embarrassed in a sense about talking to anyone or admitting to anyone that I felt this sense of calling to be a Priest. I remember that I would try and reason with God and with myself about why I couldn’t become a priest - I’d look at aspects of myself and think about how they meant that there’s no way I could explore any further this sense of calling - I’d say to myself constantly that I feel very nervous about public speaking so how on earth would I be able to get up in a pulpit and preach.
The fishermen in today’s Gospel were lucky enough that they just encountered Jesus there and then in the flesh, and He called them (He called them ‘out of the blue’ as it were) and they simply followed - and this does indeed still happen today for some people - some people encounter Our Lord and His calling on them as a ‘bolt from the blue’, a sudden realisation; the fishermen simply heard Our Lord, and they followed - they answered His call; - but for many of us (myself included) it can be a longer process of discernment, and it can take time, and prayer, and the support of others as we discern where God is calling us.
But what we can be sure of is that Jesus still calls us to follow Him - as He did the Disciples. When I look back, perhaps one thing I can now see is that God was not absent in my hesitation, but He was patient. God’s call on us can be real long before our courage catches up with it.
I often find it helpful to think of Christian vocation or calling as being like a pyramid. At the base of the pyramid is the most fundamental calling of all - the call that Jesus makes to every Christian everywhere: to follow Him, to keep turning back to Him, to repent of the sins that separate us from God and from one another. The next layer up is that Jesus calls each of us individually to live out that Christian life in a particular way. There’s a very common but completely untrue belief that only priests, monks, or nuns have a calling. In reality, we all do.
God calls each of us to follow Him in a way that is shaped by our gifts, our circumstances, and our place in the world - whether that’s through ordained ministry, through service in the Church, through family life, through charitable or voluntary work, or simply through the way we treat others and make Christ known by our words, our actions, and our prayers. And then, for some people, there may be a third layer at the top of the pyramid - a more specific calling or ministry within that broader vocation.
If I think about my own life, I often feel that the base level of the pyramid is that I’m simply called to try to be a good Christian - which in itself isn’t always easy. The second level is that I am called to be a priest. And then, within that vocation as a priest, there are particular areas of calling: as some of you will know, alongside being here at St Martin’s, I’m involved in military chaplaincy with the cadets, in chaplaincy within a psychiatric hospital, and in using some of my skills as a psychotherapist to support clergy who are struggling or having mental breakdowns - not things I thought I’d end up doing when I first started to feel called to be a priest. In this context of vocation and calling, and all the different callings that Christians have, St Paul in our reading also gives us some insights. Paul reminds us that following Christ is not about competing loyalties or rival identities – “I belong to Paul … I belong to Apollos” – but following Christ is about belonging to Christ alone – our different vocations and callings aren’t meant to divide the Church, but they're meant to serve the same body.
And in all of this, one thing which is crucial - and which we see in the case of all of the Disciples - is that they knew what Our Lord was calling them to do, and teaching them to do, by staying close to Him, by following Him around, by spending time with Him. And so one of the fundamental callings which we have as Christians is to do the same - to stay close to the Lord - through prayer, through the Sacraments, through the Scriptures (today is also called ‘Word of God Sunday’), through fellowship with other Christians - even those we disagree with - and through this staying close to Our Lord He teaches us, guides us, sustains us, and calls us, and we can come to discern over time where He is calling us, we can better hear Him calling.
Sometimes we can all think “I come to church, I’m through the door, that’s it” - but an important part of the fundamental Christian vocation which we all have is this continuous coming back to Jesus, a continuous following of Him in faith - a continuous listening and responding to His calling. Whether we’ve been a Christian a short time or our whole lives, there’s still this continuous striving to turn towards Christ in all things.
As catholic Christians, the Mass is central to us, and in a few moments we are invited to come to the altar. We lay down our distractions, our fears, our unfinished business, and we follow Him here – and then having met Him in Word and Sacrament, we’re sent back out into the world, not unchanged, but called. And like with those first Disciples who heard Him and simply followed, Jesus still has that power to overwhelm, to intrigue, to challenge, to comfort - everything which we would expect from God Incarnate. It’s interesting that even in the increasingly secular society in which we live, Jesus often still holds a certain power, and intrigue, and grip over many people.
Jesus is still very much active in our world, calling us to follow Him, inviting us to make Him known to the whole world through our words, or actions, our examples, our prayers. He calls all Christians to turn to Him, and He still calls people to follow Him in a particular way, which is unique to them. And Jesus is faithful in His calling to us, He’s persistent - even if we’re unsure we can be sure that He is calling each of us to serve Him in a particular way which gives glory to God and serves our neighbour.
-Fr. Nick Archer