(Please read this Scripture passage first, before the homily.)
I want to switch gears. I have spent the past year using the first of the two readings on weekdays for my homily. Today I want to switch to the Gospel reading as the impetus for the homily.
The Gospel for today presents the call Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John to leave their fishing partnerships and to follow Jesus. It is a simple thing, to lay down the fishing nets and boats in order to follow Jesus, is it not?
I had better say “Not”. Fishing was not for the timid or poor; it demanded energy, knowledge, cash and skill. I have learned that the fishing industry in Roman times was highly organized, highly regulated and highly taxed. One could not simply get into a boat, drop a line, catch the fish, sell the fish and pocket the money. One needed permissions to fish the various parts of the lake and sea. Permissions cost money and, probably, taxation as well in every step along the way. One also needed money for the equipment and boat. It was a sophisticated industry with far-reaching implications.
To drop everything and to follow Jesus threatened the existence of a social order. The loss of family members made it more difficult for the family to compete on the water and in the market place. Brothers, cousins, nephews would have to work harder to protect the family interests. Financial failure was a possibility without Andrew and Peter, without James and John. How could these two sets of brothers simply say goodbye, walk off and leave their families and business interests in such danger?
Becoming fishers of people would not put them in any position of prominence or increase their financial stability in a new social order. Fishing for fish was important for the family, the local and the imperial economies. How would fishing for people compensate the family?
If there is something more important than working in the fishing industry, then there is something more important in my life and in the life of each of us. To drop everything and to follow Jesus may cause not us financial hardship, but it will certainly cause us the personal hardship of giving up our will to do the will of the One who calls us.
We do not know the process the brothers went through to listen to Jesus and to respond as they did. We simply hear that Jesus called and they followed. Behind this simplicity, however, there is a complex background. Do we put aside the complexities of our lives in order to give a simple “yes” to the call that Jesus makes to us? The gospel then challenges us to stop what we are doing and immediately to follow Jesus.