At once they left their nets and followed him
Rm 10,9-18; Ps 18; Mt 4,18-22
30 NOVEMBER
In the Old Testament every call from the Lord is separation, departure, abandonment, even physically of the before. So it is for Abraham, Moses, Elisha.
The Lord said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.” Abram went as the Lord directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran (Gen 12,1-4). After this Moses returned to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go back, please, to my kinsmen in Egypt, to see whether they are still living.” Jethro replied, “Go in peace.” In Midian the Lord said to Moses, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons, and started back to the land of Egypt, with them riding the ass. The staff of God he carried with him (Ex 4,18-20). Elijah set out, and came upon Elisha, son of Shaphat, as he was ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen; he was following the twelfth. Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please, let me kiss my father and mother good-bye, and I will follow you.” “Go back!” Elijah answered. “Have I done anything to you?” Elisha left him and, taking the yoke of oxen, slaughtered them; he used the ploughing equipment for fuel to boil their flesh, and gave it to his people to eat. Then he left and followed Elijah as his attendant (1Kingse 19,19-21).
For Jesus, abandonment must not only be of the place but also of affection. It is as if the person’s death occurred. The before dies, the after begins for Jesus.
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.” And to another he said, “Follow me.” But he replied, “(Lord,) let me go first and bury my father.” But he answered him, “Let the dead bury their dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home.” (To him) Jesus said, “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God” (Lk 9,53-62).
St. Paul attests that he leaves and has left everything every day in order to run after Christ and reach him. He leaves the Paul of yesterday to start with a new Paul today. If he does not leave the Paul of yesterday, yesterday’s Paul is a grave burden for the Paul of today that does not let him in any way be able to run after Christ and conquer him.
If anyone else thinks he can be confident in flesh, all the more can I. Circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee, in zeal I persecuted the church, in righteousness based on the law I was blameless. (But) whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus (Cf. Phil 3,4-14).
Jesus along the Sea of Galilee sees Simon and Andrew with the eyes of the Holy Spirit. He calls them: “Come after me, I will make you fishers of men”. They leave everything and follow him. Then, he sees James and John. He calls them. They leave everything and follow him.
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
Whoever wants to be a missionary of Christ Jesus, his Apostle, must leave the before, whether physical, spiritual or emotional, and enter into the after day after day. Every day Jesus was from the will of the Father by motion of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is Jesus every day.
Mother of God, Angels and Saints arrange that every apostle of Jesus leaves everything and follows him.