Dropping our Nets

In this past weekend’s Gospel, Jesus calls his first disciples.  He calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John.  One line in the scripture passage says “and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him” (Matthew 4:22).  When hearing this Gospel at mass, there was one word that I was struck by: “immediately.”  These disciples did not wait to follow Jesus.  They heard His call and responded right away.  And that’s what we are all called to do if we want to be disciples; follow Him immediately. 

There is no better moment to follow Jesus than every present moment we are in.  He calls each and every one of us to be His disciples and follow Him.  Sometimes, we might tell ourselves that we’re not ready to fully commit.  Maybe we sometimes say that we will say “yes” to following Jesus in a little while or at a later time; once we are a bit older and wiser or once we have it all figured out.  We may have excuses or allow things in our lives to become barriers.  We might say that we will follow Jesus once we get that job, meet certain people, travel to that specific place, or accomplish certain goals.

Following Jesus is hardly ever convenient.  Whenever he calls us to walk with Him more closely, we are probably living life our way and things are going as we planned.  But if we love Him above everything and everyone else in our lives, we will respond and choose to follow him immediately.  We will release our grip on the desires, comforts, pleasures, and priorities we are holding onto that are not of Him.

We may not be called to a dramatic change where we drop everything we are doing and move from where we currently are to a totally different life.  But we are all called to drop certain nets in our lives immediately to choose Jesus and to follow Him more closely.  We all have times when we know Jesus is calling us to do something and we have to decide if we are going to take those  opportunities to do what He is calling us to in those moments.
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May we all follow the example of those first disciples.  My prayer for each and every single one of us is that we would listen to the ways Jesus is calling us to follow Him more closely and that we would respond without hesitation, choosing to walk with Him immediately.