Partners with Christ
The Gospel today begins with the foundational cry of Jesus’ ministry: The Kingdom of God has drawn near; repent and believe the Good News. The call of the disciples follows immediately. This Gospel builds on last Sunday’s readings about vocation, and specifically, about how becoming a follower of Christ leads to transformation and the proclamation of the Good News.
The idea of repentance here is not about turning away from sinfulness, but about leaving a known way of life behind and turning around to face in a totally new direction as a follower of Christ.
We see that played out in the call of the fishermen - called away from everything they know and even from their family to set off in a new direction, following Christ.
The fact that Jesus called (and still calls) disciples is not about creating a flock of ‘blind followers’ but a people who live and work in active partnership with Christ to establish the Kingdom and preach the Good News. Becoming ‘fishers of people’ they draw others into the circle of God’s life.
Using the proclamation at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and the story of the call of the first four disciples, the Gospel invites us to think about our own vocation, our own call, as followers of Jesus and what might need to be left behind in order to enter more fully into the mystery of God’s Kingdom; how we might work in partnership with the Spirit of Jesus in making the Kingdom a living reality in the world.
Note that the Kingdom does not exist apart from human beings – it is to be incarnated (enfleshed) in the new people of God, the disciples of Christ.
