Called to Follow, No Matter the Cost

Imagine you are Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. How do you confront him when he tells you about this call of Jesus. “What?  You’re leaving fishing? You love fishing! You love being on the water!  You’re going to follow who? A carpenter’s son from Nazareth?  Nazareth! Really?” But you’ve never seen Peter’s bearded face so radiant, at least not since the day he married your daughter. Since her death, inescapable gloom has engulfed him. Despondency has surrounded him like a dark cloud on the Sea of Galilee. He is such a passionate man. He’s been really difficult to live with. 

Now? Something has changed. Joy floods his eyes. Love fills his words. Something new overflows from his heart. This Jesus hasn’t asked him to leave fishing, he exclaims, but tells him that he’ll be fishing for “men”! What in the world does “fishing for men” mean?  How can he ask that much from Simon? Does he know how broken he is inside or does he only see those strong muscles? Does this Jesus understand that the big fisherman really doesn’t handle loss very  well? 

You try to get Andrew to change his brother’s mind. Andrew is the more level-headed one. But he says that he’s going , too. He says that we can trust this Jesus. Then he sings, “The Lord is my light and  my salvation.” As he turns to go, he shouts, “He might be the one!  He could be the Messiah that we have been waiting for!” Then he skips down the path. Andrew, sensible Andrew, skips! You’ve heard of mountains skipping like rams, but—Andrew? 

And yet worry seizes you—Simon is leaving all? How will we eat? Who will run the business? You’ve got so much fear. So much anxiety. It just might make you sick. 

Consider/Discuss 

• The call of Jesus is an unrelenting call to leave everything behind. What worries do we have about that? In what ways is it hard to trust, for our own life or for that of others? How can that anxiety make us sick? 
• In the middle of Isaiah’s oracle of gloom and doom, the prophet suddenly describes a new radiance that will dawn. When you have been in a deep darkness, what does it feel like to see a great light? Do you ever feel so much joy that you feel like skipping? 

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, you have come to the shore of our lives. You have called us  by name. Thank you for the honor of following you. On our own,  we’ve got nothing. With you, all is possible. Help us to trust that  where you lead will be abundant and rich. Hold our worries in your  hands and deliver us from all anxiety, for your call is our call, your  path is our path. Let us never be separated from you.