Message – Third Sunday After The Epiphany

Brothers & Sisters:

Drop everything! Come right now! There’s a crisis that needs your immediate attention! Don’t delay! Do it quickly!

Those are the words of Jesus to James and John, the sons of Zebedee and Simon Peter and Andrew when he calls them to follow him. He explains as he calls them away from their labor as fishermen that he will make them fishers of men. Incredulously, they do exactly what Jesus says. They drop what they are doing, walk away from their boats and their families, their homes, their circle of friends and all they have known in life and they follow Jesus into unknown territory on an unspecified mission.

Jesus is still calling disciples……today.  Every person has been called by God to some task or ministry.  God calls each of us in different ways and to different situations.  The call is about entering into a relationship with God, with Jesus and with those around us. God has put in our lives the people that he wants us to reach. God has put the fish right in front of us and all around us. All we need to do is reach out to them with the love that we know to be from God.

As we pursue our discipleship with Jesus, we know, too, that we are taking some risks. We might fail. The way to the cross with Jesus is fraught with pitfalls and danger. It’s not an easy road to travel. Our efforts to share the good news of the kingdom and the power of God’s love may fail and we may feel rejected. We need to keep going anyway. Our motives may be questioned. Keep going anyway. Our goodwill may be spurned. Keep going anyway. We don’t really want to do it. Keep going anyway.

He is calling each of us with a sense of urgency. Drop everything! Answer Jesus now! Set aside all the cares about your own life that occupy your thoughts and begin to focus on what God is asking you to do in the lives of those he has put before you. Therein lies your greatest joy, your greatest sense of peace and your deepest sense of fulfillment. The fish are all around you.

Contributed