At Once They Left Their Nets
November 30, 2012
Feast of St. Andrew, Apostle
By Melanie Rigney
Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life. (John
6:63)
As Jesus 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. (Matthew 4:18-20)
Piety
Lord,
help me to follow You the way Andrew and Peter did, obediently and with hearts
full of faith.
Study
Nine simple words,
only one of them with more than one syllable. And yet, they are so powerful in
their simplicity and their example:
At once they left their nets and followed
him.
Volumes have
been written about Peter, the rock on whom Christ founded our Church, the
apostle so aggravatingly like us before Pentecost… and whose faith thereafter
we strive to emulate.
About his
brother Andrew, we know far less. The Gospel of John says Andrew was a disciple
of John the Baptist. He’s mentioned a couple of other times in that Gospel, and
we believe Andrew preached in what is now Greece and Turkey before he was
martyred.
But maybe we
don’t need to know a whole lot more about him than those nine words from
Matthew:
At once they left their nets and followed
him.
Andrew and Peter
didn’t say they’d follow Christ after they spoke with their families. They
didn’t say they’d follow him after they finished the day’s catch. They didn’t
ask Jesus what he meant by that statement about becoming fishers of men. They
followed “at once,” leaving their nets behind. They understood in their souls
long before they understood in their minds what Jesus wanted for them. They
were brave enough to trust.
Action
Is there
something God’s asked you to do that you’re putting off? Pray for the guidance
and strength to stop saying, “Not yet.” Leave that net of safety or whatever…
and follow him.
No comments:
Post a Comment