Homily

Today's Gospel tells us, “And when they had brought their boats to land they left everything and followed him.” Seems like such a little sentence and yet it is packed with importance and meaning. They followed Him—they followed Jesus and from here on out Peter, James and John would never leave Him. They became His disciples and stayed at His side until His death and resurrection. And even after, though the Lord was not physically present, they still followed Him. They remained as His disciples for the rest of their lives. In order to do this, here, after this miraculous catch of fish, they left it all behind. Not just the fish, but everything. Everything. Wife, children, house, goods, future plans, this huge amount of fish, their 401K plans, all of it. Everything. They left it all behind to follow Jesus. We should be impressed, deeply impressed I think, by their radical willingness to give it all up so they could be disciples.

If we are also disciples of Christ, if we also follow Him, what have we given up in order to live in that relationship? We have not been asked to “give it all up” as they did, but I think the willingness to do so tells us where we are as disciples. It can reveal to us how faithfully we are following the Lord. So what would we really be willing to let go? Would we give up our home and our cars? If the Lord told us today to sell our houses, give the money to the poor, and live as best you can wherever you can find shelter, would we be willing to do that? What if He told you to leave your family and go to another country and volunteer at a hospital? Would you be able to do that? What if he asked you to give up your pension plan, social security benefits and your bank accounts? Could you live like that? Could we live like that?

So far we haven't been asked to do any of these things, but I ask you to stop and think for a moment; because we have not been asked to give these good things up, does it make us better and more faithful disciples? Or not? Peter, James and John left everything behind to follow the Lord and they never took it back up again. How far would we be willing to go in order to follow the Lord? It's a hard question to answer because until that time would come when great sacrifices might be asked of us, we cannot know for certain how we would respond. But isn't it strange that when such great sacrifices are not asked of us and we are, most of us, allowed to have family, savings, a roof over our heads, medical care, cars and even pets, isn't it strange that sometimes we find it so difficult to give up even the smallest comforts and pleasures for the sake of the Gospel? To come to church for vespers, or Bible study—to make more time for prayer—to volunteer our time to help out—to fast for the good of our souls—to contribute to a worthy need—to give up some entertainment so we could do some spiritual reading; when we have so much, when we're allowed so much, it seems we are more tempted to try and hang on to pretty much all of it. We may deal with, and we have to deal with things and people that are taken away from us. But what do we willingly give up so that we can be faithful disciples?

So the question comes up: Are we truly followers of Christ or are we actually disciples of everything and everyone else in our lives and we follow Him as long as something more important doesn't catch our attention. We follow Him, but not here or here or for that or this or that. It's a good point for reflection and honest appraisal. There's a cost to be a disciple. What are we willing to pay?