Jesus begins his public ministry and the first thing he does is proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  You may recall that these were the words of John the Baptist who announced the coming of Jesus.  Jesus is the presence of the kingdom, is God, as we came to know and understand from last Sunday’s readings when the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus and remained with him at his baptism in the river by John.


As Jesus embarks upon his public ministry he comes upon Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew who are fishermen in Galilee and he says to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  Jesus then saw two other brothers, James  and John, who were also fishermen.  He called them and they left their boat and father and followed Jesus.  Jesus went around all of Galilee teaching, proclaiming the gospel and curing disease and illness among the people.


We are familiar with the miraculous works of Jesus, and we are acquainted with his disciples and we see how they decided in a moment to walk away from their lives and follow Jesus, leaving behind their belongings and even their families.  If you envision yourself doing this you will probably come to the conclusion that you could not leave your home and family as easily as it appears the disciples could.  What could cause someone to just walk away from their livelihood and family in a moment?  The answer is in the message that Jesus came to us to proclaim, that of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus is the Kingdom of God, is in fact God and his message to us is that through him we will have salvation…and this message is for ALL people, Jew and gentile alike.  What value does anything here on Earth have compared to salvation, to total forgiveness of sins and entering into the Kingdom of God, Holy and sanctified through the sacrifice made for this purpose, to bring us all back into God’s presence?  


Can you imagine how compelling it was for the disciples to follow Jesus?  Can you imagine that if He came to your door you would know Him for what and who He is and you would not hesitate to follow Him wherever He may go?  That is our message this week:  we are called to follow Jesus, we should feel compelled to follow Him, and we should teach and spread the Gospel and become fishers of men ourselves.  That is our purpose and our calling, just as it was for the disciples, to follow Jesus, to proclaim the Gospel and be a light to all nations. 


This week’s Psalm is Psalm 27: The Lord is My Light


In Christ,
Elaine