As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Matthew 4:18-20
I often wondered what I would do if a complete stranger came up to me today and said, “Follow me”. In all likelihood, I would swiftly walk away; trying my best to avoid any confrontation with this crazy man. I think most sensible people would do this. It doesn’t mean that we lack faith nor are we negative people thinking the worst of everyone. It means that we are wise. We should not follow anyone who pops into our lives promising the sky and the moon. Even Jesus warned us to be careful;
“At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Matthew 24:22-24
The gospel skips over a long passage of time. It doesn’t mention anything about Jesus’ life prior to His public ministry. We tend to forget that a major part of His Life as God Incarnate was spent doing the most ordinary things of Life. He lived among the common people. He interacted with them daily. Therefore, we should be surprised that Jesus was not a stranger to these fishermen.
He lived in the region of Galilee. This is a small area. People lived in close proximity of each other. Everything had to be within walking distance. Consequently, faces were familiar and people interacted more frequently with each other than we do in modern times. In our present reality, it is possible to live in a place for decades and not know your neighbor’s name. This wasn’t the reality in Jesus’ time. Everyone knew this carpenter’s son. Jesus also knew the fishermen.
The fishermen, on the other hand, were not simpletons who trusted anyone who came along. They were pragmatic people. These men believed that their lot in life was to be fishermen and they would die as fishermen and nothing more. They were not dissatisfied with this idea. It was just the way things were back then. The fishermen had no aspirations anything beyond this. They were not looking for new career opportunities. They did not see in Jesus an opportunity to escape the mundane life of a fisherman. They saw something else in Jesus which stirred their souls. We call this “something” faith.
Some critics might say that this is blind faith. Blind faith is believing in the impossible just because we desire the impossible or even the absurd to be real. Blind faith is found everywhere even among those who don’t believe in God. As G. K. Chesterton once wrote,
“When people cease to believe in God, they do not then believe in nothing, but in anything.”
Blind faith is found in politics. People believe some political leader is able and willing to solve problems of society. History has proven again and again that this is nothing but a mere fantasy. However, people still blindly believe this. Blind faith is found in ideology. Many blindly believe that certain political actions or theories would make the world better and more just. I could go on but I won’t. Blind faith is everywhere. Blind faith is a consequence of pseudo faith.
The first disciples did not blindly follow a complete stranger. Jesus lived for thirty years among this people. Our Lord did not hide away in his workshop and then suddenly appear as the Son of Man. The gospel tells us that Jesus was self-conscious of His identity. Even as a child, He could not deny His true identity. The ministry of Jesus did not begin when He was baptized. Jesus became our savior the very day He was born. Jesus is the gospel; the good news can not be limited to certain actions nor teachings. Jesus’ life was and is the good news from the moment of His birth. The very fact that these pragmatic fishermen were willing to drop everything and follow Jesus reveals that the Life that our Lord led before His public ministry was much more powerful than anything else. They followed Him even before they knew He could perform miraculous acts. They followed Him even before they heard His powerful teachings. They followed Him because the way He lived His Life stirred in their souls a faith that they never thought they possessed. It opened their eyes to see that Jesus could help them transcend their mundane lives.
Ever since I was a lay missionary more than thirty years ago, I have had contact with street preachers. In fact, I have written about them many times. They are ubiquitous. There is a small group in particular that has been in the same region as where we work with the homeless youth from the mid-nineties. Strangely, they remained strangers to us and we to them. My attitude towards them changed over the years. Maybe some might say it matured. When I was younger, I admired them.
Maybe admire is not quite the right word.
I felt that my spirituality lacked the boldness which they possessed. I felt a little embarrassed to stand in the open and preach to complete strangers. I felt a little guilty feeling this way about it. I also felt a little awkwardness whenever I used religious jargons like, “Jesus loves you”, and so on. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe these things. I sensed that something was lacking. However, I did it anyway because I felt that it was the thing to do. It was never effective. Our youth perceived my insecurity and they, in turn, weren’t too convinced of the words I proffered. The conversations resulting from these interchanges were usually very superficial. They told me what I wanted to hear and I heard their words without much conviction that they were sincere. There was never a real genuine interchange. Back then I did not understand why this was so.
I think after so many years of ministry, the penny finally dropped.
The answer is in above the gospel reading. However, it is not explicit. The answer is found in-between the lines.
Jesus spent 30 years living out His faith among the people. The gospel always tells us that Jesus was different from the religious authorities. They had head knowledge. Outwardly, they possessed all appearances of what was considered pious. This kind of religiosity tends to exalt oneself and exclude others. However, Jesus was different. He lived out His faith, others were drawn to Him. Genuine faith is contagious. However, Jesus could not make it contagious by His own effort. Yes, even Jesus, our God Incarnate, could not make His faith contagious by His own effort. It is the Heavenly Father who takes His offering and glorifies it. Jesus tells us this Himself,
If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say ‘He is our God.’ – John 8:54
Jesus’ Life made others desire to live in the same way as Him. The disciples did not follow Jesus because they wanted to be famous. Jesus was a carpenter in one of the most insignificant fishing villages in Israel. Nothing great came of this place, as some religious leaders even commented in the gospels. It wasn’t fame or the promise of a bright future which attracted them. They desired the same faith which Jesus possessed. The good news is that this is possible through grace.
Perhaps, we need to think about what is faith exactly. There are many theologians and philosophers who have pondered upon it. I am not going to quote them. I will share with you what I understand it to be through our ministry and experience. Faith is the desire of our finite soul seeking a connection with the Infinite and when this connection happens, we are able to transcend our reality to something more real and meaningful. In other words, our faith will help us understand our true vocation. We are made for God. Our souls long to be connected with God. Our faith is the nagging feeling within us causing us to desire to be connected with something bigger than ourselves. It is present in all of us. It is present in our homeless youth even though they have been in the streets all their lives and many times eclipsed from the religious institutions. Our homeless youth, like the fishermen in the gospel, believe that they have no place in society except what life has dealt them. However, despite their limited place in society, their faith tells them that they have a higher vocation. Unfortunately, many times, this faith is buried under years of rejection and lies. It becomes dormant. They need Jesus to awaken this faith in them and we, the living church, are God’s chosen body. We are called to manifest the Life of Jesus in our midst. We are to live the faith of Jesus in our lives. It is only this faith which can stir the souls of those who desire to be connected to the infinite.
The Life of Jesus cannot be reduced to certain doctrines or teachings. It cannot be reduced to strategic formulas. The only way we can transmite the faith of Jesus is by offering our souls and bodies to be living sacrifices unto God like Jesus did. This means we use our bodies to live His Life here on earth. Jesus spent thirty years offering Himself doing the most mundane things. Mary and I have just spent 13 years now in the streets doing this ministry. We still have a long way to go. However, it appears that God has graciously accepted our offering. We see the faith in our youth coming alive. They are asking us genuine questions about faith. They are expressing their desire to be connected with the Infinite. Most wonderfully, some are beginning to understand that their finite beings have a place in the heart of the Infinite God of Love.
Jesus spent thirty years. He spent it wisely. He participated in their lives. He wasn’t spectator observing them from the outside. He was one of them. As a result, His faith became contagious to those around Him. We are all called to follow in His footsteps. Our faith has to be contagious just as His faith was. St Paul teaches how it can become contagious. He tells that there are three virtues that every follower of Jesus should desire; Faith, Hope and Love. The greatest of these, he taught, is Love. Without Love, our faith will never be contagious. It was this Love that the faith of Jesus revealed to all those who dropped everything to follow Him. This is the only Love which gives us the confidence to remain where we are with our homeless youth.
Our faith is not quite contagious yet. We need more time. In fact, we have lost track of time. We are just patiently waiting for His love to transmit this contagious faith to our homeless youth. They are drawing close. They are sensing that they too can drop everything and be connected with the Infinite Father in Heaven.
