What’s your experience of leaving everything behind because you have something or someone that matters the most? When I was about 10 years old, I was so into G. I. Joe action figures. One action figure cost about $5 back then. My family wasn’t financially comfortable so I wouldn’t ask my mom to get me those action figures. I was more independent and quite creative to find ways to get what I wanted. Taking great advantage of living with my grandparents, I would ask my mom, grandma, and grandpa every three days for a bit of allowance like a quarter or two. It usually takes about a month or so. Once I collected enough, I would spend everything to get that handsome and sophisticated made G. I. Joe action figure. Money was simply a means to fulfill my desire to possess Storm Shadow and show him off my cool toy. Which was why I didn’t care too much to spend everything to my action figures.
In today’s gospel lesson, we see Peter, James, and John leaving everything behind and following Jesus. I want to say that what might be most striking to us in our capitalist society wouldn’t be the miracle itself that Jesus performed. If you know how to invest your money, that abundance of profit would be just like the experience of the fishers whose nets were breaking because of too many fish. We might skeptically or sarcastically say that Jesus got lucky or he was feeding all that fish underneath to get closer while he was teaching in Peter’s boat. What’s more troubling for us whose lives and securities depend on material things may be this one last phrase of the gospel story. Which is “...they left everything and followed him.” Peter, James and John after witnessing the catch of fish left not just one or some things but everything and followed Jesus. If you take your Christian faith seriously, this act of leaving everything behind and following Jesus shouldn’t be taken lightly. Being a Christian means being a disciple, a follower of Jesus. And are we ready to leave everything like Peter, James, and John and follow Jesus alone? Before you actually say yes or no to this question, we really have to reflect on what everything means to us. What is everything to you? Who is everything to you? I don’t believe it is Jesus’s intention that we should leave everything and everyone to become his disciples. Giving all our possessions to charity? That means someone or some other organization will have to help us anyway. Cutting ties with everyone? Isn’t Christianity about building a Christ-like relationship with others? What about leaving your family? One of the requirements for someone to be considered bishop, according to St Paul in his letter to St Timothy, is that one has to be a responsible householder, which definitely contradicts this distorted teaching of leaving your family. Let us not fall into an irrational mistake of biblical literalism. St Francis of Assisi can be a great example of leaving everything behind, yet the purpose of doing so was never on that act of giving up every possession he had. To him, that everything that people might consider important did not matter. Jesus became everything to him. Jesus was everything to him. Now, I want to ask us again what or who is everything to you. This question calls us to examine what we honestly care and value the most in our lives. Is money everything to you? Is your business everything to you? Is your career everything to you? Is fame or honor or reputation everything to you? Is your family everything to you? Ponder on what and who is everything to you. And bring them to Jesus. We must examine what’s in our hearts, what we truly desire, what we really want for ourselves and leave them to Jesus without fear of his judgment or shame. In a way, Jesus shows the abundance of fish which is what all the fishers want, especially Peter who owns that fish boat. What Peter wants at the moment reveals when Jesus tells him where to let down his nets to catch fish. Peter responds, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” Peter is honest with Jesus. He’s not hiding anything from him. “I want to catch fish. I tried all night long. I got nothing.” Just like Peter without shame or fear of judgment for being selfish or self-centered, we bring to Jesus what we really desire and want in our hearts for ourselves. What Jesus doesn’t do is that he never tells Peter what Peter wants doesn’t matter. Jesus never says to Peter that fish doesn’t matter. Instead, he fulfills Peter’s desire and want abundantly to the point where his nets are unable to contain all the fish that are caught. Peter is never told to abandon everything he cares about. Peter is never forced to leave everything. At that very moment of his desire being fulfilled completely, Peter sees God in Jesus, the God who is the source of everything in both heaven and earth. Then, what he wants doesn’t mean much now. Everything has changed. He is able to see what matters the most in his life. So, he confesses, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” He feels naked before the source of all being. He cannot desire fish for his life. How can he continue to do that when he has seen the source of all being, the source that fulfills and completes his desire? For example, say I love having lots of money. If I own and control the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, why would I need money? I can just print any dollar bill whenever I want to. I no longer have my original desire to have lots of money. When I have the source of where all U. S. bills come from, why would I go back to my old desire to have lots of money? I got the machine! I got the entire Bureau! This is just a simple example. So, what is it that you really want? What is everything to you? Who is everything to you? Jesus will make that everything so abundant, but that’s not the point. The point is whatever you consider most important disappears when it is brought to Jesus. We see something more essential, more substantial, more fundamental. Everything we consider so crucial to our lives is transformed in Jesus. Another example of this is this. Suppose your family is everything to you. Leaving everything and following Jesus do not mean you care less about your family than you used to because of Jesus. No. You care more about them than ever before. What happens is when you bring your family to Jesus and leave them entirely to Jesus, trusting that Jesus loves them more than you can. Imagine the nets breaking because of the abundance of the fish in Peter’s case. In Jesus, you can love your family or those who you deeply care and love more fully. Our first task is to honestly examine “what and who is everything to us” and to ask Jesus to transform it. Jesus then transforms who we are. Our focus in life changes just as everything that used to matter changes in Jesus. In this upside nature of things and people that used to be everything to us, we find our true calling and vocation. Peter who is a fisher becomes a fisher of people. What this means is that Peter’s focus was to catch fish, to survive. Now with Jesus, it is no longer so. He becomes a person who catches those drowning in the water of despair. His focus is not on fish but on people, specifically on serving them. This calls us to review how our focus in life changes from some things to people. A true Christian vocation always starts from Jesus and reaches out to people. I know N. is working for a real estate company. I don’t remember on what occasion she shared her work history, but she mentioned something like she enjoys working there because she meets lots of people and finds joy in helping them get their homes. Her focus is not on making a sale though it is important but it is really on people. Finding people a place, a home, a sanctuary where they build their family, love, future, and life. My friends, what and who is everything to you? Bring them to Jesus without shame or fear. I don’t believe Jesus expects you to say he is everything to you just yet. Trust that he will transform “whatever is everything to you” into “Jesus is everything to you.” He will transform you to participate in his mission, walk the way of love. He will make a fisher of people wherever you’re working. Jesus fulfills you, your heart, and your deepest desire and longing. It is my prayer that St Paul’s confession becomes yours. “By the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain.” My friends, don’t forget God’s grace toward you has not been in vain because you are indeed everything to him. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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