It's a line we've heard a hundred times. It's a line we don't really give too much thought to. It's a line that seems simple but implies a lot. It's a line that, looking through fresh eyes, can sound a bit weird.
It's also a line from today's Gospel. So, like the "fishers of men" we are called to be, let's put out into the deep.
Duc in altum.
(Also, if you have yet to see the vocations video of the same name, I'd highly recommend it.)
"After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God:
“This is the time of fulfillment.
The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”
As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
Then they left their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him."
- Mark 1:14-20
If this passage were an ordinary story, we might say it were only there as a way of explaining where all these apostles came from. Their "origin story", if you would. But when we take it in context of reality, it can seem a bit strange. We're to believe that four separate people, when approached by a stranger saying "drop everything and come with me," just...did it? They just left behind their work, their families, their lives...to follow this odd man they just met.
Can you imagine what their families would say!? "You left everything behind to follow that guy that just walks around talking?! Are you out of your mind!?" Imagine Molly Weasley yelling, but worse.
Their families probably called them crazy. We know, however, that they were called to something greater. They were called to be fishers of men.
They were called. The word vocations comes from the Latin word for "to call", vocare (If you were curious, it's also where we get vocal/vocalization/vocabulary/etc.). What were they called to? What does it mean to be a fisher of men? It's more than just to "catch" people....it's showing people the light we have been given.
Those twelve men, four of whom we read about today, were called to follow a unique, often difficult, path. They were given the full teaching of Jesus...they were given the Keys to the Kingdom...but they were also tasked with the seemingly impossible task of establishing the Church on earth, a task which led to persecution and execution.
But more than that, they were called into a unique relationship never-before-seen in all of history. They were called to be sons of God. We read in Romans that those "who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God...and received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry 'Abba, Father!' (8:14-15).
If we look at the first reading, from the Letter to the Hebrews, we see this reflection again.
"For to which of the angels did God ever say:
You are my Son; this day I have begotten you?
Or again:
I will be a father to him, and he shall be a Son to me?
And again, when he leads the first born into the world, he says:
Let all the angels of God worship him."
-Hebrews 1:5-6
Those men were called into sonship. They were called into the same family relationship as Christ had, through adoption. We receive the same call. The same vocare to holiness.
And, like the apostles, our decision to pursue this calling might not always be understood. We may suffer weird looks (or worse) for our faith, but that is because "if children, then heirs...heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him that we may be glorified with him" (17).
Accepting the call will not be easy. Like the apostles, we face a life of hard work, trial and persecution. But we have faith that in the end we will receive our reward. We have faith that one day we will enjoy Paradise. In the meantime, though...I suppose we're just gone fishin'.
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