In the Pattern of Various.

Sometimes we sense a spirit of play in the arrangement of the Lectionary. Consider today’s reading from the letter to the Hebrews: “God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets.”

Jesus continues that “partial and various” pattern not with “the ancestors” but with people of his own earthly day and time. Jesus sees “Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea.” Fishermen. Try to imagine a more “various” choice for the disciples of God.

He says to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Try to imagine a more “partial” way of speaking. Jesus tells Simon and Andrew nothing of how they will do this fishing, or where, or to what end, or even why. He doesn’t tell them they will die, die as criminals, die far from home, die “fishing” for women and men. He doesn’t tell them their catch will be abundant, reaching unto the ends of the earth and to all the days to come.

The startling thing about the Gospel account is the fishermen’s response: “Then they left their nets and followed him.”

Something beyond words happens in that moment. We do not know what the men see in Jesus, what they discover in his face or manner or the sound of his voice. We do not know what James and John, the sons of Zebedee, see on that day when they, too, drop their nets and follow Jesus, leaving their father behind. The only thing we do know is that they see. They see, and they follow.

We, too, hear God speak “in partial and various ways.” We pray that we, too, may see, and follow.

Melissa Musick Nussbaum. Taken from Give Us This Day.

Melissa Musick Nussbaum is a religious educator, speaker, and the author of numerous books, most recently The Catholic Catalogue: A Field Guide to the Daily Acts That Make Up a Catholic Life. Visit her website, thecatholiccatalogue.com.