In the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
My dear
brothers and sisters in Christ today in today’s Gospel we hear our Lord say
“Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” Our Lord said this to call the
apostles. This is not just the apostles’ call but it is our own. What this
statement says is that if we follow the Lord Jesus Christ we will bring men to
Him.
Following
the Lord Jesus Christ means that we are live our lives in the same manner that
He lived His. That means that we are to be obedient to our Heavenly Father and
take up the way of the cross. As our Lord said to His disciples; “If any man
will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
me.” (Matthew 16:24).
It also
means that we must be one as the Son is with His Father. Our Lord prayed for
this at His Passion saying “Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom
You have given me, that they may be one, as we are. (John 17:11) I in them, and
You in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know
that You have sent me, and have loved them, as You have loved me.” (John 17:23)
In order
for us to be one with God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one we
must be first be obedient to the will of God. Obedience to the will of God
means that we must place God in charge of our lives. In other words we must
surrender our will to God’s will. That is exactly what the apostles did when
they forsook everything and followed Jesus. As our Lord said “He that loves
father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: and he that loves son or
daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:37)
This
means that we must love God above all things. This is the great commandment
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)
To love
God above all things is a difficult path to follow but, it is also a path of
joy. This is because the path of the cross leads to the resurrection. Many
people look at this path as without seeing the joy of the resurrection at its
end. Saint Paul reminds us of this in his First Epistle to the Corinthians when
he says “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but
unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18)
What the
cross leads to is restoration of lives to that which we were created to be by
God. When this happens we become changed. We are at peace with creation. This
peace is often referred to as serenity.
Accepting
the path of the cross is something we do voluntarily. While our Lord calls us
to the path of salvation through the cross He leaves us to choose between the
path of salvation and the path of destruction.
If we
choose the path of destruction and are hearts are completely turned to evil,
then God leaves us and satan becomes our master. This was the case with Judas
when he turned against our Lord Jesus Christ for thirty pieces of silver. Our
Lord did not impinge on Judas’ freewill but rather said to him “That thou
doest, do quickly.” (John 13:27)
Our Lord
allows us to choose between good and evil freely. His call to us to make this
choice is “Follow me!” or “That thou doest, do quickly.”
In making
this choice we all too often become concerned about our own welfare. We become
scared to surrender everything over to God. Our Lord assures us that these
concerns are unfounded when He says “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much better than they?” (Matthew 6:26)
If we
have made the choice to follow Christ, then as the Gospel says we will become
fishers of men. This means that as fishermen cast their nets into the dark
depths of the sea for a catch of fish so, will we with Christ and the Gospel
catch men from the dark depths of this world.
As
fishers of men we will fulfill the Lord’s command “Go therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19)
All too
often we abdicate this responsibility to someone else. If we do this then we
must ask ourselves are we truly following Christ. The Gospel says “Follow Me
AND I will make you fishers of men.” One of the key ways that we are fishers of
men is through the way we live our lives; as the fisherman uses a lure to
attract the fish to his hook.
However
we also have the responsibility to share our faith as fishers of men. This
sharing can be as simple as Philip saying to Nathaniel “Come and see.” (John
1:46)
Come and
see what I have found.
Come and
see what I have.
Come and
see what gives me joy.
In
sharing the faith the apostle Paul instructs Timothy in the following manner;
““Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, where unto you are
also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses. (1
Timothy 6:12)”
So my
dear brothers and sisters in Christ my prayer for you is that you may fight the
good fight of faith following the way of the cross of Christ so that you may
draw men into Christ’s net through your profession of Him before men in the
manner in which you live your lives.
Amen
Delivered by Fr. Milan Medakovic on the 2nd
Sunday
after Pentecost, 2009
Source: https://frmilan.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/sermon-2nd-sunday-after-pentecost/
CONVERSATION