Three things about today's gospel:
1) Jesus begins his ministry after John the Baptist is arrested. Jesus starts his ministry fully aware of the reality of danger and peril associated with the good news. Jesus is aware of the risk involved in taking a stand and introducing change in to the lives of those around him. The risk is great. Yet, he preaches the good news anyway. He is willing to risk the danger for the sake of the gospel.
2) Jesus introduces his mission statement: The time of fulfillment as come. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. The mission statement of Jesus is not some feel good phrase. Rather he goes to the heart of the matter. It is time to change. We must change and change often and thus create space for God in our life. Only then does the kingdom become visible and tangible in the world.
3) Jesus calls the first disciples while they are working: casting and mending their nets. Jesus doesn't wait until they are on retreat, or during prayer, or at some extraordinary moment. Rather, he speaks to them in the ordinary, day to day routine of their life. He invites them to make a life while earning a living.
God will speak to us in the routine day to day reality of life: while we are earning a living he invites us to make a life. In the dish pan hands, while doing the laundry, while making the beds, while stitching the holes in pants, while getting calluses on our hands, in the sweat of our brow, and the ache in our back, in the stress of business, JEsus speaks to us: "come, follow me."
Yet not only does JEsus speak to us in these moments, he also invites us to be his voice in these moments, to be the encounter that invites others to no longer focus on earning a living but to start making a life.
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