3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B - The Call and “Come To Me and Find Rest”
Do you hear it? Jonah did. So did the brothers Simon and Andrew, and then James and John. It's the insistent invitation to drop everything, change direction, and follow where God is leading. It can take you where you don't want to go, where you never expected to go. And it can change your life forever. It is The Call.
We hear about it in Mark's gospel today (Mark 1:14-20). It's tempting to think that the call of God and the invitation of Christ applies only to a certain kind of person. We tell ourselves, "That could never be me," and we shrug it off. But turn to Mark's gospel and you realize that the beauty and wonder of this episode is that Jesus didn't make those kinds of distinctions. He called out to humble fisherman tending their nets and said plainly, "Come follow me." That was all it took. Whether we realize it or not, this gospel is about something affecting all of us, no matter who we are or what we do. It is about the great call of all our lives - the one that attracts us, challenges us, invites us, redeems us. It is the call to follow Christ. It is a summons. To sacrifice. To surrender. To bear witness. To pray. To love God and love our neighbor, and do it as Jesus did, with profound gratitude and humility and trust.
It isn't easy. But there is one compelling detail from the gospel that should give us hope: We aren't alone. When Jesus called those fishermen, they weren't alone when they left the lives they knew. They had company. They went in pairs. It reminds us that being a follower of Christ is not a solitary act. Being a Christian involves another. Many others, in fact. The early Christians understood that this kind of faith was about celebrating Christ's life, death, and resurrection in community. And all these centuries later, so do we. Encountering this story today, we realize that we are continuing what they began. Today, we believers gather again and again in community, to share together our love for God, our love for one another, our passion for the gospel message.
We proclaim what we believe, and we lift our eyes to a miracle: Christ's presence in a piece of elevated bread. The body of Christ is uplifted. And so are we. The call to be "fishers of men," it turns out, is one that is sent out to all of us. Do we hear it? Are we listening?.
In honour of this Gospel reading, we would like to share our latest video, "Come To Me and Find Rest" a hymn that carries the words from Matthew 11, ''Come to me and I will give you rest.'' In many ways this is a simple song, but then the message needs to be, inviting us to a place of serenity.
Video can be watched by clicking here or on the picture below:
