At Once
Matthew 4:18-2 —
‘As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.’
A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with some friends when we noticed the most stunning sunset beginning outside the window. Almost at once, we dropped everything and ran for the hills, racing to see this beautiful sky in all its glory. In a small way, it was a moment of awe and wonder that inspired a move of conviction and decision.
This is just the kind of moment we see take place in the disciples when Jesus calls them from their boats. These men would have heard of the miracles and wonders that Jesus was performing around Galilee and when they encountered him, they dropped everything to follow his lead.
Recently I read about two different types of people: Experimentalists - who enjoy the journey of discovery - and Conceptualists - who carefully plan, with vision, concepts and ideas. Some psychologists have noted that in popular culture, we can have a tendency to celebrate the Conceptualist who plans and envisions, provides reason and a thousand different concepts but who often never actually commits to anything. What we see in the disciples though, strikes me as far more experimentalist. The Bible describes their decision to follow Jesus as, ‘immediate’ - or ‘at once’. It sounds far less like a careful execution of a plan and far more like a dynamic process of discovery.
Of course, like most things in life, these styles work best in tandem; certainly there is room and strength in both types of person. And yet, within this passage, seems to be a warning against our culture’s overemphasis on ‘rationalism’ and ‘fact’, instead in favour of a life of discovery, where we embark in faith on a pursuit of finding God. Like Sir Arthur Eddington who pursued the verification of Einstein’s theory, or the disciples who pursue Jesus - there come moments in life where, in awe of God, we must choose in faith to drop everything, make a decision to believe and move in courageous conviction.
Indeed we realise that, in God, faith is the appropriate mode of knowing.
Prayer: Faithful Father, Help me to lay down my need to always understand, my need to be able to comprehend every part of you. Instead, help me to live, anchored steadfast in the mystery of who you are. Amen.
Hazel Lynch