Monday in the First Week of Ordinary Time, January 11, 2021

Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  As he passed by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Then they left their nets and followed him. He walked along a little farther and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They too were in a boat mending their nets. Then he called them. So they left their father Zebedee in the boat along with the hired men and followed him.

“This is the time of fulfillment.”  That is, the time of “completion”.  With the Incarnation of the Lord, the world enters its final age.  In this final age, Jesus fulfills in reality that which was presented in sign in the Law and the Prophets.  “Repent, and believe in the Gospel.”  As if to say that repentance must be done before one may truly believe in the Good News that the time of fulfillment has approached.

“He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea; they were fishermen.”  According to St. John’s Gospel, Andrew and John, and likely their brothers Peter and James, were first the disciples of John the Baptist.  They began to spend time with the Lord Jesus after John the Baptist pointed him out to them.  Here, we see them fishing.  The medieval Greek writer Theophylact says that after John the Baptist was arrested, they went back to their homes and took up their old trade again.  Jesus now spots them and calls them to follow him.  It is as if he had gone looking for them.  “I will make you fishers of men.”  Remigius, the fifth century bishop of Reims, comments that when fish are caught they are brought out of the water and they die soon afterwards.  But when people are caught by the preaching of the Gospel and brought out of their ignorance — the dark sea — they live in the Light,

“Then they left their nets and followed him.”  The African Father Tertullian, in his book On the Flesh of Christ, considered that the Lord possessed so commanding a presence that these fishermen followed him immediately — James and John even leaving their father in the boat with the hired hands.  We may spend time discerning God’s call for us to take some course of action, but once we have done so, we ought to engage in it at once.  Nor did the Apostles ever look back, for, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9, 62).  Even after the crucifixion, they did not disperse and go back to ply their old trades.  They stayed together in the house where they had eaten the Last Supper, and were there rewarded for their perseverance with the appearance  of the Resurrected Christ.