A Word for the Second Sunday After Pentecost

And they (Peter and Andrew) at once left their nets and followed Him (that is, followed Christ) (Mt 4:20).

In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, we hear of the calling to the apostolic rank of four simple, unlearned fishermen—namely, of the two brothers Peter and Andrew, sons of Jonah, and of James and John, sons of Zebedee the fisherman—of their immediate and resolute following of the Savior for the great work of the salvation of men; and of Jesus Christ’s preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom throughout all Galilee, and His healing of every sickness and infirmity among the people. Let us try, through pious reflection and conversation, to draw some benefit for ourselves from today’s Gospel. What is instructive for us in this Gospel? Most instructive for us is the fine conduct of these simple fishermen toward Jesus Christ, their firm, unquestioning, unwavering resolve to follow Christ at once, in everything and everywhere, their perfect obedience, without any wavering, their disinterestedness and indifference toward earthly, so-called goods, so precious to everyone—namely, toward home, toward parents, toward wives, toward the rest of their kin, toward an occupation as pleasant and honest as the trade of fishing, and others. But you will say: we cannot imitate the apostles, we cannot leave everything and follow Christ, who no longer walks visibly upon the earth.

It is true that we cannot imitate the holy apostles in everything, because their situation and their ministry at that time was unique, exceptional, extraordinary—but in much we can, and must, imitate them. Can we, and must we, even now, follow Christ—not, of course, walking with Him and after Him visibly, for He is now in heaven with His deified humanity, but abides with us invisibly on earth? We both can and must follow Christ, that is, live and act according to His heavenly teaching and commandments, imitate Him—His righteousness, His holiness, His love, His mercy, His meekness, His humility, His peacemaking, His freedom from malice, His freedom from possessions and His voluntary poverty, His self-restraint, prayer, contemplation of God, His submissiveness, obedience, His perfect devotion to the will of the heavenly Father, His unceasing labors in teaching and enlightening people, in doing good to people, His patience and longsuffering. And if we, as Christians, must follow the teaching and life of Christ, then we can and must also imitate the example of His disciples, His first followers. They left everything for Him and went after Him. The Lord does not command all of us to leave everything in order to follow after Him; He allows us to make use of our homes and our lawfully acquired property, and allows us to go on living with those close to us and our own kin—but He commands us not to be attached to earthly goods, because they estrange us from God, darken our soul, entangle our spiritual steps on the path to God and to salvation, and distort our life, turning everything, so to speak, upside down. It is impossible to serve two masters, God and riches (Mt 6:24; Lk 16:13), God and the passion-ridden flesh; for the rebellious, sinful flesh, for the most part, demands what is contrary to God—demands, for instance, frequent enjoyments, pleasures—in a word, every kind of self-indulgence; it strives to enrich itself and pays no heed to the needs of its neighbor—on the contrary, it is even ready to wrong them, to take from them even what belongs to them; it is inclined to anger, pride, envy, miserliness, gluttony, intemperance and drunkenness, idleness and sloth. All these passions and lusts, or sins, a Christian must leave behind, and follow Christ, that is, live according to His teaching in meekness, humility, and every virtue, in self-restraint, freedom from possessions, sincere goodwill toward every man, in beneficence, in purity and chastity, in working out his own salvation and that of his neighbor, in all righteousness and truth. Yes, much, very much, we would have to leave behind, in order to follow the teaching of Christ and be worthy disciples and followers of Christ our God; we must leave behind, must put to death within ourselves, every sin, every passion, every evil habit and inclination—must root out from the soul, with all their roots, every sinful thorn, and sow in it only the seeds of virtue, and cause them to grow with the tears of repentance and with prayers, with unceasing watchfulness over ourselves, with sorrows and earnest labors, with unquestioning obedience and good-humored patience.

Let each of us, then, with God’s help, leave behind his own sins, his own passions and lusts—such as self-love, malice, pride, cunning, envy, ill-will, condemnation, hardness of heart, miserliness, love of gain, injustice and falsehood, voluptuousness, intemperance, sloth, especially in prayer; for prayer is as necessary for a Christian as air is for the body—and then, only then, can we follow after our heavenly Teacher and Savior. Let us follow Him thus. Otherwise we will never go after Him at all, and—we shall perish in our sins: for the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). Amen.