III Sunday in the Annual Circle – Year A
When Jesus learned that John had been arrested, he retired to Galilee, left Nazareth and lived in Cafarnao. (…) From then on Jesus began to preach and say: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter and his brother Andrew, who threw the nets out to sea; they were actually fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” And they immediately left their nets and followed him. (…) The mighty voice of the desert falls silent, but a free voice rises above the Sea of Galilee. An unwise young rabbi fearlessly steps out into the open and faces frontier issues, life and death, alone in the Mestizo Galilee, melting pot of peoples. In Capernaum, by sea: one of the busiest roads of merchants and armies, an area of contagion, of cultural and religious contamination, and Jesus chose it. It is not Mount Zion of the elect, but Capernaum that welcomes all. There is confusion on the Via Maris and at the same time shadows, says the prophet, like our often confused existence, like the heart that often has a shadow… and Jesus chooses them. He began to preach and say: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. They are the source words, the creative message of the gospel: God has come, he is at work, here between the hills and the sea, on the roads of Capernaum, Magdala, Bethsaida.
And it allows life to thrive in all its forms. You look at it and believe that happiness is possible, it’s near. Jesus will not define the kingdom, instead he will say that this world carries another world in its bosom; this life has God within, a light within, a force that penetrates the secret fabric of history, that circulates in the things that push it up like seed, like leaven. So: convert! That means: We celebrate the beauty that moves us, that moves us from within. Turn to the light, for the light is already there. Not a decree, but an offer: On the path that I show you, the sky is bluer, the sun is more beautiful, the road is brighter and freer, and we will meet together. Conversion is precisely the effect of my “night touched by the joy of light” (Maria Zambrano). Jesus goes, but not alone. He loves the streets and the group and immediately calls to go with him.
What did the four fishermen need to convince them to abandon their boats and nets and risk losing their hearts to this young rabbi? They had work, even a little fishing, a house, a family, a synagogue, health, faith, everything they needed to live on, and yet something was missing. And it was not a better code of ethics, deeper doctrines, or sharper thoughts. You were missing a dream. Jesus came to sustain mankind’s dreams and attune them to the health of life. The fishermen knew the migrations of the fish, the routes of the lake, by heart. Jesus offers the map of the world and the heart, hundred brothers, the divine chromosome in our DNA, an indestructible and happy life. The world is upside down: “You know what? There’s no more fish to catch, it’s time to touch people’s hearts.” There is life to add.
(Readings: Isaiah 8:23b-9:3; Psalm 26; 1 Corinthians 1:10-13,17; Matthew 4:12-23)