Peter speaks:
You ask me, was it really ‘at once?’
As I told the story to Mark, it seemed to me that what happened then, and in the ensuing months, was just a moment in time. I could hardly draw breath to recite the details, as if they would disappear and no one would know why we followed, ‘at once,’ in such thoughtless haste.
To consider that moment by the lake though, as if it were just a moment in our lives, is to miss its significance and to overlook a long time of preparation that led up to it.
In Waiting
What shall I say about my people in waiting? My brothers and sisters, fathers and grandfathers were weary with waiting, but waiting filled our minds and our prayers. We recited the words of those who wait, from childhood, we prayed:
‘How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear grief in my soul,
have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy prevail over me?’
And then the prophet, the baptizer, appeared in the wilderness, telling us to repent, so that we could receive Good News from God, because the One we waited for was coming. “the time has come,” he said. “and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent and believe the good news!”
The coming of the baptizer was like a storm gathering; there was something present among us which was still hidden. We cast out the net and as it fell into the water I recited ‘How long will you hide your face from me?’
So, I prayed …
…and then here He is, walking along beside the Sea of Galilee, gazing at me first, and then at Andrew.
The Fishermen
I see the face I long to see and I look down at the net. We are fishermen. We go out into the deep and the mist and the unknown to draw out our catch. Those who go out into danger and live from the hostile sea.
Jesus speaks to us:
“Follow me …”
So, we are to leave this occupation and set our feet to walk where He goes. He says:
“ … I will make you into fishers of men.”
Not the catch we know, those who die in our nets to feed our people. He will make us into men who go out into the deep to bring people to life. We will bring them to Jesus.
I lift up my eyes and the long wait becomes ‘at once.’ We drop our nets and desert our occupation. And desert our families. We have a new occupation now, and I am at the forefront, in a role which could throw me into a worse storm than any I have met before. But it is not me now, not me and my brothers. This is not our work because He is saying He will form us.
He calls James and John, and they go after him, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat, with the men he employs. None of us think of what may lie ahead of us and we no longer live in the long waiting time of our people. The Son of God calls us, and my heart says.
‘O God, you are my God; for you I long;
for you my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you,
like a dry, weary land without water.
So I gaze on you in the sanctuary,
to see your strength and glory.’
Yes Lord, I come … at once.
