The first section is a different version of the call of the fishermen, in which Jesus commands them to drop their nets where they've fished all night and they bring in such an amazing haul of fish that they believe in him right away. I can often relate to St. Peter's response: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. - Lk 5, 8b.
I saw a great post on FB earlier today: Satan says "Look at your sin." God says "Look at My Son." No one was more aware of Peter's sin than Jesus, not even Peter himself, and so it is with us. Yet he calls us, and resists our protestations with his gentle persistence: Do not be afraid; henceforth . . . (Lk 5, 10b), and naught remains but for us to leave everything behind and follow him. But his way of our leaving everything behind is unlikely to be as we envision it. I am certainly living the life he is calling me to live, yet I find I must leave behind my attachments to how I think that life should be, to the needs that I believe aren't being met in the ways I need them to be. I need to long to love as Jesus does, not to long for any other thing.
Another great example follows in the second passage, the calling of Levi, who likewise "left everything" but managed to set out a feast for Jesus and surround him with his tax collecting friends, all in need of the care of the Great Physician. We are unworthy to sit in his presence, and when we judge others as unworthy we miss the grace-filled point of Jesus' love and ministry. Not one of us has a hope except for him, and he calls us all to leave behind our old approach to life to revel in his instead.
I'm not doing such a great job of reveling lately. I am filled with sadness and loneliness and despair. But I must get my eyes off of myself and back on Christ, and leave everything, and follow him. Thank you, Jesus, for coming for the sick, like me.
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