TODAY’S GOSPEL (Mt. 4:12- 23), the “calling of the disciples,” is much more than a story of recruitment, not only the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, but a microcosm of the Good News itself: Repent; Follow me; Be healed. This is the Gospel embodied in Jesus Christ. Commentator Peter Kreeft once observed that deep down, everyone desires what God is — perfect truth, goodness and beauty. We are programmed for love, joy and happiness. Only Jesus fulfills this longing for God. Repent. Follow me. The Kingdom of Heaven is near. We see this longing for God in countless ways, often paired with unfulfilled lives. Most of us are good people who work hard and live responsibly, yet we can feel restless or spiritually adrift.
Some have reached milestones in their lives, only to discover that their “arrival” did not close the hole in their hearts. They feel more lost than found. Successful, faithful people, yet unsettled. Why? Many of us live like ducks on a pond – appearing serene above the surface while anxiously paddling below just to stay afloat. There is a disconnect between head and heart: we know what we believe yet struggle to live it. Hope, faith and love always require choice, never certainty.
Jesus’ first command is succinct: Repent. Do we truly understand what that means? Repentance is not merely the absence of sin or the correction of bad behavior. We often associate repentance with guilt or shame, assuming it is only about our past mistakes. These views can be constraining — and incomplete. Changing behavior for the better is only the beginning. By itself, it does not grow the spirit or call us to something larger. The Gospel records no sinful behavior by the fishermen Jesus calls. They are responsible men doing honest work—yet Jesus still calls them to repent, to follow. Why? Because repentance is about renewal; becoming more in the how and why of our lives; following, living in the imitation of Jesus. Jesus proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new (Rev. 21:5).” Repentance shifts our focus from bad versus good to something greater still; a purpose larger than ourselves. It calls us to become more authentically who God created us to be, amplifying our goodness for the sake of family, friends, neighbors and the world God loves. We are called not to fit Jesus into our way of living, but to fit ourselves into Jesus’ plan for our lives.
Psychiatrist Carl Jung once said we suffer because we walk through life wearing shoes too small for our feet. We cling to familiar ways of thinking and acting, even when they limit us. We choose what is known —even when it hurts —because change feels risky. Instead, we settle for the familiar and give up on the possible. Jesus invited the disciples to let go of their nets—not because fishing was bad, but because it was not the fullness God desired for them. To follow, they had to release what constrained them. So must we. What are our “nets” — practices, expectations, fears —that keep us in the same boats? Do our jobs, routines,
or environments define us more than God’s call? Can we align our heads with transformed hearts?
Repentance requires letting go of what prevents deeper communion with God and one another. Jesus calls us not simply to improve behavior, but because we can be so much more, actually joining in His work of salvation. Like the Magi, who encountered Christ, were changed, and returned home by another way; we are invited to travel in a radically changed direction. Jesus is that Way: “The way, the truth and the life (Jn. 14:6).” Repent; Follow; Be healed.