In Luke 5:1-11 we read of a spectacular experience of Simon Peter whom Jesus made the head of the Apostles. Jesus was by the sea of Gennesaret, and crowds of people were pressing round him, eager to listen to the word of God that he preached. There were fishermen there, and he got unto one of their boats. It was Simon’s. He taught from the boat at length. And when he finished speaking, he told Simon to throw out his nets into the deep for a catch. But Simon replied: “Master, we have toiled all night long and caught nothing, but if you say so, I will pay out the nets.” When they did this, they netted such a huge haul of fish that they had to signal to their companions in the other boats to help them drag the nets out. Simon’s reaction to this miracle was an exclamation: “Depart from me Lord; I am a sinful man.” But Jesus replied: “Do not be afraid, from now on it is men you will catch.” Then, bringing their boats back to land, they left everything and followed him.
In the Gospel of St. John (1:29-34), the evangelist narrates how one day, in the company of his disciples, on sighting Jesus passing by, John the Baptist said: “Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” John the Baptist is definitely the most qualified person to present Jesus in his true identity – the one takes away the sin of the world. He came to wage a fierce battle against sin, against the devil who is the patron of sin, and against the numerous consequences of sin in the world, including illness and disease, natural and man-made disasters, hatred, violence, terrorism and war.
John the Baptist began his career of preparing for the coming of the messiah by preaching repentance from sin and conversion to the God of holiness and justice (Mt 3:3). When Jesus Christ appeared as we read in Mk 1:14-15, he preached the same message of repentance. He said “The kingdom of God is close at hand, repent and believe the Good News.” At the beginning of his ministry Jesus was led to the desert by Holy Spirit, where he was tempted by the devil. But he overcame the power of the devil by his fidelity to God and to his mission (Matthew 4:1-11). He made it clear to the devil and his numerous agents that he (Jesus) had come into the world to see to the end of the reign of sin and darkness. He said he was the light of the world and that no one who follows him will ever walk in darkness.
Jesus came to take upon himself the totality of the sin in the world, wiping it away with his precious blood. He came to combat pride, arrogance, envy, jealousy, hatred, pettiness, idolatry, pornography, fornication, adultery, sodomy and all forms of sexual perversion, racism, sexism, greed, avarice, and oppression. He came to wage a war against selfishness in all its manifestations, to dislodge social injustice in all its dimensions, to dismantle violence in all its forms, and to establish instead the civilization of love charaterised by love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, non-violence and of course peace. The name "Jesus" means "saviour". He came to "save" men and women who are so defiled by sin, to redeem humanity that is so poisoned by hatred, to liberate the world that is so trapped in darkness. He came to bring about a new creation, to redirect the world towards its pristine purity, and to help humanity re-claim its lost glory.
Jesus spent most of his time while on earth teaching, preaching, and giving practical examples on how to combat sin in order to become once again children of God. He demonstrated that sin is at the root of all the evil in the world, including illnesses and diseases, and he declared his authority to forgive sins. To the paralytic he says, "your sins are forgiven you." (Matthew 9:2, 6). He forgave the woman caught in adultery, and warned her to "go and sin no more" (John 8:11). He told the sick man at the pool of Bethesda whom he cured after 38 years of struggling with his infirmity: "go and sin no more, or something worse will happen to you” (John 5:14). Jesus spent his entire life, and used his used his suffering and death to fight the evil of sin and disobedience. He declared an all-out war against sin, and by his resurrection from death at the hands of sinful humanity, he proclaimed victory over it.
Therefore all who wish to be associated with the salving mission of Christ must first of all reject the devil and all his agents and spirits. They must reject sin in all its forms and be pre-occupied with the struggle against sin in the human heart and in the structures of society. To be a Christian is to be constantly at war with sin in our own lives and in the life of our society. To be a Christian is to passionately committed to fighting the values, the lifestyles, the customs and conventions that constitute the structures of sin in our society and in the world. To be a Christian is to reject the dominant values of the contemporary society, which are materialism and consumerism and hedonism. To be a Christian is to reject the blind pursuit of pleasure that has become a major preoccupation of many people in our age, and instead seek after seek the face of Christ in order to find joy, peace, meaning and fulfilment in life.
There are many people who are drawn to Jesus only in search of physical healing, but they are not allowing him to touch and heal them on the deeper levels of their spirits and their souls. But divine power is manifested in Jesus principally in the taking away of sin so that alienated humanity may once again be reconciled with its Creator and God. Indeed as a Christian theologian has observed, the greatest miracle is not the transformation of water into wine, but the transformation of an enemy into a friend which Jesus Christ did through the atoning act of his suffering and death on the cross. It is this miracle of love that St. Paul refers to when he says in Romans 5:8 that what shows the immensity of God’s love is that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
In the book of Deuteronomy (30:15) we read that as Moses was about to depart from his people, he put before them two ways, the way of life and prosperity and the way of death and disaster, and he asked them to choose. To serve the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and keep his commandments is to choose the way of life and prosperity. But to serve the Canaanite gods roundabout them is to choose the way of death and disaster. Jacob did a similar thing before he died: He asked them to choose between serving the God of their fathers (who is a jealous God, and who won’t tolerate idolatry, and the idols that the Canaanites around them served. Then he declared in those famous words, “As for me and my house, we shall serve the lord.” (Joshua 24:15). In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus put two ways before his followers: the wide and spacious road which leads to doom, but one which many people take, and the narrow and winding road which lead to life, but which only few people take. (Mt 7:13-14). In Galatians 5:19-22 Paul distinguishes between the fruits of two ways of life: the way of self-indulgence whose fruits are sexual vice, anger, jealousy, envy, fornication, quarrels, etc, and the fruits of the spirit which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control.
To become a true Christians today as always is to make a choice. It is to answer the call to reject the old life of darkness, sin and death and accept Jesus Christ, and with him to work on a new creation, one devoid of all the sins that weighed down so much on the old creation. To truly become a Christian is to allow oneself to be plunged into the Holy Spirit, to be internally made new, so as to participate in the divine nature and be part of God’s activity of salvation. To be a Christian today is to be a harbinger of a new civilization of love inaugurated for the entire world in the death and resurrection of Christ, and for each person in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Through the ages God has called men and women of all races and nations. In I Samuel 3:3-19 we read how he calls Samuel. The young man responded positively, having been helped by Eli to recognise the voice of God. And all through the life of Samuel he remained steadfast in the service of the Lord. In John 1:35-42 he calls Andrew and his companion. When he experienced the beauty of knowing Jesus, Andrew went ahead to call Simon his brother who later became the head of the Apostles. Today he calls you and I. He calls each one of us by name. His first words are simple, loving but authoritative: He says “come, follow me.”
Those of you who are lost, confused or frightened in a world of false hopes and dashed dreams, Jesus says, come, follow me, see for yourself that I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; and no one goes to the Father except through me. Those of you who have been groping in the dark and are entangled with the works of darkness or oppressed by evil spirits, come, follow me and see for yourself that I am the Light that dispels the darkness of the world. Those of you who have lived in sin and have had the agonising experience of alienation from God, he says, come, follow me and see that I am the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Those of you who experience hunger in the depth of your being, and those of you who thirst for ultimate meaning, come and see that I am the Bread of Life, without whom men and women will starve to death, and I am the Water of Life that satisfies all thirst. Those of you who are suffering the debilitation of sicknesses and diseases, whether physical, mental or emotional, come follow me and see for yourself that I am the Prime Healer by whose wounds you shall be healed and by whose stripes you shall be made whole. Come, follow me, and I will heal not only your physical wounds, but also your spiritual, moral, psychological and emotional wounds. Those of you whose lives are torn apart by all sorts of tragic circumstances in your life and in the life of your society, come, follow me and see that I am the One who has come to stitch together the torn nerves and mend the broken bodies of fragmented humanity. Those of you who are tired of the prevalent death wish in our society, and those of you who are tired of the bad news of crime, violence, torture, war and death in the world, come, follow me, and see that I am the Resurrection and the Life, and that I brings the good news of new life to everyone. Those of you who have been frustrated by the selfish exploitation that camouflages as love, and who are searching for authentic love in the world, come, follow me, and see for yourself that I am the supreme image of God who is love, the one who laid down his life for his friends.
Yes, Jesus says to you today: come, follow me; abandon your old life of selfishness and sin which has brought upon you so much pain and frustration. Come and experience the abundant life which I give freely. Come, follow me; turn around from an existence of drudgery and misery, violence and death. Come and receive the tremendous gift of eternal life which I offer you graciously. Come, follow me; be my companion in a life of holiness and peace. Come, follow me; be co-heirs with me in the Kingdom of God the Father. Come, follow me; be salt of
the earth and light of the world. Come, follow me and seek out with me your brothers and sisters who are lost in the world of darkness. Yes, come follow me, take the risk of faith and put your net out into the deep for a catch, and with me, you shall be fishers of men and women.
