What was it that made the invitation of Jesus so easy to accept? The Gospels do not say. Today on the Feast of St. Andrew we read the familiar story of the call of Christ’s first disciples: Andrew and Peter, James and John. They are in the middle of their labors, the former casting their nets, the latter mending them. Yet all four leave it all behind in an instant, without hesitation. Were they so disenchanted with their work as fishermen that even the strange invitation to become “…fishers of men…” sounded like a more enticing offer?
Whatever it was, it was enough to win the loyalty and friendship of all four men for the remainder of their lives; Andrew himself would go on to bring the Gospel to the northern shores of the Black Sea, and finally to southern Greece, where he would be crucified on a pair of timbers arranged like an “X” rather than a cross, deeming himself unworthy to die like Christ did; just as Jesus “…loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end,” (John 13:1) so Andrew loved Jesus to the end. In the beginning Andrew left his nets and his former life “at once…”; may we be so quick to follow Jesus, and come to love Him as deeply.