What was Jesus looking for in his disciples? What does he look for in us? Fr. Brian Strassburger, SJ, reflects on the faith of the fishermen that Jesus called to be disciples. Based on the readings for Sunday, January 22, 2023.
What if Jesus took applications to be an Apostle? What would he be looking for?
Hi, I’m Fr. Brian Strassburger, and this is my One-Minute Homily.
If Jesus handled the choosing of his disciples like we handle college admissions, he might have been looking for lots of qualifications: like good grades and diverse extracurricular activities.
But was that what Jesus was looking for? Today’s Gospel recounts the call of his first disciples, and guess what? His first disciples were all fishermen. Not scholars or doctors or engineers. Fishermen!
Because at the end of the day, he wasn’t looking for all these qualifications. He was looking for faith.
And in these sets of brothers, he found it. When he calls them, they drop their nets and immediately begin to follow him. Now that’s faith.
Sometimes we can be hard on ourselves. But Jesus isn’t asking us to prove our qualifications to receive his love and grace. He just asks for our faith. So let’s not get discouraged by our imperfections, but instead be inspired by the faith of the fishermen.
