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When I entered basic training, I was warned never to volunteer for anything or respond to a request for volunteers. It was common for a drill sergeant to “ask” unwitting recruits for “volunteers” for duties that appeared to be easier on the surface than they were. Invariably, these jobs never turned out to be easy. In time we learned to avoid eye contact with the "inviting" sergeant and stand way in the back of the formation to hide and avoid being “volunteered.” John's (John 1:35-42) account of how Peter, Andrew, James and John immediately responded to Jesus invitation reminded me of my time in basic training. I’m always amazed as to how quickly the disciples dropped everything and just followed Jesus. I wonder how I would respond to a request from a passing stranger who asks me to stop what I was doing, drop everything and follow him. At the very least I think I would have pretended not to hear him and let him bother someone else. If cornered and pressed I might ask for some time to think about it. After all, how could I possibly stop what I’m doing right now? It's too important. Maybe later.

Could we drop everything, leave our families and communities, and follow someone we didn’t even know? Both Matthew and Mark emphasize the word “immediately" to describe the new "recruits’" snap decision. Snap decisions are often fraught with risks and don't always turn out as we had hoped. Yet, sometimes they turn out better than if we had planned for them. Consider those times in my life when our snap decisions turned out really well. Don’t we sometimes wonder what prompted those decisions?

And so what does John's Gospel mean to us today? Does it mean leaving behind the promise of a steady income in a successful family business? Or, maybe it means letting go of things that hold us bound to our comfort zones, and perhaps symbolic of the fisherman’s nets in our Gospel.  Responding to the prompt and letting go can come in a variety of ways and will vary from one person to another. While Jesus does not ask everyone to leave everything behind, no one can be a disciple and follow His call to repent without leaving something behind, or without letting go of the nets that keep us "tied up." 

Jesus is calling us to a new way of life and asking us to turn the focus of our lives to being God-centered. At its basic level, discipleship means saying “yes” to Jesus and following him wherever he leads. There are times we try to run away and go back to where we were before but like the young recruit trying to be invisible, we can’t hide in the back of the formation out of sight. Jesus, like my drill instructor is relentless, and as often as we try to hide, he will find us.

Getting back to “snap decisions” and following that inspiration, John Powell writes "There have been quite a few times when I have felt the winds of God’s grace in the sails of my small boat. Sometimes these graces have moved me in pleasant and sunlit directions. At other times the requested acts of love were born in the darkness of struggle and suffering. There have been spring times and there have been long cold winters of struggle for survival. God has come to me at times with the purest kindness, at times with the most affirming encouragement, and at other times with bold frightening challenges. I think that all of us have to watch and pray, to be ready to say 'yes' when God’s language is concrete and his request is specific-'yes' in the sunlit spring times and 'yes’ in the darkness of winter nights." (John Powell, S.J., The Christian Vision, The Truth That Sets Us Free, p147)