Second Sunday after Pentecost. The Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas.
Polyeleos Feast. Apostles’ Fast
Romans 2:10-16; Acts 11:19-30; Matthew 4:18-23; Luke 10:16-21.
Read Matthew 4:18-23
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
We like backstories. When we are getting to know someone, we enjoy hearing about where they came from and their stories of what brought them to where they are now. Many of us find backgrounds of famous people fascinating. Even in fiction, especially film, origin stories of characters have a huge audience.
The original readers of today’s gospel reading already knew who the people in the story were. Matthew clarified for them that the Simon he is writing about is the Peter that the readers knew. As they had seen or heard of Peter the Apostle preaching of Jesus, teaching the Church, and healing the sick, readers could now get the backstory – how did this man get from point A to point B in his life?
Peter’s preaching, teaching, and healing didn’t start with him; it started with Jesus. We know from John’s gospel that this was not the first time Andrew and Simon had met Jesus. We know from Luke’s gospel that James and John were partners with them in fishing, so presumably this was not the first time they had heard about Jesus either. That all goes a long way to explain how the four of them could so immediately leave their nets, their boats, and a father and follow Jesus when he called them. And that is what Matthew wants us to know: from what they knew of Jesus in encountering him, when Jesus called them to follow him, they left all else “immediately”.
As St. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “We entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.’ Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”