Week 11 of the Church year
ദനഹായ്ക്കു ശേഷം ഒന്നാം ഞായർ
John has been arrested. Jesus moves to a lakeside town, starts preaching and calls two pairs of brothers away from their fishing nets.
After John is arrested, Jesus settles in Capernaum and begins to preach: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near. Walking by the Sea of Galilee, he calls Peter and Andrew, then James and John, and they leave everything to follow him.
At Denha the Church celebrated the baptism of Jesus. The Sundays after it follow what he did next, starting with the first light in Galilee.
Jesus called fishermen at work, in the middle of an ordinary day. The call usually comes where we already are.
ഈ ഞായറാഴ്ചയുടെ വായനകൾ
Jesus calls the first disciples and heals many in Capernaum.
John the Baptist says he is not the Christ, but a voice crying in the wilderness.
Jacob and Esau struggle from birth; Esau sells his birthright.
Naaman the Syrian washes seven times in the Jordan and is healed of leprosy.
I will make you a light to the nations; sing, heavens, for the Lord comforts his people.
Repent and be baptised; the first believers share everything and break bread together.
Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, sealed with the Holy Spirit.
A great light in Galilee; Jesus calls fishermen to be fishers for people. This is the Gospel of the day.
Open in five scenesJacob and Esau struggle from birth, and Naaman is healed by washing in the Jordan. Isaiah promises a light to the nations. Peter tells the crowd at Pentecost to repent and be baptised, and Ephesians says we were chosen in Christ.
References follow the official lectionary of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. Your parish may read them in a different order.
Pick a scene to see what happens in it and what is easy to miss.
When Jesus hears that John has been arrested, he leaves Nazareth and settles in Capernaum, a fishing town on the shore of the Sea of Galilee.
Jesus starts preaching just as John is silenced. The voice in the wilderness hands over to the Word.
Matthew quotes Isaiah: the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.
Zebulun and Naphtali were the first tribes taken into exile by Assyria (Isaiah 9:1). The first to fall into darkness are the first to see the light.
From then on Jesus preaches: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
These are exactly John the Baptist’s words in Matthew 3:2. Jesus takes up the message where John left it.
Jesus sees Simon Peter and Andrew casting a net. Come after me, he says, and I will make you fishers for people. They leave their nets at once.
Jesus does not ask them to stop being fishermen. He tells them what they will now fish for.
Further on he sees James and John mending nets in a boat with their father Zebedee. He calls them, and they leave the boat and their father and follow him.
The first pair leave their nets; the second pair leave their father too. Matthew shows the cost rising.
The verse to keep
“എന്റെ പിന്നാലെ വരുവിൻ; ഞാൻ നിങ്ങളെ മനുഷ്യരെ പിടിക്കുന്നവരാക്കും എന്നു അവരോടു പറഞ്ഞു.”He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”
Peter and Andrewപത്രൊസും അന്ത്രെയാസും
Brothers from Bethsaida who fished on the Sea of Galilee.
Andrew means “manly”
James and Johnയാക്കോബും യോഹന്നാനും
Sons of Zebedee, partners in a family fishing business.
James, son of Zebedee · John, son of Zebedee
James is Jacob, “he grasps the heel”
Zebedeeസെബെദി
Their father, left in the boat with the hired men.
“Gift of the Lord”
പകൽ ജോലിക്കിടയിലെ വിളി
Peter and Andrew are not praying when Jesus finds them. They are working, throwing a net into the lake as they did every day. James and John are mending torn nets with their father. Nothing about the scene is religious, and that is exactly where the call comes.
Jesus does not take away what they know. They were fishermen and they will still be fishers, now of people. Everything they learned about patience, weather, teamwork and hauling in a heavy net will be put to new use. Following him changes the direction of a life without wasting what came before.
Most of us will not leave our jobs or families. But the call still comes in ordinary places: an office, a classroom, a kitchen. The question is whether we hear it there and let it change what we are working for. The first disciples answered at once. We can at least answer this week.
കുടുംബമായി സംസാരിക്കാം
What are you good at, and how could that skill be used for God?
Two minutes after the audio. Everyone gets a turn, and nobody is interrupted.Use one thing you are good at to help someone this week, at school, at work or at church.
Lord Jesus, you called fishermen at their nets. Call us where we are, in our work and our homes, and make us ready to follow you at once. Amen.
The whole year
Every Sunday of the Church year, season by season: readings, the Gospel and a question for the family.
Sunday 1 of 2 in Denha