Scripture Scribbles: January 21, 2024

the Gospel

Mark 1:14-20

After John had been arrested,
Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:
"This is the time of fulfillment.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent, and believe in the gospel."

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;
they were fishermen.
Jesus said to them,
"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.
He walked along a little farther
and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.
They too were in a boat mending their nets.
Then he called them.
So they left their father Zebedee in the boat
along with the hired men and followed him.

the devotion

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

I laugh to myself as I realize that this is today’s reading. 

It is fitting that this is my assigned devotion for this writing round, as the Lord has been using this one little sentence to speak to me for years now. 

There are two things that continue to pierce my heart each time I hear this little line. 

The first: Come *after* me. Emphasis on the coming after Him, the following.

I think often we can fall into sneaky traps of our own pride without even realizing it. We figure that we are doing enough; we’re going to Mass each week, we’re being kind to the grocery store clerk; heck, we’re even donating on a regular basis to charity! 

We see this in ourselves, and we hear this line today, and we think: “Yes, I’m following Jesus. I think this is what He wants from me.”

Hmm.. But something is wrong with this picture... Did you catch that?

“*I think* this is what He wants from me.” Emphasis on the I think. 

You see, even when we think we are being a “good person” by the world’s standards, or our own made up standards, we are still making ourselves the judge. We see what little we are doing and maybe even think, “Well, it’s more than Joe down the street is doing so I must be great in the eyes of God.” 

Yikes. Even when we are thinking about how selfless we are, we’re making ourselves into a mini God to judge ourselves! Can you see the pride just oozing out? It’s okay if you are wincing, friend. Even as I write this, I feel convicted. 

The truth is, He is the Judge. His Word, His Church, His perfect Love, they are the standards we need to follow, not our own. It goes so much deeper than some surface level check boxes. To actually follow Christ is extremely difficult. So difficult, in fact, that it is impossible without Him. 

Pride is a sneaky sin, the root of all other sins, as some Confessors have called it. St. Gregory the Great called it the “queen of sins.”

Humility and charity (love), especially sacrificial love, are the antidotes to pride. 

Instead of looking at yourself and judging for yourself where you may stand with God, place yourself at His feet. Tell Him that you don’t know the answers, you know that you fall short of His goodness each day, and ask Him to transform you, your heart, your mind, to be more like His perfect love. 

Humility. Surrender. True Charity.
This is coming after Him, friend. 

The second thing that pierces my heart today: and *I will make you* fishers of men. 

Emphasis on the I will make you. 

You see, when we reflect on this line, we realize that we simply cannot make ourselves more loving. We cannot make ourselves less selfish or more caring. Left to our own devices, we fall into sneaky pride traps, like the one I just mentioned, all day long. 

But, when we surrender our own lives, hearts, minds, goals, futures, moments, to God and ask Him to transform us to be more like Him, we allow Him to make us into fishers of men. 

It is in the surrender to Him, and the death to oneself, that we can experience a Resurrection in Christ. It is then that we can truly be made new by His grace. We begin to realize how little we are, how little we know, how often we fall, but we do not despair because as long as we keep our hearts open and offer ourselves up in humility back to Him, we know that He is right there, lifting us up, transforming us with His grace, helping us to grow in virtue, little by little, to become more like Him. 

So today, friend, I invite you to come after Him, so that He can make you into a fisher of men. Give up your own ideas, expectations, plans. 

At Mass today, during the offertory (the part when the gifts are being brought up to the altar), offer yourself to Him. Tell Him: 

All that I am, all that I hope to be, is yours God. I give you my thoughts, dreams, passions, plans, my heart, my mind, my actions, my words. I choose to come after you. Please make me into a fisher of men.

Today’s devotion is written by Rachel Smith