This week we hear about the call of Simon, James and John in Luke’s gospel. In this story Simon wins the lottery. He’s been out all night working trying to catch some fish and catches almost nothing. Then Jesus tells him to try again and they fill up the boat.
Simon’s a bit like a guy who wins the lottery, but then never goes to cash in the winning ticket. He doesn’t take that haul of fish to the market to sell so he doesn’t benefit from the bonanza. He and his partners, James and John, just leave everything there and follow Jesus.
These three men go stumbling over their nets and boats and follow Jesus and the crowd that saw all this witnessed a sermon in action that was more powerful than the one Jesus preached. Luke doesn’t tell us a thing that Jesus said in that sermon to the crowds gathered that day. Nor does he say whether Simon and his buds were paying attention. He tells us what they did. And we’re still talking about it.