Going on a little further, he saw James, Zebedee’s son, and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.
there is no end
to inviting and being invited
for a next step
guaranteed to complexify
and simplify a journeyevery Tom John and James
every Mary Mary and Mary
added brings drains
on energy and time
choices false and intriguingone less TV reality show to watch
one less book to creatively underline in blue
one less dollar to pile up in a pension
one less conversation featuring empathy
one less page written for the agesa community can only hold
three hundred before splitting
there seems to be no lower limit
as we’ll even do ourself in
in-tension-ally invite a repairer of networks
It is time to double down on the net imagery. Mark sets Simon and Andrew in the foreground work of fishing the Sea of Galilee, casting nets. Now James and John are doing the background work of fixing nets that were damaged in previous casts.
Both casting and mending take a great deal of energy and diligence. It is not difficult to understand why a call beyond would not have an immediate response. At the same time, established fishers were not landless peasants. This relative success does raise questions about how easy it would be to leave a lucrative, even if difficult, profession.
What beside seeing the current wilderness of occupation and loss of resources through taxation tribute would elicit such a quick, even BANG, of a decision?
Those called know their current political reality. They also have their own fantasies such as becoming the wingmen for Jesus when the revolution comes. Were they joining a Holy Club (though Mark goes on to disabuse readers of their ability to learn even the handshake)?
The reader knows of a realized theosis of Jesus but the characters are often in the dark and off balance with Jesus’ evident fame as a healer and his resistance to trade in healing to elevate his status. Why doesn’t he charge? Why isn’t he Surgeon General for Tetrarch Herod?