Being interrupted in the midst of an activity can be frustrating.
Being disturbed from a task one is busy with can also be rather unpleasant.
The attention is suddenly taken to something else, the concentration is moved to another area.
And… many of us resent such an interference!

Yet, it happens that such an interference comes from… God!
The gospel text of today (3^rd Sunday of Year B – Mk.1:14-20) is a typical example.
Jesus is walking on the lakeshore and, suddenly, calls away some fishermen from their daily activity.
He assures them that will be become ‘fishers of men’.

It is not certain that they understood what this call was about.
And, personally, I imagine that they could not foresee what their new life would be like.
Yet, amazingly, we are told that: “At once, they left their nets…”

It was indeed a major ‘disturbance’ to their way of life up to then.
What made them so eager to follow this stranger with an equally strange invitation?
We can never know for sure, only perhaps think that his whole person had something convincing about it, convincing as only God can be!

Some of us have experienced such a major disturbing encounter with God.
We may still be adjusting to it…
And yet, many, perhaps all those who have known such an intervention will agree that it can be very much of a liberation!
Yes, a liberation from the routine, the worn out motivation that carried them up to the moment when God interfered!

At the beginning of a new year, we may perhaps contemplate such a possibility…

Source: Images: LDS  iStock

NOTE: a reflection in French on another theme is available at: https://image-i-nations.com/3e-dimanche-de-lannee-b/