Immediately and drastically, a Reflection on Matthew 4:18-23

I live in a part of the world that is majority Christian. It is the default option, you might say. So, I am struck by this passage from Matthew. Following Jesus means leaving home--including abandoning their father and their profession.

Leaving their father--where will they now get financial resources? who will make sure that their father is all right? What would be the contemporary parallel to Jesus' call to these four disciples; that is, what does discipleship require of us? what would we have to give up (are giving up)? Or, can't we just metaphorize this passage and stay at home with our same jobs?

Their response was immediate.

As usual, Thomas Long is helpful:

....In these stories of the calling of the disciples, then, Jesus disrupts family structures and disturbs patterns of working and living. He does so, however, not to destroy but to renew. Peter and Andrew do not cease being brothers; they are now brothers who do the will of God (Matt. 12:50). James and John do not cease being sons; they are now not only the children of Zebedee but also the children of God. All four of these disciples leave their fishing nets, but they do not stop fishing. They are now, in the kingdom of heaven, fishers for people. Their past has not been obliterated; it has been tranformed by Jesus' call to follow.

Matthew.