The Sanctuary for Lent 2019 (Pkg of 10). Juan Huertas

Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers.

       —Mark 1:20

      My parents were only 19 years old when I was born. I was 25 when our first child was born, and I still felt so young, so I could not imagine what my parents went through having to raise themselves and me at the same time. What I do know is that we grew close and that family mattered to us.

      Family units were important to the survival of people in the first century. The sons had to work in the family business for themselves and for their parents. In our own time and culture, we put high value on our family ties. Many of us could not imagine a conflict between our life with God and our family commitment.

      What kind of call is this that seems to place our family ties on the line?

      The call to discipleship rearranges our priorities. It places our social, cultural, and religious understandings under the lordship of Christ. Our personal preferences and the ways that things have always been no longer hold their power. We no longer answer to the inner voice of duty, ambition, and the way things have always been; instead we begin seeing all of life through the lens of the call of Jesus.

      I am sure that Zebedee was disappointed, maybe even angry, at his sons. Today think about the assumptions that you have made about the way life should be and ask how the way of Jesus is turning your understanding upside down. What are you being asked to drop so that you can follow?

      Breath Prayer:

      Jesus, help me . . . let go.