Today’s gospel lesson from Mark is a disturbing story.

I say disturbing, because there is something very unsettling about the way in which the disciples . . .

Simon and Andrew, and James and John . . . get up, leave everything, and follow Jesus.

They almost seem a little nonchalant about the whole thing.

The gospel doesn’t record the disciples saying anything in response to Jesus’ call to follow him.

We don’t know what they were thinking, what their reactions were.

All we do know is that the disciples “immediately” leave behind their nets, their boat, their families . . . and follow Jesus.

They immediately leave everything behind.

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself a little haunted by the last line of today’s gospel, . . .

 “Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.”

I have this vision of Zebedee standing in his boat, looking after his sons James and John, as they leave him behind.

Without a word, they just get up and leave.

It is difficult and painful to imagine leaving everything behind to follow Jesus.

And to do it “immediately”, without taking the time to say goodbye, to think about what to take with us, to just go, without a thought.

And what is perhaps at the root of the disturbing nature of today’s gospel lesson . . .

. . . is the question we sometimes ask ourselves, would I have done the same?

If I had been standing on that lakeshore, working hauling nets, with my brothers, my father, the family fishing business . . .

. . . would I have left everything to follow  this man Jesus, who I know nothing about?

Other than his crazy idea to “fish for people”?

And the distressing part of today’s gospel lesson is that, we’re not sure.

We’re not sure if we’d leave everything to follow Jesus.

We’re not sure if we’d be like Simon and Andrew, James and John who follow Jesus . . .

Or if we’d be like Zebedee, left standing in the boat.

The gospels often tell us this, this idea that we must leave behind the people or things we love . . .

. . . to be disciples of Jesus.

Today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians is like this also: “from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none,

and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing,

and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it.”

It doesn’t seem realistic to ask this much of followers of Jesus, and we’re not sure if it’s really possible.

After all, we live in the world, so why not deal also with the things of this world,

 . . . with family and loved ones, with material concerns, like earning a living, having a home.

I think the ultimate point the writers of the gospels, the epistles, are trying to make . . .

. . . is that there is a great deal of sacrifice demanded of us in the life of faith.

It does mean living in and dealing with the world in a different way.

I have a hunch that if most people really knew up front what was being asked of them as a follower of Jesus Christ . . .

. . . few people would really choose to be baptized, choose to become a Christian.

We don’t entirely know what we’re getting ourselves into, it’s literally a leap of faith, making our baptismal promises.

We are in this respect, like the disciples, we just get up and go.

And I wonder if Jesus was actually being a little more honest and upfront about the challenge of the life of faith,

. . .  by inviting people to physically leave behind their old lives, rather than simply asking them to promise to live in a new way.

Like we do, at our baptisms.

And while the gospels frame the call to follow Jesus as dramatic and distressing:

. . . leave father and mother, leave behind home and possessions, and so much that we care about . . .

. . . in order to follow Jesus, there is a reason why it is this way.

Because the life of faith is no simple matter.

It really does ask a lot of us, it really does transform our lives, nothing can be as it was before.

Some people have, for generations, chosen to take the call to discipleship literally.

There are, to this day, people who take religious vows of poverty and service, people who leave home to do missionary work in other places . . .

But for the rest of us, who are disciples in our ways, in our own communities, it is not really any easier.

We may not physically leave our homes and loved ones, but we do promise to proclaim the gospel by word and example . . .

. . . and that may take us to new places, different and perhaps uncomfortable situations, meeting new people.

We may not leave behind all our possessions, but we do promise to resist evil, and to respect the dignity of every human being . . .

. . . and that may mean that we cannot, or should not, get everything we want, if it comes at the at the cost of another.

We may not leave behind the people we care about, but we do promise to seek and serve Christ in all people . . .

. . . even people we don’t know, don’t like, or who are very different from us.

We promise all these things, and more, at our baptisms.

We take on a lot, a new way of life, when we become followers of Jesus.

It may be distressing to discover, but in some sense, we’ve already made the choice.

We did it, at the moment of our baptisms.

We’ve already left our nets to follow Jesus, we’ve already left Zebedee behind in the boat.

And maybe we left just like the disciples, immediately, without really knowing what we were getting ourselves into.

And we can’t go back now.

We are disciples of Jesus Christ.

But just when we begin to think, oh no, what have I gotten myself into?

I’d invite you to consider, not just the challenges of the life of faith, but also the rewards.

Not just what is daunting or difficult about being a follower of Jesus, but also what is beautiful and wonderful about discipleship.

We have the joy of making the love of God known to the world, as we have known it in our own lives.

We have the opportunity to bring hope and compassion and justice and peace to the world, because our place in the world has changed.

We get to see Christ not just in our hearts and minds, but in all people, and we get to see the way God works in our lives and the lives of others.

We live and work for something bigger than ourselves, for something better and nobler than the next paycheck, the next purchase.

And we work with a whole community of disciples, with the help of God, and with tools along the way, not just by ourselves.

The choice to follow Jesus asks a lot of us, it is difficult sometimes along the way.

But when Jesus asked us, even when we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, even if it changes everything . . .

We said yes and followed him.