BEING CATHOLIC BEFORE JESUS EVEN preaches, heals someone, or performs a miracle, he calls people to follow him.
THE CALLING OF THE APOSTLES PETER AND ANDREW (1308-1311), DUCCIO DI BUONINSEGNA
Called to follow Christ by John W.
Martens
What’s the purpose of the church, and does it change with the times? John W. Martens is associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and director of the master’s in theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He writes “The Word” column for America magazine.
128 | VISION 2015 | VocationNetwork.org
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T THE HEART OF THE CHURCH IS VOCATION. The earliest idea of what is today called “church” starts with the Greek word ekklesia, which is only found twice in the gospels, both times in Matthew, and means those who have been “called out.” Jesus “calls out” all who follow him to share in his ministry in different ways. Before Jesus even preached, healed someone, or performed a miracle, he called people to follow him. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, after his baptism and temptation in the wilderness, the first thing he did was to call two sets of brothers. He asks Simon and Andrew and then James and John to follow him (Mark 1:16-20). And that is the church in its simplest terms: the followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus came proclaiming the kingdom, or reign, of God, and it
