Reading 1, 1 Samuel 1:1-8

1 There was a man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the highlands of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

2 He had two wives, one called Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children but Hannah had none.

3 Every year this man used to go up from his town to worship, and to sacrifice to Yahweh Sabaoth at Shiloh. (The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there as priests of Yahweh.)

4 One day Elkanah offered a sacrifice. Now he used to give portions to Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;

5 to Hannah, however, he would give only one portion: for, although he loved Hannah more, Yahweh had made her barren.

6 Furthermore, her rival would taunt and provoke her, because Yahweh had made her womb barren.

7 And this went on year after year; every time they went up to the temple of Yahweh she used to taunt her. On that day she wept and would not eat anything;

8 so her husband Elkanah said, ‘Hannah, why are you crying? Why are you not eating anything? Why are you so sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?’

Gospel, Mark 1:14-20

14 After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying,

15 ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’

16 As he was walking along by the Lake of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net in the lake — for they were fishermen.

17 And Jesus said to them, ‘Come after me and I will make you into fishers of people.’

18 And at once they left their nets and followed him.

19 Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending the nets.

"They were fishermen"

20 At once he called them and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

 These writers want to show how God’s purposes for human beings relate to  family life.  In the first passage we are given a painful account of the barrenness of Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel. She is in a delicate situation, taunted by her co-wife, yet unable to complain about her to her husband, out of delicacy, or perhaps, fear. Her husband tries to cheer her by referring to their love as a couple, but she has set her heart on a child. Out of this single-mindedness comes a child who will be single-minded for God.

 In the New Testament passage, the writer shows that the call to discipleship cuts across family life and responsibility. The abruptness of the call is not meant to be realistic but is intended to reveal the authority of Jesus, yet the narrator is unsparing in his depiction of the abandoned father amongst the nets. The cost of discipleship is not fudged. Something however in the previous life of the men is accepted by Jesus as useful: their trade as fishers. The God who is already casting his net amongst people can use their skills.

 As children, we learn that there are aspects of family life which are useful for our calling, and others which we must leave behind. As parents, we see that we may abandoned by children, who put their calling above their responsibilities to us.