What persuades you? What convinces you? And what helps you to believe in something?

For some of us, we need logic and reason. We respond well to a good, solid argument… one that leads us from point A to point B to point C and so on all the way up to the closing argument.

Some of us are motivated by fear. Tell us that the stove is hot and we won’t touch it.

Others of us have to have the big show, the spectacle. We respond well to miracles because… seeing is believing.

We all learn and come to believe in different ways. Which brings us to today’s Gospel and the calling of the first disciples. In Luke’s version of this story, there is quite the scene. Andrew and Simon and James and John can’t seem to catch a break, fishing all night with no success… until Jesus comes along and voila – they catch more than they can take in to their boat.

But in Mark’s Gospel, the one we heard today, there is no such show. The calling of the first disciples happens in a quieter, less dramatic manner, making us wonder what really took place. According to the Gospel, Jesus simply approaches them and asks them to follow. And they did…

What might that take? To get them to simply drop what they are doing, move on from their lives, their jobs, and the people they know… and then follow?

I wonder. Scripture doesn’t say.

If you are a logic and reason person, perhaps you think that Jesus explained to them in a very convincing manner that what he was going to do was worthy of their time.

If you are a fear person, then maybe you think that Jesus threatened them somehow.

Or, if you are a seeing-is-believing type person, then clearly Jesus must have performed an impressive miracle.

And so… how do you come to believe?

The problem with going strictly with logic and reason is that someone is always going to be able to convince you that that which you cannot see or touch directly cannot possibly exist. And they can be very convincing.

The challenge of the fear-based approach is that a life filled with fear is not much of a life.

The issue with the seeing-is-believing crowd is that when they don’t see the big miracle themselves, they can stop believing.

What happened to those disciples that made them follow Jesus? And what can happen to you and I that would make us want to follow him as well? I believe there is only one answer to that and that is – a personal encounter.

When you have a personal encounter, as Andrew and Simon and James and John did, then you can get past the lapses in logic and reason, you can sustain the absence of miracles, and you are not consumed with fear.

This is the essential task of this thing we call religion and this commission we have all been given to evangelize… to tell others about the Good News of Jesus Christ. That’s what this church is for and that is why we celebrate the Mass.

I have come to appreciate all the different ways we can learn about the Revelation of God’s plan… but am wary of logic-based arguments, scare tactics, and miracle theologies. I myself seek a personal relationship with Christ… the Christ who came into our world, who approaches us… in the course of our daily lives – as he did with those first disciples.

He approaches us.

Because he wants us to know him. Personally.

And then, he asks us to follow…