The call of the Disciples by Duccio di Buoninsegna
The Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Epiphany is Matthew 4:12-33, telling how Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee and called the disciples to the great adventure he would share with them. And in Luke’s version of this story we get the wonderful words from Jesus to Peter ‘launch out into the deep’. (Luke 5:4) Reflecting on both these passages, as well as those other key images of our salvation, the ark, and the stilling of the storm, I wrote this sonnet, for my sequence in Sounding the Seasons, about how he calls us to adventure too. I wrote this sonnet some years ago but perhaps the imagery at the end of ‘the rising waves, the falling dark’, speaks particularly into the times we are presently living through.
As always you can hear me read the poem by clicking on the title or the play button.
He calls us all to step aboard his ship,
Take the adventure on this morning’s wing,
Raise sail with him, launch out into the deep,
Whatever storms or floods are threatening.
If faith gives way to doubt, or love to fear,
Then, as on Galilee, we’ll rouse the Lord,
For he is always with us and will hear
And make our peace with his creative Word,
Who made us, loved us, formed us and has set
All his beloved lovers in an ark;
Borne upwards by his Spirit, we will float
Above the rising waves, the falling dark,
As fellow pilgrims, driven towards that haven,
Where all will be redeemed, fulfilled, forgiven.
Malcolm Guite 