At the start of his public ministry, Jesus called some people to share in his Vocation to proclaim the Good News of God's Salvation to all people.  By tradition, the Third Sunday of Epiphany has the theme of vocation - God's Calling and Commissioning.  In Year A, The Call is to four fishermen who responded to Jesus' Follow Me by downing their nets and joining Jesus in the great adventure of faith and proclamation.  In Year B this is repeated in Mark's version which begins with the stirring words:

Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying
the time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near;
repent and believe in the good news.

In Year C (the readings we are currently using) it is our Lord's own Vocation which is celebrated.  Visiting his home synagogue in Nazareth, as he regularly did on the Sabbath, he read from the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor ...

At the end of the reading, Jesus proclaimed his own Vocation - Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

Our own vocation to both follow Jesus and proclaim Him stems from this moment in the Nazareth Synagogue.  We know how Jesus went on to fulfil Isaiah's prophecy and we share the fruit of that fulfilment.  But it is not just receiving of salvation and good news that is the final word.  Before Jesus ascended to his Father, he gave the Church a great commission to go on proclaiming His Good News to all the world.  The word 'Gospel' means 'Good News' and the New Testament Greek word for this 'euangeliou' - means also to 'Evangelise' - to proclaim - to show forth how the Good News has changed our own lives and given them true meaning.  We proclaim this as much by who we are as by what we say.  We proclaim Jesus through being close to him in prayer and active with him in discipleship.  Not just words, but actions are required of us.

I know I've quoted this prayer (written by a New Guinea Christian) before, but I'm happy to do so again because not only is it lovely and profound in its simplicity, it also captures the essence of what fulfilling our vocation means:

O Lord, you are King of our spirits,

You have issued orders to your subjects to do a great work.

You have commanded us to preach the Gospel to every creature.

We are going on that errand now.

Let your presence go with us;

Enliven us and enable us

to persevere in your great work until the day we die.