There must have been something divinely compelling in the face of the Savior. Otherwise they would not have acted so irrationally as to follow a man whom they had never seen before. Does one leave a father to follow a man in whom he sees nothing more than he sees in his father? They left their father of the flesh to follow the Father of the spirit. They did not leave a father; they found a Father. What is the point of this digression? To show that there was something divine in the Savior's very countenance that men, seeing, could not resist.
A beginning is made by detaching oneself from all external goods: property, selfimportance, social class and useless desire, following the holy example of the Lord's disciples. James and John left their father Zebedee and the very boat upon which their whole livelihood depended. Matthew left his counting house and followed the Lord, not merely leaving behind the profits of his occupation, but also paying no heed to the dangers which were sure to befall both himself and his family at the hands of the magistrates because he had left the tax accounts unfinished. Paul speaks of the whole world being crucified to him, and he to the world. Thus, those who are strongly seized with the desire of following Christ can no longer be concerned with anything pertaining to this life, not even with the love of their parents or other relatives insofar as this runs counter to the calling of the Lord. The Long Rules, Question
You have heard, dearest brothers, that at the voice of a single command, Peter and Andrew, leaving their nets, followed the Redeemer. They had seen him perform no miracles yet, they had heard nothing from him about the reward of eternal recompense; and yet at one command of the Lord they forgot what they seemed to possess. How many of his miracles do we see, with how many scourges are we afflicted, by how many harsh threats are we deterred, and yet we disdain to follow him when he calls? He who admonishes us about conversion already sits in heaven; he has already subjected the necks of the nations to the yoke of faith, he has already laid low the glory of the world, he already announces, as its ruins multiply, that the day of his strict judgment draws near; and yet our proud mind does not wish to abandon willingly what it loses daily against its will. What then, dearest ones, what shall we say at his judgment, we who are neither bent by commands nor corrected by blows from the love of the present age? But perhaps someone may say to himself in silent thoughts: At the Lord's voice, what or how much did each of these fishermen leave behind, who had almost nothing? But in this matter, dearest brothers, we ought to weigh the affection rather than the wealth. He left much who retained nothing for himself; he left much who, however little it was, abandoned everything. Certainly we both possess what we have with love, and seek from desire those things we do not have at all. Therefore Peter and Andrew left much, since each also abandoned the desires of having. He left much who renounced his longings along with the thing he possessed. Therefore those who followed gave up as much as could be desired by those who did not follow.
