Scripture:
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Psalm 62:5-12 I
Corinthians 7:29-31 Mark 1:14-20
This Sunday’s readings give us the second in a two-part
series of call stories. Last Sunday we read about God’s call of the
child Samuel, and Jesus’ call of Philip and Nathanael. Today we have the story of Jonah – a most
reluctant prophet – and Jesus’ call of Simon and Andrew, James and John.
We’re also back in Mark’s gospel, the shortest Gospel,
likely the first Gospel written. Mark
gives us a portrait of Jesus as a man of action, always on the move, always in
motion – “Jolt Cola Jesus” or “Caffeinated Christ”. The Greek word “euthus” – meaning
“immediately, right away” – is in the text over and over – Jesus did this, and
immediately he went to a different place and said that, and right away he went
to yet another place and healed someone.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t let grass grow under his feet.
Today’s Gospel reading is no exception. And I should begin by saying that, if I were
filming this part of Mark’s gospel, I would begin with some moderately ominous
music – not disaster music, not Titanic going underwater music, but music
indicating a looming threat. Because our
reading begins, “Now after John was arrested…..” We remember that before starting his own
ministry, Jesus had been baptized by John.
John was leading a renewal movement in his own right – quite a large one
- and perhaps Jesus had been a part of that movement. But now John was arrested. Jesus’ mentor was in jail. Every one of John’s followers must have asked
themselves, “What now? Where do we go
from here?”
Jesus’ answer to that question was to start his own
movement. Jesus did this knowing, of
course, that the same powerful leaders who shut down John’s movement would come
for Jesus sooner or later. Jesus began
preaching, saying “The time has come!
Repent, and believe the good news of God.” “The time has come” – the time when God was
going to break through all the world’s corruption, was going to break through
Rome’s oppression and the religious leadership’s complicity with Rome, and act
decisively for God’s people. Or, put another way, “Time’s up! God’s coming to clean up our act!”
Besides
proclaiming “Time’s Up”, Jesus also called on people to do two things: Repent
and believe. Of course, in church we
hear the word repent a lot -probably the only place it’s still in common usage,
and maybe that says something about our society. We may
see that word outside the church – if you drive out to the more rural sections
of Pennsylvania, you may see billboards with the word REPENT in big red letters,
maybe surrounded by a drawing of flames or such. We often water down the meaning of the word
“repent” to mean putting on a long face and feeling guilty about our sins. We want to make it an emotional thing, a very
passive thing, essentially a head trip.
But that’s not how Jesus was using the word. The Greek word, μετανοεῖτε,
literally means to change direction. As
in, for the veterans among us, “About face”.
It’s not just about a change in attitude but a change in action, a
change in our way of living. If we’ve
gone far astray, it may mean a kind of coming home to ourselves.
Easily said. Not so
easily done. We’re far enough into
January that, if we made any New Years resolutions, they may well be broken by
now. We know some of our attitudes and actions
are self-destructive and/or harmful to others.
But we keep doing them. We’ve all
heard people vow on December 31, for example, that 2018 was the year they were stopping
drinking and going vegan. January 13
……there they were on the couch in front of the big screen, watching the Eagles
play the Falcons, with a case of PBR and
a bucket of wings nearby, and by the time the game was done, so were the wings
and half the case. And they crawled out
of bed the next day with a square head and beat ourselves up for having messed
up. Though the specifics may vary, I’ve
been there, and in one way or another, I suspect most of us have been too.
Here’s where our friends in AA, NA and other 12-step
programs can help us. The first three
steps of AA tell us that we’re powerless over our addiction – alcohol, drugs,
food, gambling, sex, shopping, whatever our chosen crutch or pacifier may be –
and that our lives have become unmanageable, that we came to believe that a
power greater than ourselves can restore us to sanity, and made a decision to
turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand God. And it’s a daily thing – one day at a
time. I’m going to trust God to keep me
from drinking – or shooting up – or living out whatever my addiction is –
today, just for today. Tomorrow’s
another day, and we’ll deal with tomorrow when tomorrow comes, when tomorrow
becomes today. But I’m not going to
drink or drug – today.
I say all this because repentance – changing direction – is
an ongoing process. There may be some
dramatic moment of decision, an altar call or such, running up the aisle and
kneeling at the altar and crying on the shoulder of one of the deacons. For a
lot of people, that moment of decision goes no further than a moment of
emotional catharsis, leading to no life change over the long haul. Or there may not be any of that….in our
Reformed tradition, discipleship is often more a matter of quietly allowing
ourselves to be formed into God’s pattern of life gradually, without a lot of
emotionalism ……and I have to put it out there, that we’re saved by faith, not
by feelings, not by drama. But the
repentance of which Jesus spoke is an ongoing thing, a daily thing. It may be loud, or it may be quiet, but it
always is daily. The tense of the Greek
word μετανοεῖτε implies ongoing, continuous
action…..so it’s not just “repent one time and you’re done” but rather “keep on
repenting”. Keep on being open to changing direction. Keep on living into God’s will…..one day at a
time.
Jesus called on people, not only to repent, but to
believe. And again, we’ve watered down
the word believe. We want to make
believing a very passive sort of thing – a matter of carrying thoughts in our
head that don’t necessarily result in action.
We recite the Apostles Creed every week, but it’s head knowledge, and
may not make much difference in how we live on a daily basis. We may believe in God in the same way we
believe that Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania – we know God is up
there somewhere and Harrisburg is out there somewhere in the middle of the
state, but aside from telling me where to mail my tax check, that info may make
very little difference in our lives. If
the state capitol were moved to Philly or Pittsburgh or Podunk, I’d just mail
my tax return there instead, and otherwise I wouldn’t give it a second thought.
But the kind of believing of which Jesus spoke is a kind of radical trust –
basically putting our lives in Jesus’ hands, staking our lives on Jesus. Sort of like if we’re seriously ill and have
to have surgery that in the short term causes pain and leaves us weak – may for
a short time leave us feeling worse than before the surgery - but we do it because
we trust the doctor’s words that this surgery will lead to healing. Or sort of like when a relationship deepens
to the point where we’re ready to commit to a spouse or partner for better, for
worse, for richer, for poorer, and all the rest – basically each spouse puts
his or her life in the other’s hands.
And that’s the level of trust and commitment Jesus asks of us when he
asks us to believe.
We see what it looks like to repent – change direction – and
to believe – to stake their lives on Jesus - in Jesus’ call to his
disciples. Jesus walks along the
shoreline, sees Simon and Andrew casting their nets, and says to them, “Come,
and I will make you fish for people”.
And they drop everything and follow Jesus. Further down the shoreline, Jesus sees James
and John in their boat, calls to them, “Follow me”, and they drop everything to
follow Jesus, leaving their father Zebedee and the hired men behind in the
boat. Simon and Andrew, James and John,
these fishermen drop everything to follow Jesus.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that just boggles my
mind. “They left their nets…..they left
their boat…..they left their father and the hired men behind in the boat……”..
that makes my head want to explode. Who
are these people? Who acts like that? By nature, I’m a cautious person. I don’t do drama, and I don’t make impulsive
decisions, and while I welcome everybody, it takes me a really long time to
trust people enough to rely on them. And
I’m kind of predictable. I sometimes
joke to my pastor colleagues who preach without manuscripts that I have all the
spontaneity of a player piano, and so I want my sermon on paper in front of me.
And as I say that, I just shrug my
shoulders….that’s just how I roll, just how I’m wired. If you want predictable reliability, I can do
that. If you want surprises, find
somebody else; I’m just not your guy. Uh-uh. For
me, switching from Coke to Pepsi, or the other way around, is a big adjustment,
fraught with as much trauma as I want to deal with on an average day.
But Simon and Andrew, James and John dropped everything to
follow someone they’d just met. They
didn’t just sit in the boat and feel bad about their sins and then go back to
fishing…they left their lives behind. The only way I can understand that, at least
in this stage in my life, is that they couldn’t have been feeling much fulfillment
or joy in their lives as they were. Think
of what happened when Jesus called the rich young ruler to sell all he had,
give to the poor, and follow him, and then think of the blind beggar Bartimaeus,
who cried out to Jesus for healing. The
rich guy wouldn’t follow Jesus, because he couldn’t leave his wealth behind,
couldn’t leave his comfortable life behind.
By contrast, when Jesus heard the cry of blind Bartimaeus and asked what
he could do for him, Bartimaeus didn’t have to think very long and hard – he
told Jesus he wanted to see again. And Bartimaeus
didn’t have to ponder much whether to follow Jesus after he’d been healed. Compared
to the rich young ruler’s comforts and wealth, the way of Jesus looked really
scary. Compared to what Bartimaeus had – a filthy beggar’s cloak and not much
else, the way of Jesus looked really good.
And maybe that’s how is was for those first disciples, for Simon and
Andrew, James and John, as well.
It’s worthwhile putting this story side to side with the
story of Jonah. Like Jesus’ disciples,
Jonah was called by God to preach in Nineveh.
The thing is, though, that Jonah didn’t drop everything and follow God’s
call, at least not initially. In fact,
Jonah’s first response was to drop everything and take the first ferry boat in
the opposite direction of Nineveh. It’s
only after Jonah got tossed off the boat and swallowed by a whale and coughed
up right back where he started, that Jonah did what God asked of him, and that
was our reading today. Jonah’s first
response was the opposite of belief; he had no trust in God whatever, and no
love for the people of Nineveh. And I
have to confess, there are when I feel God is calling me to do something or say
something, when I feel like Jonah and want to run away. I want to tell God, “Leave me alone. There are hundreds of thousands of Christians
in Philadelphia. Find someone else to
take that on.” And this is the opposite
of belief, the opposite of trust.
How about us? Have we
listened for God’s call in our lives?
And are we willing to drop everything to respond to the call of
Jesus? Or do we act like Jonah – as I am
tempted to do sometimes – and try to run away?
Or maybe try to squeeze God’s call into a little tiny corner of our
schedule and otherwise go on with our lives as always?
And how do we know it’s the call of Jesus? After all, we’re probably not going to see
Jesus physically drop in at our office or shop floor and say “Follow me.” God’s probably not going to send a whale to
show up at our front door and ring the doorbell – “Hello, I’m a whale, and I’m
here to take you to Nineveh or Kensington because God wants you there.” So how do we know it’s not just our own
motivations – wanting to stroke our ego by being recognized, wanting to relieve
our guilt by sacrificing and serving.
There are plenty of pastors in pulpits who were never called by God, who
just want to be the center of attention and to dominate or manipulate other
people, along with more than a few outright predators – as it’s said among
clergy sometimes, “some are sent, and some just went.” Here’s where the church can help. If you feel God may be calling you to do
something new, to step out in faith, but you’re not sure, it may be helpful to
discuss it with the pastor or with some of the leaders or longtime
members. I or others may be able to ask
questions or share from our life experience or suggest resources to bring more
clarity to the decision. But then, if
you’re clear on what God is asking of you….then it’s time to commit.
“Follow me,” Jesus said.
“Follow me, and I will have you fishing for people.” For the sake of our neighborhood, as well as
for our own sake, and for the sake of Emanuel Church, may we be following, and
may we be fishing. May the Risen Christ
open our ears to hear his call, and where he leads, may we follow. Amen.
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