Drop Everything!!

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.