Is this
morning’s Gospel just an old story about guys who left their fishing to follow
Jesus? Or is a story about bravery and foolishness?
Fishermen
leaving their trade to follow an itinerant preacher required both bravery and
foolishness. When God calls us, we have to be brave enough to answer yes. And, we
have to be foolish enough to actually do the things God asks us to do. Jesus is
no respecter of persons but instead calls anyone who will listen to him.
What
Jesus did in this morning’s Gospel was take what Simon Peter and the others
were already doing and redirect it. He did not ask them to stop fishing.
Instead, he used the skills and knowledge they had for fishing to fish for
people.
This is
how it works for us too. What is it we are most passionate about? What is it
that we love doing the most? And how can we do that and be the hands and hearts
of Jesus?
Mark’s
Gospel reading tells us how today. All of us are good at something and that is
what we’re called to do, regardless of where we are or who we are. Each of us,
each of you, has something special and unique for which you are called by God.
And no one else but you can do that thing. And, like the disciples, it’s quite
likely something you already know how to do. Jesus wants the disciples to keep
on fishing but people will end up in the net instead of fish.
I’d like to think it must have been easier by the Sea of
Galilee to hear Jesus’ call. I’d like to think the quiet waves lapping on the
shore, and the strong, silent fishermen quietly mending and casting nets were
able to answer Jesus because they could hear him so clearly in that peaceful
place.
In actuality, the Sea of Galilee was a busy commercial place
in Jesus’ time. Galilee was a bustling fishing village, full of the slapping of
oars, the shouting of men, and the chinking of coins as fish was fished and caught
and sold and bought. If we want to picture this scene in its busy reality, we
should probably imagine Jesus yelling across all that noise, “Follow me!”
The amazing thing is that Simon and Andrew, James and John
actually heard Jesus. And even more surprising is that they followed Jesus.
Not
only that, we’re used to thinking of the disciples as poor and barely scraping
by, but it was more likely they had a lot to lose by following Jesus. Scripture
tells us Peter had a mother-in-law, which means he was married, and a house is
mentioned also, This was most likely a house which the family owned in a family
compound or mutual living area with other members of an extended fishing
family. James and John were prosperous enough for their father to have hired
men to help with the fishing business. In the grand scheme of things, to the
ruling class of Herod and his like, these Galilean fisher folk were pretty low
class, but for their time and place, they were better off than many. And, like
many of us, they led busy lives. They had demands on their time: work, family,
food, worship, taxes. The same responsibilities most of us have.
Yet when Jesus called, they answered. According to Mark’s
Gospel, they followed immediately. They dropped their busy lives and took on
another life: a life of following Jesus. They allowed their lives to be taken
over and shaped by the Living God. They used their fishing skills to fish for
people.
Go along with me for a few minutes to Puerto Rico to learn
what happens when people answer a call from God. There are people in Puerto
Rico right now who are answering the call of Jesus. They are answering by
providing power. The town of San Sebastián has waited four months since
Hurricane Maria to have power restored. The process of restoral was so slow it
was almost nonexistent.
Then
the mayor, a retired electrical employee himself, gathered a crew of men made
up of retired electrical workers to restore power to San Sebastián. And they
are doing it! Day by day, slowly and carefully, but with great enthusiasm,
power is being restored.
Is this
brave? Oh yes. For men who have retired from their positions, knowledge of
safety procedures can fade. The desire to accomplish something for those who
need it desperately can get it the way of doing things properly.
Is this
foolish? Oh yes. Who knows what further lawsuits or problems will arise once
the work is complete. And who knows whether or not someone will interfere to
put a stop to these currently unlicensed workers.
But now
there is a woman who can use her nebulizer in case of a life threatening asthma
attack. And now there are people who can refrigerate essential medicines and
formula for sick babies. There is light. There is power. And where there is
light and power, there is love.
What does this say to us about our calling? Have we allowed the Living God to take us over and
shape us? Or do we let the buying and selling, the busy commerce and work and
worry of the world drown out the call of Jesus saying, “Follow me?”
What else, I wonder, could happen through the hands and
hearts at St Alban’s, Bexley, Ohio? What if each one of us looked closely at
our busy lives and answered Jesus’ call to light and power? What would happen
if each of us allowed our life to be taken over and shaped by the Living God?
Just
imagine what would happen if each person listened and then gathered or joined
with people who heard the same call. And imagine what would happen if people
said, “We’ll do that, Jesus”? What would happen to this place if each of us used
the skills and knowledge God has given us and let Jesus change the catch?
Let us pray.
Loving
and creative God, you knew us before we were knit in the wombs of our mothers.
You formed each of us uniquely for a reason, and that reason is to love,
follow, and serve you in the ways you created us. Give us ears to listen, eyes
to see, hands to touch, minds to think, and hearts to love and live out your
call by the Power of Almighty God, with the Light of the Resurrected Christ,
and in the Sustaining Fire of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2018
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