Epiphany III
The Reverend Martha Frances
Year B, Third Sunday after the Epiphany
25 January 2009
Text: Mark 1: 14-20
Other: Jonah 3: 1-5, 10; Psalm 62: 6-14; I Corinthians 7: 29-31
Living overseas gives folk an opportunity to view their own countries with new eyes, so to speak, & Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, an author to whom I often refer, is spending this year as an exchange priest in Florence, Italy. The invocation she gave at an inauguration watch party in Florence reminds us of some of the blessings we Americans often take for granted. Please pray with me part of Mother Crafton's prayer:
Creator & sustainer of the universe, known in so many different ways by so many different people, we rejoice today in the privilege of living in a society in which peaceful political change is possible. We rejoice in our power to do a new thing, to act on our beliefs & to amend our ways. We rejoice that today marks a milestone in our life together that many of us thought we would live & die without seeing. We rejoice in the witness of all who gave their lives so that we all might inherit freedom, & we pledge ourselves to be worthy of their sacrifice, to strive always to be the people they died believing us to be. . . . All of this we pray in unity of heart & purpose. And let the people say AMEN.
Certainly this week's events signal our country's doing new things in many areas. As has not been true, perhaps, since the Roosevelt election early in the Great Depression, the bleak economic picture with its partner of rising unemployment is part of the call for change rampant in our elections this year. We know very little of the background circumstances in Galilee as Jesus begins choosing his followers at the beginning of his public ministry, but certainly his call signals a drastic change.
After all, the fishing business has been about as fruitful for Simon & Andrew, James & John this season as business has been in the US this year. Then Jesus comes along by the seashore with his invitation to "Follow me & I will make you fish for people." After all, the 4 fishermen are clearly middle-classed members of their society for they have homes & families & their own fishing boats, & they employ hired men, so the complications of running a fishing business which support rather large extended families may really be getting to them, & anyway, Zebedee has been particularly overbearing lately. Also, Peter is feeling put-upon by both wife & mother-in-law who have been rather sickly, don't you know? Jesus, the charismatic rabbi from up the road, offers an alternative which sounds like the equivalent of running off & joining the circus to these hometown boys.
Jesus' call to the first 4 disciples sounds much like God's calls to patriarchs & prophets such as Abraham & Isaiah in the sacred history of the Hebrews that these fishermen recall from their synagogue study, yet their response indicates none of the hesitancy of their ancestors: Peter, Andrew, John, & James leave their nets immediately & follow Jesus. Never mind how countercultural their response is; how is Zebedee going to manage without his sons? Peter's wife without his visible means of support? In fact, later passages indicate that the fishermen return to their craft in between missionary journeys, or at least after Jesus is crucified. Actually, Jesus' Galilean center of operation during his public ministry is Capernaum & is probably from Peter's house. The point isn't how extraordinary are the men & women who join Jesus' band of traveling disciples but rather how ordinary they are, how much they are like the man or woman down the block to whom we speak at the grocery store, or how much they are like you & you & you, & me.
Jesus' call to a spiritual journey arises out of a tradition in which the Hebrew people were regularly called from the everydayness of their lives to once again make faithfulness to God the first priority in their lives. Moses spent 40 years molding a people to make JHWH their one & only God. Centuries of prophets followed him. In our 1st lesson today, God calls Jonah for a 2nd time, even after he runs off & gets swallowed by the whale in trying to duck out on God's will for him. This time Jonah heads to Nineveh, preaches the message of repentance that God gives him, & is astounded when the people respond positively causing God to change God's mind about destroying the city.
In neither of these instances is the audience a group of professional preachers-to-be which God is calling to be set apart to work for the Church. No, these calls & a myriad of others are to folks who have daily lives & responsibilities yet are called to a new orientation in the lives they're already leading.
This gospel, the good news which Mark is so anxious to record for future generations, Jesus issues to fisherman & tax collectors & housewives & even professional religious folks like Nicodemus who come to him at night. This invitation to "Follow me, & I will make you fish for people" is issued to us here today also. And what might that look like in our lives?
When Jesus calls people to repent & believe in the good news, the initiative is always Jesus's. God reaches out to us first. Often, that call comes through other Christians. Many of you have shared that you came to the Christian community first because someone invited you. Jesus operates through you & me to call people to further faithfulness, but it is Jesus' impetus to begin with. I wouldn't have the courage to reach out if Jesus weren't urging me to do so. How about you? You see, even our invitation to others is our responding to God's call.
Those who are called to make God the center of their lives are usually going about doing ordinary things. Jesus didn't go out on the street corner to those hanging out to pick his disciples from those who didn't have anything better to do. Jesus reaches out to folks who are effective members of their professions; Jesus wants those who know how to get things done, so now they'll get holy things done.
How many times have you heard or read the Gospel that we've read today? How many times have you & I said, "Here am I; send me" & really meant it? Jesus issues a clear summons to follow him over & over again in our lives because it's not an easy task to fulfill & we have to keep being reminded. That's part of why we renew our baptismal promises several times a year on baptismal Sundays just as we did a couple of weeks ago & would have done even if we hadn't had children being baptized.
The word "repent" means to turn around & let Jesus reorient our whole lives—& Jesus expects such a call to disrupt business as usual. Our initial response may be as immediate & unreflective as was that of the fishermen, & an emotional response to a powerful religious experience is often how we begin a deeper path in our journey.
However, keeping our lives Christ-focused isn't a once-&-for-always proposition; we can't stay on task on our own will power; if we could, we wouldn't need a savior. This journey is just that: a journey. It will take the rest of our lives, & we're called to share Christ's mission so we have to keep getting plugged into the source. We do that through daily prayer & regular Bible study & exploration of an abundant Christian life. Christ calls us to share, so we have to discipline ourselves to nurture our conscious contact with Christ.
And you know what? A deepening & maturing faith isn't a solo, just-you-&-me, Jesus proposition. Jesus called 12 apostles & had a far larger community of disciples beyond his closest friends. Jesus expects us to travel in community with others who have responded, & that's part of the reason why we are planning small study groups for the Lenten season; we need others as we engage in spiritual study, reflection, & prayer. We're hoping every youth & adult will choose to be involved in one of the small groups for 5 weeks. We ALL need to hear Jesus call to follow & to say "Yes" to the good news & share it with others anew. We need to lift each other up in prayer. We need to offer ourselves up to the larger community in ministry—being willing to give of our time, or talent, & our resources that we can be a light of Christ in this neighborhood.
Now, we don't have separate altar calls in the Episcopal Church. Instead, we're all called to come forward & be nurtured by the body & blood of Christ each week at the Eucharistic table. Two of our children will celebrate their 1st Communion today because they want to feel fully part of the family. And just in case you haven't ever felt personally included in such a call as Jesus made to the 4 fishermen & the multitude of other disciples, I want you to hear loud & clear today that Jesus is calling you—or is calling you anew—to follow him. Jesus is calling you so you may grow in Christ's love & then minister in your daily life. Hope Episcopal needs each of you in our fishing expedition. Jesus says, "Follow me, & I will make you fish for people."
Year B, Third Sunday after the Epiphany
25 January 2009
Text: Mark 1: 14-20
Other: Jonah 3: 1-5, 10; Psalm 62: 6-14; I Corinthians 7: 29-31
Living overseas gives folk an opportunity to view their own countries with new eyes, so to speak, & Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, an author to whom I often refer, is spending this year as an exchange priest in Florence, Italy. The invocation she gave at an inauguration watch party in Florence reminds us of some of the blessings we Americans often take for granted. Please pray with me part of Mother Crafton's prayer:
Creator & sustainer of the universe, known in so many different ways by so many different people, we rejoice today in the privilege of living in a society in which peaceful political change is possible. We rejoice in our power to do a new thing, to act on our beliefs & to amend our ways. We rejoice that today marks a milestone in our life together that many of us thought we would live & die without seeing. We rejoice in the witness of all who gave their lives so that we all might inherit freedom, & we pledge ourselves to be worthy of their sacrifice, to strive always to be the people they died believing us to be. . . . All of this we pray in unity of heart & purpose. And let the people say AMEN.
Certainly this week's events signal our country's doing new things in many areas. As has not been true, perhaps, since the Roosevelt election early in the Great Depression, the bleak economic picture with its partner of rising unemployment is part of the call for change rampant in our elections this year. We know very little of the background circumstances in Galilee as Jesus begins choosing his followers at the beginning of his public ministry, but certainly his call signals a drastic change.
After all, the fishing business has been about as fruitful for Simon & Andrew, James & John this season as business has been in the US this year. Then Jesus comes along by the seashore with his invitation to "Follow me & I will make you fish for people." After all, the 4 fishermen are clearly middle-classed members of their society for they have homes & families & their own fishing boats, & they employ hired men, so the complications of running a fishing business which support rather large extended families may really be getting to them, & anyway, Zebedee has been particularly overbearing lately. Also, Peter is feeling put-upon by both wife & mother-in-law who have been rather sickly, don't you know? Jesus, the charismatic rabbi from up the road, offers an alternative which sounds like the equivalent of running off & joining the circus to these hometown boys.
Jesus' call to the first 4 disciples sounds much like God's calls to patriarchs & prophets such as Abraham & Isaiah in the sacred history of the Hebrews that these fishermen recall from their synagogue study, yet their response indicates none of the hesitancy of their ancestors: Peter, Andrew, John, & James leave their nets immediately & follow Jesus. Never mind how countercultural their response is; how is Zebedee going to manage without his sons? Peter's wife without his visible means of support? In fact, later passages indicate that the fishermen return to their craft in between missionary journeys, or at least after Jesus is crucified. Actually, Jesus' Galilean center of operation during his public ministry is Capernaum & is probably from Peter's house. The point isn't how extraordinary are the men & women who join Jesus' band of traveling disciples but rather how ordinary they are, how much they are like the man or woman down the block to whom we speak at the grocery store, or how much they are like you & you & you, & me.
Jesus' call to a spiritual journey arises out of a tradition in which the Hebrew people were regularly called from the everydayness of their lives to once again make faithfulness to God the first priority in their lives. Moses spent 40 years molding a people to make JHWH their one & only God. Centuries of prophets followed him. In our 1st lesson today, God calls Jonah for a 2nd time, even after he runs off & gets swallowed by the whale in trying to duck out on God's will for him. This time Jonah heads to Nineveh, preaches the message of repentance that God gives him, & is astounded when the people respond positively causing God to change God's mind about destroying the city.
In neither of these instances is the audience a group of professional preachers-to-be which God is calling to be set apart to work for the Church. No, these calls & a myriad of others are to folks who have daily lives & responsibilities yet are called to a new orientation in the lives they're already leading.
This gospel, the good news which Mark is so anxious to record for future generations, Jesus issues to fisherman & tax collectors & housewives & even professional religious folks like Nicodemus who come to him at night. This invitation to "Follow me, & I will make you fish for people" is issued to us here today also. And what might that look like in our lives?
When Jesus calls people to repent & believe in the good news, the initiative is always Jesus's. God reaches out to us first. Often, that call comes through other Christians. Many of you have shared that you came to the Christian community first because someone invited you. Jesus operates through you & me to call people to further faithfulness, but it is Jesus' impetus to begin with. I wouldn't have the courage to reach out if Jesus weren't urging me to do so. How about you? You see, even our invitation to others is our responding to God's call.
Those who are called to make God the center of their lives are usually going about doing ordinary things. Jesus didn't go out on the street corner to those hanging out to pick his disciples from those who didn't have anything better to do. Jesus reaches out to folks who are effective members of their professions; Jesus wants those who know how to get things done, so now they'll get holy things done.
How many times have you heard or read the Gospel that we've read today? How many times have you & I said, "Here am I; send me" & really meant it? Jesus issues a clear summons to follow him over & over again in our lives because it's not an easy task to fulfill & we have to keep being reminded. That's part of why we renew our baptismal promises several times a year on baptismal Sundays just as we did a couple of weeks ago & would have done even if we hadn't had children being baptized.
The word "repent" means to turn around & let Jesus reorient our whole lives—& Jesus expects such a call to disrupt business as usual. Our initial response may be as immediate & unreflective as was that of the fishermen, & an emotional response to a powerful religious experience is often how we begin a deeper path in our journey.
However, keeping our lives Christ-focused isn't a once-&-for-always proposition; we can't stay on task on our own will power; if we could, we wouldn't need a savior. This journey is just that: a journey. It will take the rest of our lives, & we're called to share Christ's mission so we have to keep getting plugged into the source. We do that through daily prayer & regular Bible study & exploration of an abundant Christian life. Christ calls us to share, so we have to discipline ourselves to nurture our conscious contact with Christ.
And you know what? A deepening & maturing faith isn't a solo, just-you-&-me, Jesus proposition. Jesus called 12 apostles & had a far larger community of disciples beyond his closest friends. Jesus expects us to travel in community with others who have responded, & that's part of the reason why we are planning small study groups for the Lenten season; we need others as we engage in spiritual study, reflection, & prayer. We're hoping every youth & adult will choose to be involved in one of the small groups for 5 weeks. We ALL need to hear Jesus call to follow & to say "Yes" to the good news & share it with others anew. We need to lift each other up in prayer. We need to offer ourselves up to the larger community in ministry—being willing to give of our time, or talent, & our resources that we can be a light of Christ in this neighborhood.
Now, we don't have separate altar calls in the Episcopal Church. Instead, we're all called to come forward & be nurtured by the body & blood of Christ each week at the Eucharistic table. Two of our children will celebrate their 1st Communion today because they want to feel fully part of the family. And just in case you haven't ever felt personally included in such a call as Jesus made to the 4 fishermen & the multitude of other disciples, I want you to hear loud & clear today that Jesus is calling you—or is calling you anew—to follow him. Jesus is calling you so you may grow in Christ's love & then minister in your daily life. Hope Episcopal needs each of you in our fishing expedition. Jesus says, "Follow me, & I will make you fish for people."
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