Rev. Emily Owen

In our text for today, we find ourselves still at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. We might remember that the gospel of Mark begins with prophecy, followed by Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River by John. After Jesus is baptized, he is revealed as God’s son, the beloved. Following the baptism, the gospel tells us that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness and that he remained there for forty days – tempted and tested. Following this time in the wilderness is where we pick up with our text for today.  And just as the words of the hymn we just sung proclaim, Jesus came to the lakeshore. The text mentions that Jesus was passing along the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is actually an inland, fresh-water lake where fisherman enjoyed a lucrative business.

Listen now for the Word of the Lord:

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray: May it be, O God, that the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts will be acceptable to you and useful to your purposes of grace.

On Tuesday I woke up early and could tell by the shade of light coming through the window blinds that everything outside was white. Like a little kid, I excitedly jumped up and ran to the window and stared in awe. Then I ran to other rooms and other windows to get a better look and a different view. Being Texas folk, a little snow really excites us. We made some coffee and took pictures. Later in the morning, I could hear kids playing outside. I looked out the front windows and sure enough there were kids throwing snowballs at one another, giggling and screaming. I have to admit that I was sort of glad they weren’t in my yard because I really liked the untouched snow look we had going on our front lawn. But alas, a few minutes later a young boy came waddling down the street, all bundled up and holding a remote for his remote control monster truck, which he proceeded to drive through all of the untouched snow.  He even did several figure eights in our yard before moving along. Part of me wanted to shout…NO! Find your own yard, but then I realized that if I were a young boy with a remote control car, that is exactly what I would want to do. So what if the snow has monster truck tracks going through it…it really isn’t a big deal. And just like that, my mind was changed. Things like this happen a lot in life. I get my mind stuck on something and God comes along in a very persistent way and says, No, that is not the way it is going to be. I decide that I liked the untouched snow look in the yard and along comes a young boy with his monster truck to remind me that snow can be fun and playful.

Two sets of brothers are fishing in the Sea of Galilee, minding their own business and working hard to make a living. And in the midst of their focus and work appears the Son of God, in person, standing on the lakeshore, calling them to follow him.

It is exciting really….we never know when God might do figure eights on our plans. But God doesn’t just knock down our plans, there is usually a bigger and better plan in store.

One of the many gifts that comes as a result of going to seminary is that you are asked on a regular basis to share your call story. People ask you all the time in seminary… what is God calling you to do? Or… how do you sense God’s call upon your life? These are good and important things to think about. In fact, I think the church should be better about doing this for everyone. We should ask these questions of one another on a regular basis. There is sometimes a misconception that to be called, you have to go into ministry of some sort. This simply is not the case. God calls each and every one of us. We are called to a wide range of vocations according to the wide range of gifts we have been given. This, I believe, is good news.

Each of us has a story about God’s call on our life…ways that we are called to be disciples in our church, in our daily lives and in the world…but recognizing and hearing God’s call seems to be easy for some and difficult for others. It is intimidating sometimes to know you are called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ, but you aren’t exactly sure what that means or what it is you are called to do. 

Another misconception about being called by God is that we are called once…that there is one thing God wants us to do and we have to somehow figure out what it is. This too, is not the case.  We have to remember that usually we are not called to only one thing, but we are called to different things at different times. Sometimes we are called to parenthood, sometimes to a new vocation and other times to serve on a committee or to be an officer at church. Regardless of what it is that we are called to do, we must remain attentive and open… and trust that God has a plan for us and with us.

In her book The Preaching Life, Barbara Brown Taylor eloquently writes of her struggle to figure out what she is supposed to do with her life. She has noticed a preoccupation with the church, but she isn’t sure if she is being called to be a Christian and a faithful member of the body of Christ or whether God is calling her to some sort of leadership role in the church.  She writes in her book,  and I quote…“One midnight I asked God to tell me as plainly as possible what I was supposed to do. “Anything that pleases you.”  That is the answer that came into my sleepy head. “What?” I said, waking up. “What kind of answer is that?” “Do anything that pleases you,” the voice in my head said again, “and belong to me.” That simplified things considerably, she writes, I could pump gas in Idaho or dig latrines in Pago Pago, as far as God was concerned, as long as I remembered whose I was.” She goes on to say that she decided to follow her heart and realized over the years that we are not called just once, but over and over again. She says, “Sometimes those calls ring clear as bells and sometimes they are barely audible, but in any case we are not meant to hear them all by ourselves. Together we can hear our calls,” she writes, “and together we can answer them, if only we will listen to the still small voice that continues to speak to us in the language of our lives.”

Do anything that pleases you and belong to me. It is a more complex statement than it seems.

Jesus comes to the lakeshore and he calls out to two fishing brothers, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” The original Greek can actually be translated, “Follow me and I will make you to become fisherman of people.” It has a different ring to it when Jesus invites and promises to make them into something new: fishermen of people rather than plain fishermen.

Some scholars suggest that "Follow me" meant in rabbinic speech, "become my students, be apprenticed to me, join my school, live with me." Students often lived with their rabbis; they did not merely hear their lectures. Discipleship was study-in-residence; it was a live-in arrangement in a home and with a teacher.

The unusual feature in Jesus' enrollment, however, is that Jesus asks the students to join him. Ordinarily, in those days, students came asking for the privilege of studying (and living) with the rabbi. But we see that Jesus is no ordinary rabbi." Maybe this remarkable reversal – where rabbi invites students, not student seeks out rabbi -- accounts for the eager response to Jesus' "follow me."

Whatever the reason was, when Jesus called, Simon, Andrew, James and John did answer eagerly. They left their old life and accepted Jesus’ invitation to be made into something new. Isn’t that what it means to follow someone else….you are giving up some of the control…you are accepting the figure eights in the snow. You are going on faith, unsure of what will come next, but hopeful about God’s providence.

I think that it is important to consider that there is a difference between discipleship as a task and discipleship as an identity.  Discipleship as a task is putting church on your to-do list. Discipleship as an identity is recognizing that the boundaries of what is worship and what is not are very fuzzy.

So drop your nets, drop anything that weighs you down or holds you back…drop your self-doubt, your self-criticism and that untouched snow mentality and listen for the still small voice of God calling you, saying “Follow me.”

In the name of the creator, redeemer and sustainer. Amen.