sermon-Jan. 27, 2008

Sermon-Year A-3rd Sunday after Epiphany-1-27-08
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
Two guys are out fishing in a small boat in the ocean a couple of miles off shore. Suddenly a large wave comes along and throws the fishermen into the water. Suddenly a shark fin of the great white appears a 100 yards away. They’re dog paddling, trying to figure out what to do, when one of them all of a sudden starts swimming furiously for the beach. The guy left behind yells out, “you can’t outswim a great white shark this far from the shore!” The first guy, swimming swiftly away says, “I don’t have to-I just have to swim faster than you.”
You all know your Bible at least a little, right? Remember the story of the man born with leprosy who was healed by Jesus. (Don’t confuse this with the story of the 10 lepers, and only one turned back to give thanks). Remember the story of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, the exorcism of the man named legion who was possessed, the woman at the well who had been married 5 times, the man born blind, the healing of the man who sat by the waters for 38 years, the man born deaf, Lazarus, Mary, Martha-you know dozens of Bible stories where people experienced the power and the charisma of Jesus, right? So how come only 12 followed him? Over and over we hear the stories of Jesus changing lives, rescuing people from themselves, saving people from their afflictions-and yet we hear pretty clearly that there were only 12 disciples called to follow. How come? Where were all these other people? Why weren’t they running after Jesus, too. Were the disciples smarter, better, more faithful than everyone else?
You know what got me started thinking about this? Years ago I was in a Bible study, and several of the people were older in the group, and they wanted to know- “whatever happened to poor Zebedee, the father of James and John?” The boys jump out of the boat and leave their father Zebedee-and what happens to him. And that’s what started me wondering, we know lots of stories of Jesus salvaging lives-where were all those “other” people-why did Jesus only call 12 to be fishers of people? Why not all those other folks who were changed so deeply?
I have to be careful here, I don’t have an answer, but I have a guess.
My experience is that people who come to church often are usually (not always) but usually, pretty good people. You’re not perfect, but you are trying who are trying hard to be better. And when you hear a gospel story like the one for today lots of you don’t feel inspired, you feel-(what)--guilty. You hear about Peter and Andrew, James and John leaving their lives, in a moment, dramatically, impulsively, and you think, “I could never do that”. More often than not when this gospel story is told, Christians, you and I, think to ourselves, “if I only had more faith, if I only was stronger, if only I had what they had/knew what they knew/felt what they felt-IF ONLYI HAD THEIR FAITH!-I could do this-too.” But then we walk out of church, and we walk away from the story, but we don’t forget the guilt. And we wish we could be more like these four strong faithful amazing fishermen.
Remember the 5000 who were fed with fishes and loaves, how about all the people at the wedding in Cana, the woman who bled for 12 years, the people who heard the sermon on the mount, the widow of Nain’s son who was raised, the woman with the costly nard who anointed Jesus’ feet? Where were all those people, how come they weren’t jumping out of boats to follow? Why were there only 12? Do you think Israel in 30AD was filled with thousands of people, like you and I, who were changed and revived and then sat around feeling guilty because they just didn’t have what it takes to get out of the boat? Think about it, why, out of all the people who were touché, heard, saw, experienced, felt the nearness of the Kingdom of God, why only these 12 were asked to fish for others?
In fact of the 12 who followed Jesus, none of them, as far as we know, not one was ever healed, revived, resuscitated, or for that matter, even baptized by Jesus. So why did Jesus call these twelve and no one else followed him? Starting to feel a little bit better about yourself? It’s not just you.
I think maybe Jesus wanted all these other people to stay exactly where they were. J.H.W. Rhys writes, “God calls us all to salvation-but to different vocations. Zebedee and his crew’s job is to go on securing food for others.” I wonder if Jesus called everyone he met-it’s just that a very few were supposed to walk along behind-everyone else-wasn’t. All the rest were to simply supposed to live lives that proclaimed that “the kingdom of heaven has come near”. I wonder if all those other people were told to stay put, live their lives, do their jobs,raise their families, be noble, and faithful, and lifechanging, bringing the good news of the kingdom of God- to all those around them? I don’t know, but I do know that Jesus touched hundreds if not thousands of people-and they didn’t follow. So what did they do? I think they simply told other people about Jesus. And lived their lives where they were.
One thing that helps make this clear for me about today’s gospel, is that Jesus wants his followers to fish for people. As K.K. Oehmig says, “the call to follow is not just about personal fulfillment. We are called for the sake of others. The church exists for mission…”People weren’t healed, forgiven, rescued and saved just so they could go back to their old lives and stay the same. Staying in the same place, and staying the same-AREN’T THE SAME THING. They were meant to be changed, they were meant to fish where they were. Maybe there were other ways to follow than just walking with Jesus.
This is what I do know, most of the time, when we hear the story of the four who jumped out of the boat-we don’t feel inspired, motivated, moved. We just feel inadequate-others can do it-I can’t. But I don’t think that’s true. What about the centurion at the cross, Simon of Cyrene, the man who offered his donkey, or the man who gave away his upper room for the last supper. How about all the people in the last verse in today’s gospel- “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people”. Were these people all failures too, because they didn’t walk behind on the road? I don’t think so. I just think that they had other fishing to do-catching people where they live. I think that most of the people Jesus encounters, people like you and I, are supposed to be changed-and then we are called to fish exactly where we are. There are two ways to follow-one is to jump out of the boat-and the other it to stay in it-and keep fishing where we are. I think we’re all called to follow, some on the road-some in the boat. Amen.
Matthew 4:12-23
4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 4:13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 4:14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 4:15 "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles 4:16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." 4:17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 4:18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. 4:19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 4:20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 4:21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 4:22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 4:23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.