A Farmville Church Sermon

Calling Me Where?
Mark 1: 14 ~ 20

 

I love the Gospel of Mark. Mark doesn't mess around with extemporaneous details. He gives us the Reader's Digest version. This morning we're only fourteen verses into his gospel and John the Baptizer is in jail and Jesus has begun to call his disciples.

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his     brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

I've preached many sermons on these verses over the years, sermons about the kingdom being near, sermons about casting nets into the lake, sermons about following Jesus, sermons about dropping everything to follow Jesus, and sermons about poor Zebedee being left with the preparation of the nets because his sons have abandoned him to follow some itinerant preacher

This year, as I re-read these verses I suddenly realized how much I am like these disciples Jesus called. I realized how much you are like the disciples Jesus called. Oh, for sure you haven't been making your living fishing, but you and I have something significant in common with these fishermen Jesus called to follow him.

Here's what it is: “Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.” And if you'll permit my critique of that day: They followed him but they had no idea what was in store for them.

Can you imagine that day. Can you imagine Jesus the Christ speaking to you, asking you to follow him. Oh, what a day that was. But what hit me about these called disciples was this: When those fishermen lay down their nets to follow Jesus, not one of them had any idea of what was in their future.

On the screen appears a clip from the movie Forest Gump. In this scene Lt. Dan berates Forest for saving him and not letting him fulfill his destiny of dying in battle.

Each of us faces the same dilemma as did Lt. Dan. Maybe not in such a dramatic fashion, but all of us entered into our adult life with some dream of what our destiny would be. Listen, please don't take this the wrong way, but back in the eleventh grade when I answered that call to follow Jesus, I had all kinds of ideas of where this would take me. But in all my visions, in all my dreams, in all my understandings of what it meant to be a follower of Jesus, not once did I have a vision of this church, of this pulpit, of you being the ones who would hear me preach. Sometimes our vision of our destiny gets blown up like Lt. Dan's legs and life leads us where we had no idea we would go.

We, like those fishermen Jesus called, have no idea of what is ahead. And sometimes too often what is ahead is much like what has been behind.

Richard Cardinal Cushing, the Archbishop of Boston, once preached: If all the sleeping folks will wake up, and all the lukewarm folks will fire up, and all the disgruntled folks will sweeten up, and all the discouraged folks will cheer up, and all the depressed folks will look up, and all the estranged folks will make up, and all the gossiping folks will shut up, and all the dry bones will shake up, and all the true soldiers will stand up, and all the church members will pray up, and if the Savior of all will be lifted up . . . Then we can have the greatest revival this world has ever known.

Powerful, powerful words. Truthful words. Words to move people. Words to challenge and to encourage, to surely bring about revival.

I've always wondered on the Sunday following the Cardinal's preaching of those words, how many people were at Mass? I've always wondered if the Cardinal felt some disappointment that everything was the same that next Sunday. I've always wondered if the Cardinal ever questioned his calling when nothing changed.

On the screen appears another scene from the Forest Gump movie in which Lt. Dan scoffs at the notion he will ever be able to walk in heaven with Jesus as some preachers have told him.

“I'm going to heaven, Lt. Dan,” says Forest.

Lt. Dan replies, “Oh … well, before you go why don't you go down to the corner and get us another bottle of Ripple?”

Isn't that the way our religious life is sometimes. We hear the call; we acknowledge the presence of Jesus in our lives, but, wait a minute and life intrudes. We have to go down to the corner and make sure life goes on as usual.
Those disciples of Jesus didn't know what lay ahead for them. And one of the things they did not envision was that life would be much the same, despite the fact they were following Jesus.

It would be the same because somebody still had to prepare the night fire. Someone had to gather up the makings for the evening meal. Someone had to take care of the torn garments, the logistics of getting from this place to that. Life, the everyday life of being human, went on despite the fact they were following Jesus. And it happens that way for us.

Next Sunday the women of this church and many surrounding churches will be gathering here for the Annual Women's Retreat. They'll hear the inspiring music and the challenging words of the Reverend Beth Quick. And if it's anything like previous years a good many folks are going to feel closer to their God. But then someone will have to clean the kitchen, take the garbage out, straighten up the place in preparation for the next event.

I think there's a lesson in that for each of us. Too often we pray for Jesus to come into our lives and change our lives. And by that we mean to make us what we are not. Maybe we should stop looking to change our lives into something our life is not and, instead, invite Jesus into the life we already have.

The second thing about those disciples is they had no idea of how different their thinking would become. They were Jews. And as Jews they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah. As Jews, they had clear understandings of what that Messiah would be like. He would liberate the nation of Israel from the oppression of the conquerors. He would re-establish the Kingdom of David.

And look what they got. The got a servant Messiah. They got a Messiah willing to go to the cross for the sins of all God's children. They got not a liberator but the expiation of their sins on the cross of Calvary. And they got their own lives sacrificed upon the altar of a suffering servant. It wasn't what they planned on. It wasn't what they envisioned. The had no idea what was in store for them in the commonality of their shared lives.

Earlier I said when I answered God's call I had no idea I'd be standing in the pulpit preaching to you. And I'm fully aware when you joined the church you had no idea you'd be listening to this old parson preaching to you today. I won't bore you with the details of my fantasy of what answering that call would be. And you don't have to bore me with the vision of what you thought this church would look like in the Twenty-first Century.

Ah, those disciples were surprised. They never had any idea of how common their lives would remain, of all the mundane things they'd have to do along the path of ministry for those three years. And they had no idea that following that prophet of Nazareth would cause them to reconsider what it meant to wait for the coming of the Messiah.

So here we are, you and I. We're both followers of Jesus. And tomorrow we're both going to have to mop the floors, go to work, cook breakfast, listen to demanding kids and be who we are. But tomorrow, if we are truly followers of Jesus, tomorrow we'll find out he's much more than we thought. And he not only calls us but leads us into a new understanding.

And if you follow Jesus, you, I mean you, plain old you just as you are, will be surprised at what's in your future.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Comments

[Nancy]

"invite Jesus into the life we already have"

thank you for this.

[The Crimson Rambler]

oh thank you for this. Thank you indeed. Bless you. Wow. Yes.