Tag Archives: call of Jesus

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Jesus Is Calling!

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“Jesus Is Calling!”

Mark 1:14-20 (1:20) – January 21, 2024

            What would make you change your whole life? I know some people radically change, but what would push you to change everything about your life? For some, it’s a marriage proposal, a chance on true love. For others, it’s a wonderful job offer. Still others, a chance to do something amazing in another part of the country, even another part of the world.

            Now, what did the rabbi Jesus offer? Just think – Jesus was a former carpenter, now a rabbi and itinerant preacher. He came preaching and teaching, offering God’s good news, about God’s kingdom come near. These four career fishermen put down their nets and took off with this radical rabbi for something completely different! [1]

Again, I ask what offers, what commitments convince us that they are worth living for? Changing everything for?

            Let’s look at our Scripture passage for today. We have Mark beginning his gospel with “the Good News of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.” This is the very start of Jesus’ ministry, I want everyone to understand. Jesus suddenly breaks onto the scene! The urgency, the immediacy is palpable! Can’t you just feel it?

 Only a few verses into the first chapter of the Gospel, the rabbi Jesus takes a purposeful walk. “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.”  

            Jesus was brilliant in His approach to these fishermen, Peter, Andrew, James and John. These were career fishermen, and they knew fishing backwards and forwards. Jesus came asking them to let down their metaphorical nets with an offer of God’s Good News. He said, 17 “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.” Although, they probably did wonder, at least a little, what on earth they were doing. Leaving it all behind! Boats, nets, livelihood, everything!

Do you think this was the absolute first time these four men had ever seen Jesus? I suspect not. I would imagine the brothers might have seen Jesus preaching and teaching when they went into town, stood among the crowd and listened. Perhaps the brothers had discussed what Jesus had said while they were working on the job, in their boats, or mending their nets.

            Notice what Jesus did not say to these men! He did not say, “I have a theological system which I would like you to investigate.” No! Jesus did not say, “I have certain theories I would like you to think over.” Certainly not! They followed Jesus because they believed what He said about God’s Good News, about commitment. Reorienting. Reframing their whole lives.

            Let me tell you a bit about reframing. When the wood frame around a window is water damaged, carpenters pull out the wood frame and do what is called a reframing of the window. Straightening out the frame so the window will set plumb and straight up and down. It’s similar to going a new way, a new direction. These four fishermen put down their old lives and set their lives in a totally new direction. Reframing their lives, following Jesus and His call.

The commentator Gary Burge tells us “All we can say about the call is that “the kingdom of God” has broken into their lives in the immediacy of Jesus’ call. There are also two other fishermen on the shore mending their nets, James and John, sons of their father Zebedee. The call of Jesus to them is the same and their response is the same. They leave their livelihood and their father and “immediately” follow this stranger (1:20).” [2]

Friends, as Mark’s Gospel reminds us, God has broken into our world. Jesus proclaimed the Good News, but His whole point is not, “Have an opinion about the Good News.” Or, “This Good News is nice and inoffensive.” Rather, Jesus is calling for a radical, total, unqualified basing of one’s life on this Good News. Just as following this radical Rabbi is a radical idea, a radical reframing of these fishermen’s lives, so is His offer, His calling to us.  

As Lutheran pastor Janet Hunt reminds us, “I wonder now what it is that Jesus is calling us away from and what Jesus is calling us to, don’t you?  I wonder how our worlds would change if we just ‘left our nets behind’ and stepped into the new life before us. I wonder how the world itself would change if we just did this, too.” [3]

As commentator David Lose says, “We follow [Jesus] in particular and distinct ways that may or may not be like the first disciples. And that, I think, is the point. Perhaps we follow by becoming a teacher. Perhaps we follow by volunteering at the senior center. Perhaps we follow by looking out for those in our schools [or workplaces] who always seem on the outside and invite them in. Perhaps we follow by being generous with our wealth and with our time. Perhaps we follow by listening to those around us and responding with encouragement and care. Perhaps we follow by caring for an aging parent, or special needs child, or someone else who needs our care. Perhaps we follow by….” [4] Well, you get the idea.

There is a song I would like to bring to your attention. It’s a recently-written hymn called “The Summons,” written by John Bell, a member of the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian community in Scotland. The first four verses of the hymn are questions from Jesus. He is asking these questions of us. The last verse is a first-person response to these questions. I would like to read the first and last verses of this hymn. 

Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In Your company I’ll go where Your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me. [5]

            Friends, Jesus is calling. Jesus says, “Come, follow Me.” Just as He called those four fisherman by the Sea of Galilee. He calls to each of us, today. Can you see Him? He has His hand extended. Jesus is calling. “Come, follow Me.”

            God willing, with Your help, Lord Jesus, I will follow. Will you?  

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/the-call-of-the-disciples-and-the-decline-of-the-church

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-after-epiphany-2/commentary-on-mark-114-20

[3] https://dancingwiththeword.com/gone-fishing/

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/the-call-of-the-disciples-and-the-decline-of-the-church

[5] Words © 1987 John Bell, The Iona Community, administered by GIA Publications, Inc.

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Everyone Is Called!

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“Everyone Is Called!!”

Matthew 4:17-23 (4:17) – January 22, 2023

            I have had a calling from God since I was is undergraduate school. For forty years, if not more! I have felt the Holy Spirit nudging me all those years, and for many of those years I followed the Spirit’s nudging. Sometimes, over those forty years, God would directly point me towards something I knew I ought to do or get involved in. Ministry as a layperson in music, art, Sunday school and youth, mission, bible study. Yes, I was a layperson for thirty of those years, and God called me for all that time.  (And, I was not officially ordained until 2015, almost eight years ago, right here in this sanctuary.)

            Let’s take a closer look at this reading from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. “17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’”

            Our Lord Jesus makes a statement at the very beginning of His public life. A summary statement. A headline, to encapsulate why He was there, why He came into the world. All of history is on a continuum, and the earthly Jesus was a part of that. All earthly events “move in tune with God’s redemptive activity. And, indeed, Jesus proclaims the coming kingdom of God and invites those listening to turn around (repent) to receive this kingdom.” [1]

            Jesus’s words are compelling. For years, even still now, I wanted to hear and understand! I dearly desired to hearken to Jesus’ own call to the crowds, to perceive and become a part of God’s in-breaking kingdom.

Let us see what Jesus did next, the absolute next thing, after He made this proclamation. “18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.”

Jesus calls each of us! He calls the clergy among believers, and Jesus calls lay people as well. In other words, Jesus calls everyone – each and every one of us – to follow Him. Do you feel called? Has Jesus picked you out from the crowd, given you a purpose, and given you a new name? (like Peter?) Some churchgoers do feel called by Jesus! However, some do not.

One bible commentator I respect, Dr. David Lose, has this to say: “Some years ago, as part of a Lilly Endowment sponsored grant on vocation, the research team I worked with discovered that while most of the graduates of our seminaries identified “vocation” and “calling” as important theological concepts that were at the center of their preaching and teaching, very few of their parishioners actually felt called. Very few of them, that is, believed that what they did with most of their time mattered to God and the church or made a particular difference in the world.” [2]

            I wonder why? God calls everyone! Taps everyone on the shoulder! Each believer!

Dear Lord, why is this? There are people who attend churches all over the country, even all over the world. Where are all of the people who believe in Jesus, and who claim the name of Jesus, and call themselves believers, even Christians?  Yet, I do not see many church folk who consider themselves called of God in this particular way.

            Let us consider Peter, Andrew, James and John. The first four disciples. What did the new Rabbi Jesus do? He called these four people to follow Him, the first ones to take part in the kingdom of God that starts our Scripture reading today!

            What were Peter, Andrew, James and John doing when Jesus called them to follow Him? They were fishing. Actual fishermen. You remember: “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.” These people had nets, boats, and all other equipment used for fishing. They walked away from all that.

We can see how Jesus made His proclamation that “the kingdom of God is near!” And He called helpers, people to come alongside and do the work of fishing for people. Maybe we are coming at this sideways? What if – what if Jesus calling of the disciples was something unexpected? What if – what if the disciples’ calling and our calling is exactly the same?

            What kinds of equipment might we use for “fishing for people?” What kinds of equipment might Jesus have had in mind? The world today is a bit different from the first century, but some equipment people might use today include a Meals On Wheels cooler (to reach people by bringing them food), or extra clothes, coats or shoes (to give out to people in need), or even musical instruments or art supplies (to reach people with the arts). Plus, it’s always appropriate to reach out to others with friendly visits, caring cards, or phone calls or texts. Plus, as our Pastoral Prayer said today, we can also be readers to little children, bandagers of bruised hears, lovers of the forsaken, and pilgrims who show the way to others – with God’s help.

            What if – what if God’s calling is actually plain and simple? “Think about it for a moment: God’s call isn’t simply to do something, but rather to be something, a child of God…. if we can first focus on being – just being – God’s beloved children, and let that grace-filled identify seep into the deepest parts of ourselves.” [3]

            Yes, our call is to follow Jesus!  Our call is to offer God’s words of mercy, grace, hope and love, because we are God’s beloved children. I know I often say “Go and do that. Follow God” at the end of my sermons. I’ll add today, “Go and be that. Be that beloved child of God.” Alleluia, amen.

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my other blogs: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!

[1]  https://www.davidlose.net/2017/01/epiphany-3-a-being-before-doing/

[2]  https://www.davidlose.net/2017/01/epiphany-3-a-being-before-doing/

[3]  https://www.davidlose.net/2017/01/epiphany-3-a-being-before-doing/