Tag Archives: Jesus calls

Unknown's avatar

Let’s Go Deep!

Featured by

“Let’s Go Deep!”

Luke 5:1-11 (5:4) – February 9, 2025

When did God become real to you? Were you sitting in Sunday school, when you felt deep within that God was real, and you felt wonder? Or, were you at a camp or retreat, around a campfire, when something let you know God was the real thing, and you felt nothing but awe? Or, perhaps, were you praying next to a loved one’s bed in the hospital, and you powerfully understood that God is real, and you felt deep comfort? Have you had a God-encounter?

            The situation here today is where God becomes real for these people. Edward just read the Gospel lesson from Luke 5 to us, and we heard about Jesus calling the first disciples. But, we need to back up in this reading, before the Rabbi Jesus calls anyone to be a disciple.  

            We break into the action quite early in the public ministry of Jesus. So early, in fact, that He has not even called anyone to follow Him, to be His disciples. We see Rabbi Jesus, alone, teaching, preaching, healing, and beginning His ministry. Luke starts off with the phrase “One day as Jesus was standing on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret.” I think Doctor Luke meant this to say that this was a typical day in the life of Jesus. Teaching, preaching, doing miracles. All in a day’s activities, for the Rabbi Jesus.

            But, Jesus is not the only one mentioned in this Gospel reading today. We are introduced to Simon. (or Simon Peter, but that name comes later on.) Simon did not have a good night fishing. In those days, people fished at night.

“The fishermen would spend the night in the shallows, tossing their nets and pulling in the catch. Then as dawn broke, they would bring the fish to shore and sell them at the market. Because of a lack of facilities for preserving fish, this was a daily event. Except this day.” [1]

            Have you ever had a bad day (or night) at work, too? Or how about at school? Has everything gone off the rails? Did you get off on the wrong foot? Or, was your supervisor, or teacher, or co-worker just downright grumpy, and their negative attitude threw a monkey wrench into the whole day?

            I suspect our friend – and future disciple – Simon could relate. He caught nothing the whole night long, so he had nothing to sell at the local market, and nothing to take to his folks at home to eat. No one knows for certain how Simon was feeling, but I know that many people in a similar situation would feel demoralized, defeated, or just plain empty inside. All because the nets had been empty all night long! But this Gospel reading does not only feature Jesus and Simon, No, there is a crowd, too!

The crowds who have gathered to hear the Rabbi Jesus teach and preach—and watch the miracles!—I suspect are filled with wonder, curiosity, and questions. Who is this rabbi with such clarity in teaching the word of God? Who is this rabbi with such power and authority? Yes, we see the people crowding around Jesus so much that He got in a boat by the seashore, put out a little way, and then preached to the crowd.

(Did you know—little known fact—that Jesus was using the natural amplification of the water to make His voice heard better? When someone is out in the water a little distance from shore, their voice can be heard as naturally amplified because of the sound waves bouncing off or echoing off of the surface of the water and traveling on towards the shore.)

            Doctor Luke tells us what happened next. When Jesus was done preaching, He asked Simon to cast off, take the boat out again, and lower his nets. Now, fishermen would customarily dock the boats, then wash their nets away from the boats. They had already cleaned up after a night and early morning’s work and were ready to go home. [2]

And yes, this non-fisherman Rabbi Jesus asked Simon to start all over again. To go out into the deep water and go fishing – again! In the daytime! Against his better judgment, Simon agrees to traipse out to the deep water to go fishing, even though they have worked hard all night, because Jesus requested that he and his co-workers go out and try fishing again.

We know what happened. Hardly had the nets gone into the water, but the fish came swimming into the nets. The nets were filled to bursting! It was a miracle. Simon Peter and his co-workers experienced it—they were eye witnesses.  

“Just think. A little invitation from Jesus, a small inconvenience, and before you know it, Simon was in over his head. Did Jesus show up that day looking for followers? Or was that a bonus? The catch of the day?” [3] Was this all because Jesus asked them to go deep, and to set sail for deep waters?

What was the surprising response? Continuing from Luke 5: “When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.”

What happened? Simon Peter had a God-encounter, there in the boat. God became real to him. Simon Peter deeply experienced God as very real to his life, but couldn’t handle it. What is Jesus’s unexpected response? Jesus tells Simon Peter and his co-workers, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” Jesus calls them into a God-encounter.

For Simon Peter and his co-workers, his friends, this was decision-time. They decided to drop their nets on the shore, leave their boats where they were, and follow Jesus. There were many, many people in the crowd who also had the opportunity to follow Jesus, but they did not. The crowd only stayed for the good preaching and the miracles, not the following-Jesus-part.

Has Jesus struck you to the heart and soul, like Peter? Has God become real to you, through this Scripture reading? I encourage you to follow Him today. Thank Him for forgiving your shortcomings and sins. Thank Jesus for inviting you to come with Him for the journey.

What can we do with this newfound, exciting relationship with God? Become a disciple. Go out and talk about how God became real in your life. Talk about God’s Good News, today. God will be wonderfully praised by all who tell how God has become very real to them, and changed their hearts and lives.

How has God become real to you? Go deep. Become a disciple. Go and tell.

@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.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/where-you-are-far-horizons/fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-lectionary-planning-notes/fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-preaching-notes

[2] http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/c/5-c/A-5-c.html

[3] https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship-planning/where-you-are-far-horizons/fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-lectionary-planning-notes/fifth-sunday-after-the-epiphany-year-c-preaching-notes

Unknown's avatar

Jesus: Living Bread!

by

“Jesus: Living Bread!”

John 6:35, 41-51 (6:51) – August 8, 2021

            Bread is commonplace – isn’t it? Bread – the staff of life, putting bread on the table, knowing which side your bread is buttered on, the greatest thing since sliced bread, bread and water (the bare minimum food a person needs), and of course, our daily bread.   

 Bread, in some form or other, is found in just about every kitchen, every pantry, around the world. Whether raised dough, sourdough, or flatbread – made of wheat, rye, corn, or rice, or any one of a dozen other grains found around the world – bread is the universal food among the worldwide human race.

            The Rabbi Jesus had been preaching and teaching for a great number of months. Jesus is an itinerant rabbi, but He is preaching in the local area of His hometown. Are we surprised at Jesus’s reception, among the crowd listening to Him? Frankly, I’m not. I might have been skeptical of Jesus, too, if I were in the position of many of these local townsfolk.

             The Rabbi Jesus had already become known for His miracles of healing, plus the deep nature of His sayings and teachings. Here, Jesus makes the bold statement, “I am the Bread of Life.” Jesus compares Himself to something that everyone could relate to. He’s not saying He actually is a loaf of bread! However, Jesus talks about an absolutely everyday necessity that everyone is quite familiar with. That way, people might be able to learn more about Him.

            But, there is a problem with Jesus’s statement. He was preaching to a local crowd, and the crowd wasn’t altogether on board with what Jesus was saying. John’s commentary about the crowd’s complaints: “At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”

Commentator David Lose said “they knew his parents and his brothers and sisters, they watched him play and learn his trade, grow up and eventually leave home. In other words, they know him, just like they know all the kids from their old neighborhood. And for this reason, you see – because he is just like them, because he is common – he can’t be all that special, and he certainly can’t be the one God sent for redemption.” [1] They knew where His parents lived. How can someone with a known name and address be considered God? From heaven?

Let’s take a deeper dive, and try to get below the surface gripes of the crowd. Sure, these hometown folks knew Jesus, but what is it that really bothers the crowd about the claims of Jesus? Could it be that Jesus’s words about bread are just a bit too ordinary? When this group of people heard the hometown boy preach, was that a little too close to home, and a bit too much like looking in the mirror?

 Sure, the Rabbi Jesus uses a common, ordinary object – bread – to let everyone see how universal their need was. Who doesn’t eat bread, every day? (Unless you are allergic to wheat or other grains, which a small percentage of the population are.) Nevertheless, Jesus wants to show how important His role is in life, and how much Jesus can supply people’s greatest wants and inner needs.

Many of this crowd has been following Jesus for some time. Many follow Him because of His wise teaching, and many more because of His miracles! Prophets of God were reliable at preaching, teaching, even doing miracles. But, this statement crosses some kind of a line.

            David Lose describes the words of Jesus as hitting a deep down nerve. He says, “when I am in need or distress, when I am hurt or afraid, I want to see a God who shows in strength and through miracle, I want to call upon a God who answers clearly and quickly, and I want to rely on a God who is there, really there, when you need him.” [2]

            Isn’t that the case? When you and I are in need or distress, in whatever way, we want to be sure of a God who is responsive, who is there for us. Not some rinky-dink fourth-string quarterback whose parents we know, whose mother and brothers and sisters still live in town, or down the road. No wonder the crowd is grumbling and griping!

            I know very well how much I trip up. I know where I fall down and miss the mark God wants me to hit. I suspect you do, too. We all know our own doubts, fears, broken promises, petty grudges, foolish betrayals. If Jesus is really like one of us – that is, a plain, ordinary, sinful human being! – then we are sunk. We all are in big trouble.

            Jesus makes a comparison between the manna of Exodus and the current bread from heaven. He says “49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Jesus is saying that He is much better than the temporary manna that lasted for just a day and no more – which makes me think of the letter to the Hebrews, which repeatedly describes Jesus as “better” than so many biblical high points.

“Jesus was common, ordinary, mortal like you and me, and yet was also uncommon, divine, the very Son of God. For where we expect God to come in might, God comes in weakness; where we look for God to come in power, God comes in vulnerability; and when we seek God in justice and righteousness – which is, after all, what we all expect form a God – we find God (or rather are found by God!) in forgiveness and mercy.” [3]

            What kind of bread are we being offered, right now? The temporary manna which passes away after a day, or the living bread that comes down from heaven? Jesus calls to each of us, offering to fill our deep hunger with the Living Bread from heaven, for eternity. You and I can say “thank you!” for this gift of love. Jesus offered bread to His friends a long time ago, in the Upper Room. And we still offer bread to one another in our church to remember and participate in Jesus’ love. Truly, a gift from God, however we slice it. Alleluia, amen!

@chaplaineliza

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

(Many ideas from this sermon come from this lesson from Illustrated Ministries. Thanks to Illustrated Ministries for the use of their lesson for the 11h Sunday after Pentecost from John 6, from their 2020 Summer Children’s series. Also, thanks so much to Rev. David Lose, for ideas and quotes from http://www.davidlose.net/2015/08/pentecost-11-b/  “Ordinary Things,” David Lose, …in the Meantime, 2015.)

[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2015/08/pentecost-11-b/  “Ordinary Things,” David Lose, …in the Meantime, 2015.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

Unknown's avatar

Jesus Calling!

by

“Jesus Calling!”

Mark 1:14-20 (1:17) – January 24, 2021

            Have you ever heard someone calling, and responded right away? I am sure you have. Whether it is a call out to the back yard or the garage to come in for dinner, or a call to join in on a project or job, have you felt eager to respond? Excited? Like you can’t wait to begin?

            I wonder whether the disciples felt that way when they responded to Jesus?

            Last week, we took a closer look in the Hebrew Scriptures at the Lord’s call of the young Samuel when he was serving along with the high priest Eli in the Tabernacle. Today, our Scripture reading talks about Jesus calling four of His disciples.

            But, wait a moment. The four fishermen were actively involved in their secular jobs when Jesus came up to them and called. Simon and Andrew owned one boat at least, perhaps more than one. James and John were the sons of Zebedee, and we do know that Zebedee had a fishing business with at least several boats on the Sea of Galilee. So, we are talking about some serious fishermen seriously involved up to their elbows in fishy business.  

            I am sure our Lord Jesus talked with loads of people each week. Except – I don’t think He called all of those people to be His disciples, His followers. Do you wonder about these four fishermen, in particular? Does something about this reading today bother you? How could Simon, Andrew, James and John up and leave everything right away? How could they walk away from their nets and respond to Jesus’s call – immediately?  

            Let’s consider a different translation of this reading, from The Message. Verses 16-18: “Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, “Come with me. I’ll make a new kind of fisherman out of you.” I’ll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass.”

“They didn’t ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed.”

            Perhaps you might not believe this narrative. Does anyone actually DO that anymore? I mean, dropping everything and just following Jesus when He calls. Maybe, in Bible times, people did things like that. But, today? Does anyone answer God’s call like that anymore?

            Let’s be honest. I cannot imagine doing what these four fishermen did. True, we do not have many professional fishermen in the Chicago area. But, can you imagine leaving your full-time job – or, if you don’t work full-time, leaving whatever takes much of your time and attention each day. “Most of us, truth be told, would find it very hard to leave work and family and friends and all the rest to venture into such an uncertain future. Does that mean we’re more or less failures as Christians? Or at least that we are less faithful than Andrew and Peter, James and John?” [1]

            I started off looking at Jesus calling four disciples. He chose them and called them, knowing them better than they knew themselves. Why don’t we flip this around and look at this scenario from the fishermen’s point of view. These four guys had Jesus call, to follow Him.

We read that they got up without hesitation, leaving their nets and boats and catches of fish behind. Immediately! Did they feel eager to respond? Excited? Like they couldn’t wait to begin to follow this unconventional Rabbi?

“We are called, perhaps not so much to follow, but to take Mark’s ‘immediately’ seriously. This is not, “wait a few minutes. Let me pack my bag. I have a few more arrangements to make.” No preparation. No packing list. No recommendations of what to take, what to do.” [2]

When I first felt a call to serve God, I was in high school. I did not listen for a long time. At least, I don’t think I heard clearly. Sure, I heard something of a message from God for some time, but it was muffled, or garbled. I did work as an eager church leader, as a faithful church worker for years and years before I had the opportunity to go to seminary when I was forty years old. But – isn’t being a faithful church worker following the call of God, too?

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 who always seem on the outside and invite them in.

“Perhaps we follow by doing a job we love as best we can to help others. Perhaps we follow by doing a job we hate but contributes to supporting our family and helping others. 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….” [3] Well, you get the idea.

Jesus calls us all to follow Him, in any number of ways. That means us knowing that Jesus is for real – He is the real thing, the real deal, the genuine article.  

 When we are called to follow Him, that means He calls us to turn our backs on something else in our lives. Is it possible that sometimes we get altogether too comfortable, too unwilling to risk, too unable to step out in faith? My challenge to all of us: be willing to step out, and follow the calling of Jesus, whenever and wherever He wishes us to go.

Please God, I’ll go.

[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2015/01/epiphany-3-b-following-jesus-today/

“Following Jesus Today,” David Lose, …in the meantime… 2015.

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/the-immediately-of-epiphany

“The Immediately of Epiphany,” Karoline Lewis, Working Preacher, 2015.

[3] http://www.davidlose.net/2015/01/epiphany-3-b-following-jesus-today/

“Following Jesus Today,” David Lose, …in the meantime… 2015.

@chaplaineliza

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

Unknown's avatar

Fishers of People

by

Matthew 4:18-23 – January 22, 2017

matt-4-19-fishers

“Fishers of People”

Is everyone here familiar with regular, ordinary work? Some people might call it common or mundane. The ordinary, everyday kinds of things that ordinary, everyday people do on a regular basis. That is what countless numbers of people do, every day, at work and at home.

That is what Peter, Andrew, James and John were doing, as fishermen. As the Gospel lesson today mentions, these men and their co-workers worked on their boat, doing hard work. Doing what they were used to doing every day. Probably, for some among them, doing the same ordinary, everyday things they had done on their boats for decades.

I suspect this day started out for Peter, Andrew, James and John like so many others. But, this day turned out differently, because Jesus showed up. Let’s see what happened from Matthew’s account: “As Jesus 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.”

As one of the commentaries said, “Fishing was a popular trade on the Sea of Galilee. Fishing was the most common occupation for people residing in the small villages located on the lakeshore. Living on the shores of Lake Galilee with its abundant supply of fish, people understood fishing perhaps more than they did farming. Living on the shores of a fishing lake, the whole town was ‘into fishing.’” [1]

Typical for many people in the town of Capernaum, Peter and his brother Andrew were regular, ordinary working men, doing their regular, ordinary job, with others in their family’s boat. Casting their nets into the sea.

That troublemaking rabbi Jesus walks by the shore and calls out to them. He says, “19 Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” What on earth does Jesus mean by that?

Some people consider their work to be simply that: work. But, a portion of workers think work is something more than just a way to earn a paycheck. They consider their work to be much more: something from which they receive significant satisfaction, purpose, and meaning.

One of the writers I consulted, Dr. David Lose, helped to formulate a survey describing “work,” “vocation,” and “calling.” The survey asked respondents various questions about their work, how they viewed it, and how important work was in their lives.

“Where do [these] people find the greatest sense of fulfillment, meaning, and purpose (terms to which these survey respondents resonated far more strongly than “vocation” or “calling,” by the way)? Relationships. Even those who identified their work as a source of meaning and fulfillment usually cited their relationships at work as the places of particular significance.” [2]

Peter and Andrew were interrupted in the middle of their regular, ordinary day by Jesus. When Jesus called out to Peter and Andrew and said He would make them fish for people, He called to them, to build relationship with Him, first and foremost. Then, to build relationships with others.  

These two guys in the boat? It’s their response that is really extraordinary. Our Gospel reading says: ” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” Immediately! They don’t pause and think about it. Immediately, they go!

So now we have the rabbi Jesus, and Peter, and Andrew, walking along the shore. What happens next? “21 As Jesus 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. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.”

The same thing. These two are sitting in their father’s fishing boat, and the rabbi Jesus calls to them. They get up in the middle of things, leaving the nets half-mended, and they leave.

What on earth is going on here? This reading is difficult to believe. It’s really a stretch of the imagination to think of getting up and leaving everyone and everything these guys know to follow Jesus. I don’t know whether I could do it! Don’t most people figure the disciples were extraordinary, first-century super heroes of the faith? You know. People that we can admire from afar but certainly not identify with.

Dr. Lose refers to some biblical scholars who suggest that “Jesus had been living in Capernaum for a while and had known Peter, Andrew, James, and John for some time, and so this call was neither sudden nor abrupt but was the natural outcome of their friendship. Maybe that was the case (huge emphasis on “maybe”), but given that Matthew reports that when Jesus comes and calls they immediately follow, I think we are meant to take notice.” [3]

Whether Jesus knew these four guys for a long time or for just a little while, Matthew tells us—he stresses they followed Jesus immediately. They didn’t think about it, they didn’t dither, or pause, or tell Him to come back tomorrow. No! They immediately followed and entered into a relationship with Jesus.

And, Jesus? He didn’t call them to come and work for Him. He didn’t just want to be their supervisor or manager. No! He called them into a close, genuine relationship with Him: the best kind of relationship there is! Jesus continues to encourage His disciples, His friends, to bring others into a close, genuine relationship with Him, too. BFFs, best friends forever.

What were some things the New Testament tells us about this relationship with God? To bear each other’s burdens, care for each other (especially the vulnerable), and hold onto each other, through thick and thin. Striving to do this, we will always be upheld by God’s grace. [4]

Some people still don’t think they are worthwhile, or good enough to be real disciples. After all, I suspect we don’t have any super duper saints here in this church. No super heroes of the faith! Can God use me? Can God use you?  I know I am imperfect. I’m just a regular, ordinary person, going about my business, doing regular, ordinary things. I suspect that describes everyone here.

I have good news for us all, however. Jesus is still looking for people to come, to answer His call. He is calling to regular, ordinary people in regular, ordinary situations to rise up and become extraordinary.

Jesus is calling to you and to me, holding out His hand to each of us. Jesus wants us to be in a close, genuine relationship with Him, too. Jesus wants us to go the next step and have concern and love for others: to be in a close, genuine relationship with them, too. Not in a mission, or a ministry, or a movement, but in genuine love and caring for one another.

Here’s an action step for you: find one person with whom you are in significant relationship. Perhaps it’s a relationship that brings you particular joy, or sorrow, or frustration, or hope. It doesn’t really matter, just so long as it’s significant. Once you have that person in mind, please take a moment to pray for that person every day for a week … and to believe that God is using you to make a difference in the life of the person for whom you are praying. [5]

Come back next week and let me know what happened. Did you feel closer to God? Did anything change for that person? We all can rejoice, for all of us strive to be faithful. Alleluia! Amen!

 

(A great big thanks to Dr. David Lose for his excellent words and thoughts on Matthew 4 and his bible study “Fishers of People.”)

@chaplaineliza

(Suggestion: visit me at my regular blog for 2017: matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers. #PursuePEACE – and my other blog,  A Year of Being Kind . Thanks!)

[1] http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_fishing_for_christGA.htm “Fishing for Christ,” Gospel Analysis, Sermons from Seattle, Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington.

[2] https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=3018  “Fishers of People,” David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2014.

[3] Ibid. (emphasis mine)

[4] https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=3018  “Fishers of People,” David Lose, Dear Working Preacher, 2014.

[5] Ibid.