2018-01-21 – Rev. Dr. Ryan Sato
“FISHERMEN, INTERRUPTED”
Mark 1:14-20
Were you there, when he preached along the shore?
Can we get there today?
Sitting in a rented wooden boat…. 8m long… 2.5 m wide…with our rowing/fishing team colleagues…a football field length out from the shore…and we have just thrown our fishing nets into the sea of Galilee…working for the man and just hoping that we can get a decent catch today…life just goes so much better when we get a decent catch…
We look towards the shoreline…and there he is…Jesus, some have been calling him the new Elijah or Jeremiah, others just brush him off as a lowly carpenter’s son… either way, he’s been pulling a crowd…and there’s a gaggle of people with him as he shouts and proclaims along the shoreline…
“THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD!”
–I could use some good news, Peter thinks to himself…a sick mother in law at home and his wife and children trying to make a go of it, feeling burdened by the pressures of caring for this woman who isn’t showing any signs of healing!
“THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS OF GOD,” Jesus shouts from the shoreline.
“The time is fulfilled! The kingdom of God has come near!
REPENT! Make your minds grapple with this good news…
Believe!”
Simon’s brother, Andrew, looks at the shore and announces… “He’s coming towards us!”
Jesus’ shouting gets clearer…and closer.
“The time is fulfilled! The kingdom of God has come near!”
Standing 50 m away from the boat, Jesus motions to the fishermen and shouts:
“Follow me! I will make you fish for people!”
[insert what you think might have happened in the dramatic pause… heavens breaking open? Light? Hearts burning within them?]
To the utter shock and surprise of their boatmates, Simon and Peter dive into the water and swim towards Jesus.
They left their nets and followed him.
After a few soppy hugs and handshakes from local acquaintances and strangers, the crowd of 40 or so push further along the sea side…
A few coves up and another fishing boat is sighted…
Simon recognizes this one as privately owned…by Zebedee & Sons…Simon thinks to himself…you are not gonna get those pompous hotheads, you kooky Rabbi…
Again, Jesus wades into the water…and shouts…
“The time is fulfilled…the Kingdom of God has come near…
Change your mind… Repent!
Follow ME… and I will make you fish for people.”
… Immediately… they left their father in the boat with the hired men…
and followed Jesus.
* * * * *
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Sometimes… (these stories) cause me to tremble, tremble, tremble…
How do you feel in the light of today’s call story?
Jesus wading into the water of our lives…stirring things up, telling us quite boldly to change our minds…and follow.
But I think part of my shaking is connected to bad ways of hearing this good news story… I’ve heard it in ways that made me feel ashamed or fearful, full of performance anxiety because I didn’t try hard enough, I wasn’t forthright enough, I wasn’t proving my devotion good enough by what I’d left behind…
But now, after 20 years of pastoral ministry…serving, teaching, and embracing my identity alongside Jesus as God’s beloved, the trembling now happens in the best meaning of the word…
a trembling of awe, gratitude, worship and might I even say, love?
And this morning, I’d urge us to hear with ears of those who are beloved children…
God has already said to us (remember 2 weeks ago @ the river Jordan?)
… “You are my daughter… you are my son… the Beloved…
with you I am well pleased.”
Let’s hear as those kind of people… no shame, no judgment, … Beloved.
And let’s imagine Jesus, wading into the waters of our lives…you and me sitting in the boats of our vocation…
And Jesus moving towards us…stirring things up… maybe even splashing water on us with a smile on his face…
Declaring:
“The time is now! The rule, reign, and dream of God is here!
Let your minds be renewed…believe the good news… God is here!
Get in line behind me…follow me… and allow a God-created miracle to be birthed in you… the miracle of “your life flowing in the same direction as God’s life.”
That last part of the phrase I’m borrowing from Barbara Brown Taylor, who reminds us that this raving response to follow Jesus is not about us and our stunning aptitude or insight in being good Jesus-followers…
Instead it’s a miracle!
We’ve never seen anything like it in our lives – miracle!
>>>>> And as we experience this miracle…there’s another movement…
What’s to be said of this “fish for people” thing?
I never want us to leave a sermon on this text/idea without at least trying to take a (reel look or a “casting our nets wider”) at the fishing motif.
I’m sure many of us will resonate with the follow Jesus, be bearers of good news vibe…
But now what about “fishing for people?”
Because we live in a Christian culture that really gets pretty hyped up about the
“fish hunt”…
So, what gives, Jesus?
Well…I want to lay this phrase (as we do this story) in the hands of the protagonist of the story… Jesus…Son of God…
And thus, my emphasis on this commandment is the “I will make you…”
This movement is God-sourced…it’s Jesus-inspired…this is Holy-Spirit-empowered fishing.
Let’s get the sequence right…
“Follow Me.” Yes, Lord, we will follow.
“I will make you.” Yes, Lord, we will be shaped by you… we pray the words from Isaiah: “O Lord, you are our Father… we are the clay…and you are our Potter” (Is. 64:8)
Shape our hearts, enliven our imaginations, fill us with your love, mercy and compassion.
“Fish for people” – – think net here VS hooks and barbs… what does it look like when others are drawn in… I recognize the fish image gets a little wild and crazy… flapping, flopping, splashing, wriggling… quite the intriguing image for dream of God, right?
I believe that we’ll get a feel for this “fish for people” practice as we follow and are “made”…
As we get behind Jesus…and walk in his ways…and allow our hearts, minds, bodies to be formed in a way where his life and love are put on display, I believe others will be drawn in…
And they might come flippin’ and a flappin’, splishin’ and a splashin’…
So, let’s be ready to welcome them… and together, may God’s will continue to be done…
to us and through us… so that the dream/rule/reign of God will be experienced here in Edmonton (in this community & “net” of faith) as it is in heaven.
Lord of the fish net…let it be so!