January 22 -- Third Sunday after Epiphany

I’m afraid that the quick response of Andrew and Peter, James and John is more a style of Mark the Evangelist than what might have actually happened.

Yesterday morning a small group of us from Shepherd of the Valley – together with a small group from the Calvary Lutheran and their Oromo (Ethiopian) congregation – gathered together and after singing a hymn and saying a prayer…read the entire Gospel of Mark, which is actually quite short compared to the others – only 16 chapters, compared to Luke, John and Matthew which get up into the 20’s. As always it was quite moving, and I was reminded again how precise and quick-to-the-point Mark’s writing is. No excessive verbiage in narrating through all the hesitations and thoughts of the disciples in this particularly story. No, Mark’s text says they “immediately” left their nets and followed…and so we get on with the story…

But I’m afraid it was more complicated that that. And archeological evidence is now helping to confirm my worry: Fishing as a business, although I’ve always tended to think of fishing as a lower class job, stinky and for people without much, archeologists and historians are showing us that fishing was actually quite lucrative. Because of the Roman Empire’s presence there were trade channels throughout the Mediterranean and a fisherman was actually quite connected and well paid. So much so that it was not uncommon to become the family business…like the Zebedee and Sons business that we hear about here today.

I think it would be much easier to follow Jesus if we were really at the end of our respective ropes…

If we didn’t have anything, if we hated our jobs, if our families and friendships were unimportant, and if all our stuff didn’t matter to us.

But as it turns out, I have many things. We all do, in this context. Many nets, many fish, many relationships, money, many a healthy day left. I’m a prime candidate for insurers. Many blessings. Maybe I should title the early part of this sermon “When Our Blessings Become Our Excuses”. So many excuses that frankly make me want to believe it was easier for the disciples because they didn’t have all the things I have. If they did they never would have risked it all. “It was easier for them; they were just fishermen.”

But I’m afraid I’m kidding myself. To leave behind their livelihoods and their families to “follow Jesus” in a political and economic climate as harsh as the ancient Mediterranean world was just as frightening – if not more – than it would be today. Darn it!

What are your nets, excuses, blessings that you’re unwilling to yield? What do you need to drop in order to hear Christ’s loving invitation more fully? Doesn’t have to be just physical things...Do you have obsessions that are getting in the way? Relationships that are unhealthy? Anger at something someone did to you? Anger at God? What stuff is holding you back from letting go and following?

I’d like try something…[ushers]

Write down and answer this question.

It’s easy to say you believe in Jesus, but what is it that is keeping you from following Jesus?

That’s a private question, and rather than wading it up immediately, or bringing it up front or burning it symbolically right now, I’d like you to take it home. Live with that which is holding you a little bit longer. You’ve named it; that’s good. Now live with it, hold it, for a bit more. Acknowledge that it is your companion – it’s probably been walking with you for a long while. Even our unhealthy habits – our anger, our overeating, our destructive relationships – can become friends because they’re what we know.

But in time, maybe later today, maybe later this week or in a month, start to let it go. God will give us the strength.

Let it go.

Sisters and brother in Christ:

Jesus calls us. Jesus calls you from the safety of your nets, from the security of your boats. Jesus calls you from your blessings and your pain, and invites you, invites us to plunge into the deeper waters and rockier roads of ministry. And while it may sound difficult and frightening, and it is certainly risky, this is God’s gift to us. This is God’s love and God’s grace at work in many and mysterious ways.

God is offering us a richer life in following Jesus. (I don’t want to define what following Jesus looks like; that’s what we start to hear when we let go of all the baggage.) A deeper connection with our neighbor, with the earth, with our own bodies. God is offering us our integrity and our health. (The word salvation comes from salvus which is deeply connected to wholeness and health.) So many of us live divided lives. Hidden secrets, immense baggage from past experiences. And we tend to pad that pain with stuff, we tend to busy our lives so much that don’t have to hear Christ’s whispering call. But Christ is here...inviting us today to leave our abundance and our pain, our lucrative busy-ness and all the noise in our lives, our determination to be secure and our anger, Christ invites you this day to come and follow him.

The road will be rocky. The seas will be choppy. But when we are held in the arms of Christ, there is true peace. The peace that passes all understanding. That peace is yours this day and forever. Let go. For God’s got you and God’s peace rains down on you. This day and forever. AMEN.