Sermon at Grace Episcopal on January 25, 2009

Get Up and Go With Jesus

Mark 1:14-20
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

In this morning's Gospel reading we see Jesus begin His ministry on earth. He had been baptized by John, and then spent 40 days fasting in the desert. As He was there, Satan tried to knock Jesus off His plan by using hunger, ego, and trust in His Father as temptations. But Jesus didn't cave in to Satan's tricks and began to fulfill the reason He came: to show God's love for people by teaching, healing, and eventually to die on the cross for us.

As Jesus started, people started to notice Him and follow Him. But Jesus also specifically called certain people to come with Him. And when He called them He expected people to let go of everything, and immediately follow Him to change the world.

His calling was like a CNN news flash. "Time's up! You've been waiting for years for the Messiah! Well, I'm here. And it is God's perfect time. Drop what you are doing and follow me."

Now that might seem like an egotistical message. If you or I were to demand that people stop and pay attention to us, it would be considered rude. But when someone is important, like the President or the Governor… the weight of who they are almost demands immediate attention. I am told that the protocol in Washington D.C. is to always drop what you are doing and immediately respond whenever the President of the United States requests your attention. I guess it is in bad form to put the Pres on "hold."

Now if it's rude to keep the President waiting, don't you think that you had better answer the Son of God even faster?

But let's be honest. If we hear God calling, we usually want to wait. We have the "I can't do that until" factor in all parts of our life. We want to wait until we lose weight, get a better job, color our hair, get stronger abs, buy better clothes, or have a less harried schedule. When my knees were killing me, I went to the doctor to ask how to get them fixed. When he advised me to get my knees replaced I told him I would do it as soon as I lost weight. My doctor said, "You will never lose weight until you have the surgery. Your bad knees are the barrier to your health."

And isn't that often the case when God calls us? He offers us His love and peace, but we want to wait to follow Him until we quit smoking, cut back on drinking, quit swearing, and control our tempers. But the truth is, that it is only by following His call that our behaviors change. If we wait until we are good enough, we will never experience His peace and never enter into His rest.

Now this isn't a new phenomenon. It wasn't even new when Jesus called His disciples. If you followed this week's daily readings, you found yourself in Exodus 8. God sent plagues on the Egyptians to try and force them to free the people of Israel. The second outbreak was millions of frogs invading the land. Frogs had escaped the Nile River and were everywhere… in their offices, in their bowls, in their coke bottles, in their food bins, and even in their beds. These green pests are jumping on everything and it was a stinky, slimy mess. Pharaoh tells Moses, "Nuff already! Tell your God to call off His toads and I will let you guys go!" Moses responded, "Just tell me when to have the Lord call these frogs back to the river and out of your hair." And here is one of the funniest and saddest lines in the Bible. Pharaoh's answer? "Tomorrow."

Now if you had frogs in your saimin wouldn't you want them gone today? If your sins were causing you pain and trouble wouldn't you want them gone… today? Or are we like Pharaoh? Maybe we do want things to be done our way so much that we are willing to put up with a few frogs on our plates. Maybe we want the benefits of following Jesus without actually walking alongside of Him. Maybe we want to hold on to our treasures so much that we are unwilling to open our hands to let go and then be able to receive the Lord's gifts and blessings.

Of course that's not you or me. It probably just pertains to the people sitting next to you.

When Jesus shouts, "Follow me now because the kingdom of God has come near." He is announcing that God is in the house! Jesus is telling them that God has not abandoned them. He has heard their prayers and that the Lord is here to do mighty and awesome things. And it's time to grab on to His promises and His miracles. Don't let the "until" excuses get in the way of the life that the Lord has for His followers. Don't hesitate - don't wait, get on board and start the adventure.

Many heard God's call and seized His hands. Some were troubled by unclean spirits and needed housecleaning; some were crippled by diseases that came from within and without; some were waiting, and almost had lost hope that God would come into their world and change things.

But when Jesus took His message into occupied Israel, where Roman soldiers could be found patrolling every street corner, most of the Jews read "political revolution" into the phrase "kingdom of God." They were looking for General Patton. But Jesus didn't fit their expectations by rolling in on a tank.

Overthrowing the Roman government wasn't what Jesus had in mind at all. He wanted to establish a different kind of kingdom, a place and time where He reigns in the hearts of His people. And that is true today. He has not lost His desire to be supreme in our lives, to take up residence in our hearts, and to give us the power to change the world for Him.

So what kind of people did Jesus first ask to follow Him?

Let's try to imagine the Sea of Galilee. It's a beautiful fresh-water lake fed by the upper waters of the Jordan River. It's seven hundred feet below sea level. To help you get a visual, it is roughly the size of the triangle of Kaunakakai, Lahaina, and Lanai. It's big enough for some good fishing. In fact, looking across the lake on a clear day you might see hundreds of fishing boats. And these aren't millionaire yacht fishermen. These are World's Deadliest Catch kind of guys: hard working, rough and tumble. They don't fool around if you cross their nets or mess with their catch. If they don't work hard and smart, they don't eat. Like most fishermen, these men have courage, an ability to work together, patience, energy, stamina, faith, and judging by the callouses on their hands these guys are tough. Their skin is sun baked, their language is probably rougher than we would like in church.

That day, on the shore were Andrew and his brother, Simon Peter. Down the beach away, mending their nets were Zebedee and his sons, James and John.
According to John's gospel, Andrew had been sent to Jesus by John the Baptist. After spending a day with Jesus he dragged his brother along too.
So on this particular day when Jesus comes walking along the Sea of Galilee, He is able to call these men from their regular occupations and make them His disciples. Jesus took one look at them and said, "Follow me. We're not going for Onaga any more, we're fishing for people." All Immediately, they left everything to go with Jesus. A little bit later, Jesus spots James and John and says, "Let's get moving!" The brothers got up and left their dad in the boat with the rest of the crew.

This is kind of a strange way to start a ministry. Usually when a rabbi or a teacher wanted to start a new class he'd wait around in his classroom until some students decided to show up. Not Jesus. Jesus went down to the water and called them right out of their boats.

There was no advertising. He offered no discounts. There was no hype, no free coffee, and no 30-day trial. They went from the security of fishing for dinner to the uncertainty of trolling for souls. For some reason they had a burning desire to follow Jesus.
Doesn't it make you want to know, what was in it for them? Did they expect to get a new Boston Whaler out of this? Were they hoping for a front row seat at the palace? Did they expect gold and riches? We know that at least one of them, Peter, had some separation from his family. And we know that later there were times when Jesus was teaching when they asked, "what about us?"

When they looked at Jesus, they saw the real deal. They saw someone who spoke with the authority of God… who commanded evil spirits to leave…and they left. They watched as He calmed a storm with a word. They saw someone who carried the genuine love and power of God with every step He took. And even though they often didn't understand, they wanted in. They wanted to be a part of this new way of life. They wanted to understand what it meant to live in the middle of the Kingdom of God. They often couldn't figure out the details, but they knew that life with Jesus would be more exciting and fun than they could ever imagine.
And when Jesus talked about fishing for people, He used genuine love as the lure. But unlike the world, when God uses love, He doesn't bait us to come close and then switch His ways. God leads with love and lives with His love in us. And they saw that love and had a desire to live in that perfect love.

Desire is a powerful word. They had desire - a burning; longing; craving; hunger; yearning; appetite; a passion to be with Jesus. Desire drives people: Desire for fame, wealth, love, success, and happiness. It's an engine, a motivator. Desire drives people to make choices and changes in pursuit of their goal. They had the desire to follow Jesus and they never looked back.

Jesus calls out to us, "Follow me!" One who heard the call was the Apostle Paul and years later he wrote, "I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord" (Philippians 3:8). Nothing in life is as important as my desire to have a relationship with God. This is close-up and personal. To paraphrase Jesus, anyone who wants to be a long distance follower cannot be His disciple.

Authentic discipleship may involve an emotion, but it really is a choice.

American Christians have this way of thinking that we're all registered voters in the democratic kingdom of God. We live as if we don't like where Jesus is leading us, all we have to do is veto His plan. But I have looked closely in the Bible and can't find anywhere that the Lord grants us veto power. Instead, it often takes every last ounce of courage and will power to follow Jesus, even when we earnestly desire to. It means we have to pull ourselves away from what we want to do. Sometimes it is hard to leave the nets behind. Other times we follow Him around the block and then swim right back out to our boat.

Maybe that's because we can miss the excitement of truly following Jesus. Where do we get that notion that a life with Him is boring?

Philip Yancey said he dislikes most Hollywood films about Jesus. They have Jesus reciting His lines evenly and without emotion. "He strides through life as the one calm character among a cast of flustered extras. Nothing rattles Him. He dispenses wisdom in flat measured tones. He is, in short, the Prozac Jesus."

One of the reasons we struggle is because we have that concept of the Prozac Jesus in our minds. We see Him as the mild-mannered Jesus who doesn't really care what I do and will forgive me anyway if He does. But one writer says, "the Gospels present a man who has such charisma that people will sit three days straight, without food, just to hear His riveting words." And a Sedated Jesus would not have the draw to make James, Peter, John, and Andrew, real men, chose Christ over the family business.

Paul also wrote, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). What would make a brilliant theologian like Paul die to himself? A new life with Jesus Christ, not a drugged Jesus, but the excitement that comes from walking with the Son of God.

Authentic discipleship is a lifelong commitment. Jesus asks for the greatest and most determined commitment of your life. It requires genuine courage. Jesus promised His disciples three things - that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy and in constant trouble.

Bet you never heard it that way before. Jesus invites you to a life of goodness, grinning, guts and grief. Happiness, heartache, heroism, and high spirits. Jesus invites you to die to yourself so that you can rise with Him.

I've chosen to follow. I've chosen to follow Him now. Let's not get left out of the adventure. Let's choose to follow and to know him NOW! Don't get tangled in the nets. Don't swim back to the boat. Grab on to His hand, walk in His love, and follow Him now! Amen

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