RVCC Pastor's Sermon

Sermon - January 25, 2009

“God is on the Move – so Follow”

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Mark 1:14-20

There is an unmistakable immediacy about the Gospel of Mark. Because his primary purpose in narrating the life of Jesus is to prepare his readers for the coming of God’s Kingdom, Mark tells his listeners the Story of Jesus the Messiah as a means to show them the Way – and that is with a capital “W” - because it is God’s way that he is talking about.

And so Mark begins where the journey itself really begins. As we have seen, the Gospel writer skips over what for him are unimportant details like the birth and early life of Jesus and instead jumps in at the pivotal moment of Jesus’ baptism and the start of his ministry.

And one of the first acts of Jesus after God has affirmed the Nazarene as a beloved child down there in the middle of the Jordan River is to gather up followers – learners – disciples – perhaps because he realized that he could not do the work to which God had called him all by himself – or perhaps because he realized the great value and power of community – or perhaps it was a little of both.

And so Jesus headed to the Galilean lakeshore in the wee hours of a misty summer morning. There he found first Simon (later to be known as Peter) and Andrew throwing their nets into the shallow waters just off the beach in the hope of an early morning catch, and soon after he came across James and John who were just pushing their little dinghy filled with nets into the shallows.

“Come on with me,” Jesus cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted to all four of them. “Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

In Marks’ Gospel, Jesus does not spend a lot of time analyzing the big picture for them, and he surely does not have all the details in place yet. But what he does know is this: “God is near, God’s power is at work, hear this good news and follow me.” And perhaps that is all he needs to know as he starts out.

Apparently it was enough for the four young fishermen because they dropped their nets and left their boats and their lives behind to faithfully follow someone they had just met. As one author wrote, “I know that I would want at least 48 hours to think through my decision, to weigh the consequences, to think about the family business and the implications of the career move. Of course, by the time I had done all that, Jesus would have moved on to the next town. The author (of Mark) tells us nothing of their inner deliberations, whether the fishing was good or bad, if they were religious people or not, if they got along with their father or had a sense of wanderlust.”

In Mark’s narrative, it all happens in four quick verses – in contrast, by the way, to Luke’s and John’s version of the same tale where there is some amount of discussion and visual proofing involved. Mark’s story of the calling of the disciples is emblematic of his Gospel’s overwhelming sense of urgency.

In fact, Mark uses the word “immediately” or “at once” as it is sometimes translated more times in his narrative than any of the other Gospel writers. It occurs 33 times in 16 chapters. For Mark, the action is now. Things are moving forward, and there is no time to lose. God is on the march. Simon, Andrew, James, and John have been swept into God’s kingdom, and there is no looking back.

Frederick Buechner notes in his wonderful little book entitled Wishful Thinking that “Jesus chose ordinary people as the first twelve disciples. Their sole qualification seems to have been their initial willingness to rise to their feet when Jesus said, ‘Follow me.’”

Simon, Andrew, James, and John did not have any special qualities and no unusual talents noted on their resumes. Heck – they fished for a living. As Ken Gehrels wrote, it was “probably all they ever knew. Their father fished. And so, as would be typical for the time, they began to fish, too. None of them would have gone to Fisher-College.

Everything they learned would have been handed down from dad, or from the other men on the water. Big hands would have taught little ones how to mend nets, and cast them. A careful eye would have overseen their first attempts at boat repair. Words of experience, and a finger pointed to the cloud formations, would have taught them to mind the weather. They learned to be successful fishers by fishing in the shadow of other successful fishers.”

Perhaps that was at least part of the reason that the four mustered up the courage to follow in the first place. Apparently you did not need special talents to walk with this man, Jesus. The fact that he wanted to be their teacher – their rabbi – was sufficient.

It made some amount of sense because all four of the fishermen had witnessed those classic scenes often enough right there in their own synagogues. They knew that was how you learned from a rabbi – by literally walking with him, following him around.

They had seen rabbis traipsing about with their students, the latter being all ears while the former pointed out daily experiences to teach about the godly life. It was kind of like an apprenticeship – and not, they possibly believed, unlike learning the nits and nats of successful fishing. And what was that blessing they used to hear as children? “May you always be covered by the dust of your Rabbi” as you walked in his footsteps.

And so when Jesus said, “Follow me,” that for the moment was enough for the four. And so perhaps it should be for us when we hear that same nagging voice every now and then beckoning us to come along.

However, for you and me, it is not just the voice challenging us to follow that we hear. In addition, we can not help but hear Mark’s directive behind the voice as well, and that is enough to put off even the best of us. Following the Way – with a capital “W” – Mark clearly says - is not a Sunday morning or part time commitment. God is on the move – now. There is no time to lose and no lack of commitment to spare.

And even though we might wish otherwise, that sacred voice calling us to discipleship, coupled with Mark’s warning in the background, never quite leaves us alone. “The invitation to follow still haunts you, still moves you, still stirs in you. Sometimes it even convicts you. The call to follow can be like a thorn in your side, a pebble in your shoe, or even a swift kick in your backside” as Bennett Guess wrote.

What are we to do? Just how are we to respond? After all, we live nearly 2000 years after this Gospel was written. We live in the age of reason where what we do needs to make sense in our culture. And besides, society looks askance at those who journey out of the mainstream.

And yet the voice that calls us to follow- calls us to God’s Way - often flies in the face of reason and beckons us to travel on a new path. What are we to do?

Perhaps our answer lies in the immediacy of the response of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. If we even hold close to our hearts the inkling that there is another way for the world to be, and we must live with that hope if we choose to be here in this place this morning, then perhaps we need to just follow – knowing that we, like Simon and Andrew and James and John, do not have it all together to do it flawlessly either.

God is on the move – and, as perhaps those first disciples sensed, following along is going to take practice. As Ken Gehrels reminds us, “No matter how much you watch, or how much you listen. No matter how much of that you do, it won’t amount to anything if you don’t finally push the boat away from shore, and toss your net into the water.”

And when we do, sure, sometimes we will choose Nike over the needy. Sometimes we will want to live on more rather than on less. Sometimes we will not make the hard choices that love requires of us. But other times we will – and I truly believe those times can – and must – and will - happen more and more.

Maybe what we really need to do is less think about how marvelous the four fishermen were to drop everything and follow - and more focus on what might indeed be one of God’s little behind-the-scenes miracles – that of forging faith where before there had only been fish.

As Barbara Brown Taylor wrote, “"What we may have lost along the way is a full sense of the power of God – to recruit people who have made terrible choices; to invade the most hapless lives and fill them with light; to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and smack them upside the head with glory.” Whether we are ready or not, God is – and so God acts.

God has called each one of us – and that knowledge I would submit is at least part of the reason why we come and sit in this place on Sunday mornings. Who knows what draws us here except that it must have something to do with that nagging voice. “Follow.”

Perhaps we are here because we know we can not do it all ourselves or perhaps we have recognized the value and power of community. We may not have all the details about how this kingdom thing is going to work here in Raymond, and sometimes we may not even think we have the big picture down. And sometimes it may seem risky, and that is OK because it is.

In C. S. Lewis’ story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe , Mr. Beaver tells the four children who sit at his feet hearing about the Lion who will come to save Narnia from its unending winter, “’Course he isn’t safe! But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Mr. Beaver is ever so right! The journey won’t be safe. It won’t be easy. It will take us through the dark and show us people and places we would rather not see. It will take us to the foot of a cross and to an empty tomb. If we let it, it will take us in one way or another to the halls of Congress in Washington, to down-on-their-luck folks in Appalachia, to soup kitchens, to war zones, to friends and neighbors in need.

No, it won’t be safe, but then Simon and Andrew and James and John probably knew in their hearts that it would not be safe for them either. Yet they – and we – have been entrusted to soak up and share the very simple and ultimately life-changing power that is behind the call to discipleship, behind the “Follow me” – and that is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself. Feed the hungry, house the homeless and you have done it to me. Abide in my love and I will abide in you. You are the light of the world, so let your light shine before all that they may see the glory of God. The reign of God is among you, within you. If you have faith, the mountain shall be moved for you.”

And Jesus cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted to them. “Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Sermon - January 25, 2009

“God is on the Move – so Follow”

By Rev. Nancy Foran Mark 1:14-20

By Rev. Nancy Foran
Mark 1:14-20