Epiphany 3 Year B

Epiphany 3 January 25, 2009 Mark 1:14-20 Rev. Benton Quest

You know, serving God will really mess up your life.

I had a professor in seminary who said that “Go in peace, serve the Lord” was an oxymoron. If we truly serve the Lord, there is no way we could go in peace. And if we remained at peace, there was no way we could serve the Lord. This line of thought is born out in our readings for today. Today we are hearing about God’s call and how this call really messed up peoples’ lives.

You may think it strange that I would say that these calls messed up peoples’ lives. We get so used to hearing the stories that we forget to consider the people who are in the stories. These people had lives, families, jobs: they had all the same things we have today. They had to keep a roof over their heads. They had to earn a living. Probably the last thing any of them wanted to do was to go traveling, telling people to repent.

But God had a different plan. God had plans to use these ordinary people in extraordinary ways. Being used in extraordinary ways is great, except for one thing; when God calls, our lives tend to get totally messed up.

I just love the story of Jonah. Mostly what people think about is the whole whale thing. But the whale thing was such a small part of the story. Jonah’s story is so much bigger.

We actually do not know a whole lot about what Jonah did for a living, but he must have done something. Even so, we know that out of nowhere, God called to him. God called Jonah and told Jonah to go at once to a city called Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a really nasty place, kind of like Detroit. But God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people to repent.

Well, Jonah didn’t want to tell the people in Nineveh to repent, so he went as far as he could from Nineveh, to a place called Tarshish. But God had different plans. God used storms and giant fish to finally deposit Jonah on the shore of Nineveh. And when Jonah finally gave in and told the people of Nineveh to repent, the whole city put on sackcloth and ashes. We are told that even the animals put on sackcloth and repented.

You can bet that all of this traveling around probably messed up Jonah’s life. Also, Jonah’s beliefs got pretty messed up too! Jonah didn’t want to tell the folks of Nineveh to repent because he didn’t want God to save those people, people who he thought were horrible and nasty. Jonah knew that God was merciful, more merciful than Jonah himself. If God forgave the Ninevehites, maybe Jonah himself would also have to forgive. So Jonah didn’t want the people of Nineveh got off easy. He didn’t want to tell the people to repent because he didn’t want them to repent and he didn’t want God to forgive them. But even in spite of himself, Jonah spread the message. Although it caused some messiness in his life, God used Jonah to bring the message to the Ninevehites.

In the gospel, we again see where God was messing up peoples’ lives. Simon, Andrew, James, and John were going about their daily lives. We are told that Simon and Andrew were still out fishing when Jesus called; while James and John were mending their nets. We can assume that it was a normal day for each of them and that none of them though, “I think I will leave my fishing business and follow some roaming preacher,” when he woke up that morning. But that is exactly what happened; they each left their jobs, their livelihoods, their employees, and their families, to follow Jesus. Their lives went from some form of predictability to a total mess.

So why did God make their lives a total mess? Is it some kind of cruel joke on God’s part? Did God wake up one morning and say; “Things are getting too predictable for those folks down there, let’s mix it up a little”? Did God look down on these folks and decide that they were just relying too much on themselves and needed to learn a lesson? Was God just playing games with them? No, God had something special in store for the men in today’s readings.

From what we can tell, none of these men were exceedingly special. Yes, they were special in the way we all are special but they were not “off the scale” kind of special. They were just everyday people. But God had something special planned for them. Through these people, God had planned to bring a word of peace, forgiveness, and salvation to many. These men were walking away from their livelihood. These men were walking away from the means of providing for their families. These men were walking away from what we could consider a fairly hefty investment in nets and labor. Unlike Jonah, Simon, Andrew, James, and John didn’t need to be nudged; they just picked up and followed. They heard the call and responded.

What kind of followers are we? Are we the kind that drops everything or are we the type that needs a little nudging? Do we give in to the will of God or do we drag our feet trying to do things our own way? I know that personally, I tend to be more like Jonah than like the disciples. I know that I really don’t want my life messed up. I would be very content to stay where I am, (well, with a few changes) and not follow any call. I look at people like the disciples and think that following a major call is really good for them, but that is not for me.

However, it seems like when I try to just stay put, or even go running in the opposite direction, God is there, nudging me in another direction; God is there, leading me in the direction of God’s will. Have you felt this? Have you felt God stirring within you; moving you to places and things you had never considered? I think we rebel because we are frightened. Or, like Jonah, maybe we rebel because we do not want God to work for the people other than ourselves. I don’t know. But I do know that we do rebel.

What is funny is that in rebelling, we are forgetting one of the great truths of life: God is with us through all things. It is not us who are doing the changing in the people we encounter, but God working through us. Jonah speaking the word of repentance did not cause the people of Nineveh to repent. Actually, he did as little as possible to spread the message of repentance. But God, working through Jonah, caused the message to be spread throughout the whole city.

But we need to remember that quickly following does not guarantee that all will go smoothly either. The disciples did quickly follow, but their lives still got messed up. They too had to rely on God working through them. Still, in either case, God did work through the people in today’s lessons and God will work through us. We may not be called to tell a city to repent. We may not be called to devote our lives to following a traveling preacher. We may not be called to do “Home Run” kinds of things. We may just be called to spread God’s love to those we work with or to share our belongings with those who are in need. We may just be called to hit a pop-fly to get someone on base. It doesn’t matter the size of the call, what does matter is we are each called by God to follow.

I had another professor in seminary that would say, “It is not if God calls you, it is when God calls you.” When God calls us, how will we respond? I would hope we would respond quickly and gladly. I would hope that we would drop whatever we are doing and lovingly follow. I would hope that we wouldn’t run the other direction. But whatever happens, we do not need to be afraid of the call. No matter what happens, we know that God is with us; God is caring for us and strengthening us. And we know that no matter what happens, God will never leave us. Our lives may get messed up. Our expectations may get changed. We may be asked to abandon our nets and move to other lands. Or we may be called to talk to the people we work with or go to school with. But whatever the case, we can be sure God will hold true and be there to lead us and strengthen us.