Fishy Story
This is the sermon I preached on Sunday, 1/21 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church. The text was Mark 1:14-20.
There’s something fishy about today’s gospel. Are we really to believe that these four prospective disciples would instantly drop everything and follow Jesus? And this was at night, when fishing took place, to get the fish to market while they were fresh. Jesus has dropped his net to fish for disciples.
The kingdom having come near is the refrain for Jesus—where the work of God is done among the people of God, there the kingdom of God can be found. It is the heart of Jesus’ message. This phrase located the realm of God, this defining moment, and space is near. It also means that an action has now begun and is yet unfinished. Mark’s view is that the kingdom is future, but so near that it already affects the present.
When Jesus called Simon and Andrew, they were busy fishing. They were doing pretty well for themselves. After all, they had a good occupation, living right on the Lake of Galilee with plenty of fish to be caught.
Unexpectedly, there was Jesus calling to them to follow him. There was no time to think over this proposition, no invitation to take your time. Just go. This was certainly unexpected and undeserved. Here we see an epiphany that demanded an immediate response.
They “immediately left their nets and followed [Jesus]” (v. 18). They got into Jesus’ net. Used repeatedly in Mark’s gospel, “immediately” is Mark’s indication of the urgency of Christ’s call to his hearers.
There’s a lot Mark doesn’t tell us. Were Simon and Andrew, James and John dissatisfied with their occupation? Doubtful. Did they have a previous knowledge of Jesus? Probably. They likely lived in the same area as Jesus and were acquainted with each other. So, it seems less odd that they would leave everything to follow Jesus. Plus, they wouldn’t be leaving forever. They doubtless took periodic trips with Jesus, then returned home. Only during the dry season could people travel around (by either land or sea) to follow Jesus.
According to Pastor David Ewart there’s another issue:
The fact that Jesus is out alone at night and that the four all leave their families to follow / travel with Jesus [was considered to be] abnormal and deviant behavior. Their friends and neighbors would view them with alarm and suspicion — be very concerned about the breakdown in their social fabric. Loyalty to one's family and strictly observing all social conventions were paramount in Jesus' day. Any deviants were quickly brought back into line or expelled from the community. (Holytextures.com)
We don’t know all the answers, but we do know that there was something compelling about Jesus to draw them to him immediately.
Jesus tells Simon and Andrew that they will fish for people. Caught in Jesus’ net, they’ll catch others with their nets. Early Christian imagery shows baptism as water, believers as water-dwellers, the net as the gospel, and the boat as the church. These new disciples got caught in the net of the gospel.
All these men immediately obeyed the call of Jesus. They could not pretend, ignore or avoid the moment. They respond not with fear or flight, but with faith and trust, believing this call is good news. Likewise, they freely follow Jesus, confident of the future that is in the hands of the One who could be counted on no matter what. They have entered into a new reality. Now they can give themselves away in love to their neighbors, so they too may believe that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near” and they can set nets for a different kind of catch.
As a second career pastor, I can imagine just a bit of what these disciples experienced—our departure from Rhode Island to seminary wasn't nearly as sudden. We moved quite a bit—from Rhode Island to Gettysburg for two years, from Gettysburg to West Virginia for a year of internship, then back again to Gettysburg for my senior year of seminary. Then, we moved from Gettysburg to Portville, living in two different houses before moving here. Since our marriage, our last move, from Portville to Bemus Point, is where we’ve been the longest—9 years this month.
What would make you leave what you know and venture out in quest of something new? When we fall in love and get married, it sometimes means a geographical move along with other changes in our lives. We may not want to leave our family and friends, but we are willing to do so to be with our beloved.
When Jesus calls us, our lives are immediately altered by the preaching of the word. We are to “repent, and believe in the good news” (v. 15). Believing in the good news is better translated, “Trust in the good news.” It’s not a matter of having an opinion about the good news, but responding to a call for a radical, total, unqualified basing of our lives on the good news; a living into the good news.
Sometimes, our response is outside our control. I vividly remember labor with my first child, Sarah. The closer I got to her being born, the more I thought that there was absolutely nothing I can do to stop this. I am going to be a parent, and it is completely outside my control. It is happening, no matter what.
This is perhaps what it was like for the disciples in Mark. If the heavens are ripped apart, then you’d better get ready for a wild ride. This is “simultaneously freeing and terrifying. We are free to respond and yet terrified of how the future may unfold” (Karoline Lewis, workingpreacher.org].
What is God calling you to, individually and as a church? Are you called to visit people? There are openings for that. Are you called to sing? There is always a place for that. Is your call to be friendly and welcoming? We excel at that, and yet there can never be too much welcome. I came across a statement while preparing my message that sums up what our response to Jesus should be, “Our task is to share a faith that is exciting enough to be contagious” (Douglas R. A. Hare, Matthew, Interpretation). Amen.
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