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...