Follow Me

Follow Me Third Sunday after the Epiphany - January 24, 2021 - Jonah 3:1-5, 10 - Psalm 62:5-12 - 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 - Mark 1:14-20 Fishing for people. Sounds strange in our 21st century world doesn't it? What images come to mind with this phrase? It's more that "rounding people up for Jesus". It's about making connections. The fishing idea needs to expand beyond the numbers, wide enough to include acceptance and hospitality. Jesus is inviting us to a life of engagement. We have to look back so that we can look forward. We need Jonah to help set the context for Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Jonah was a prophet; Jonah worked for the Lord. And still, when faced with the call to follow into what he thought was dangerous, or futile territory, he ran away. Rather than dropping everything, he gathered up his fears and ran for it. Thankfully, God never gives up on us, even though we might seem ready to give up. The text begins "the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." A second time, did you hear that? The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time... because the first time didn't go so well. The first time the Word came, Jonah went ... the other way. God's Word said go; Jonah's feet said no. And for his troubles, he got a sea cruise berthed in an inside cabin with no view. But that was then; this is now. "The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." And this time, he decided he'd better go in the direction the Word pointed. The problem was it pointed toward Nineveh. If there was ever a town you didn't want to go, it was Nineveh. If there was ever a place full of the wrong sort of folk, it was Nineveh. You know some cities have a side of town you're told you ought to avoid? Well, that's the good side of Nineveh. No wonder Jonah didn't want to go. They didn't like him, and he didn't like them; and they were both happy keeping things that way. Except... "the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." God has a thing for lost causes. And it was a cause God was trying to enlist Jonah in. So Jonah went, dragging his feet all the way into a city that was "a three days walk across." He walked one day and was a third of the way in. He planted his feet on a busy street corner and muttered his eight-word sermon while picking fish bones out of his beard. "Check that off the list," Jonah thinks to himself and turns to make his way back out of town. Ready to duck the rotting vegetables and pointed sticks, he hunched down and then realized that the city was eerily silent. His "little" sermon froze people in their tracks. They were staring at him with that "deer-in-the-headlights," "hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar" kind of glaze. And one by one, they turned. First they turned in and didn't like what they saw. So, next they turned out and began grasping at straws. They put on sackcloth as a sign of how bad they felt. They poured ashes on their heads. Whole families, whole neighborhoods, turned. That's what true repentance means. They were heading in one direction and then because of a word, well eight words, they turned a whole new direction. That's the fishy bit, at least as far as anyone is concerned. How could that possibly be? How could a few words turn a life around? It is almost too incredible to be believed. Why, if we were to accept the possibility of such a thing, then we would find no situation beyond our ability to affect; we would find no life beyond the possibility of redemption; we would find no excuse to wash our hands of anyone at any time. Because we just might have the word that would cause their lives to turn around. No, it can't really be possible in the real world. The real world is hard and cruel, and there are good and bad, and we know who is who. We live a world different from Nineveh, at least the Nineveh that Jonah found or helped to create. No, our world is a world of hard work, back-breaking labor to get anywhere. The kind of world guys like Simon and Andrew, James and John lived in. Those who knew their trade, who knew what mattered, who kept their noses to the grindstone. It just seems incredible that with a word - follow me - that they would follow him. It seems like there must have been more than that. More to it than we see. It seems too fishy. Too unbelievable. There is power in words. God's word certainly, but even in our words. Knowing this, we now have the responsibility to use our words, to turn lives around. Our own certainly, but others as well. We have an obligation and a joy; we have been given a gift that we can't horde, that we can't keep secret. It is a part of the gift itself that we share it. It is woven into the fabric of love that it is shared, multiplied infinitely until all know what we know, all know who we know. Even those we don't think are worthy of it. That was Jonah's problem. That's why the word had to come a second time. We discover in the final chapter that Jonah's reluctance came from the fact that he was afraid that God would love the Ninevites as much as God loved him. He was afraid that God would forgive the citizens of Nineveh as he had forgiven Jonah. And that burned him up. God's grace was fishy to Jonah. It was too incredible, too encompassing, too accepting. After all, Jonah was caught up in that net of God's love. Who knows who else might be included? "I'll make you fish for people," says Jesus. Following Jesus is not simply about a state of being, but a call to doing? Certainly, there is a need for training, for preparation, for growing as disciples; but the end is always an outward focus, always looking for ways to connect, to widen the net. Our prayers are not just for ourselves, but for the needs of the community around us. Our prayers are not just for our aches and pains, but for the brokenness of the "least of these" around us, the hungry and the hurting. Our songs are not just about the state of our souls or the home we have in heaven, but about the influence we can have on building the kingdom of God in the world where we live. "Follow me," says Jesus, "and I'll keep you busy, keep you bubbling over with a desire to connect, to share, to gather. Follow me and you'll never be alone again." Loving Father, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit, and revealed him as your dear Son. Thank you for making us your children by water and the Spirit. Keep us faithful to you throughout our lives. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.