The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

January 25, 2009

Year B

Mark 1: 14-20

St. Francis, Norris

I like the way the Episcopal Church lectionary works almost all of the time. Especially now that we have adopted the Revised Common Lectionary. The readings are tied together in a manner that highlights one central theme. Sometimes it is easy to relate them and sometimes it is not easy. Today is one of those easy times.

In our Old Testament lesson from Jonah we hear the Lord say; “Get up, go to Nineveh.” Jonah does as he is told without argument. In the psalm we hear about God speaking and we hear Him and trust Him and put our hope in Him. Finally, the Gospel continues the story of Jesus choosing the disciples. The call consists basically of “Follow me.” And they all drop whatever they were doing and leave their jobs and families in order to follow Jesus.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians ties in by talking of having no possessions, nor any dealings with the present physical world. In other words, becoming a disciple of Christ.

These same lessons are being heard today in most of the Methodist, Lutheran, Disciples of Christ, and Church of Christ, Roman Catholic and Presbyterian churches as well. There have been years of fine tuning and tweaking these readings to ensure the books of the bible are covered in a three year cycle. A lot of very intelligent people have had their input into the system and it works well. Usually.

All of us have realized, for years that a problem often arises when scripture is taken out of context. Fundamentalist and liberal thinking theologians alike, have used this cherry picking process to illustrate their own personal beliefs forever, I suppose. There are some strange interpretations, at times, because of this.

The reason I bring this up is because of our reading from Jonah. Jonah is being portrayed as a willing disciple for God. Much is missing in this bit we read today. For example, when it says the word came to Jonah for a second time. The reason it is coming for the second time is because Jonah had just been spewed out of the belly of the great fish. He came to be in the belly of that great fish because he had heard the call of God the first time and turned and ran away from Nineveh. He was thrown overboard by the others on the ship in order to make the storm stop. God had caused the storm because Jonah had disobeyed the call.

That hardly sounds like a willing disciple to me, does it to you? Also, this story ends with Jonah warning the people of Nineveh that God will destroy them in forty days. The people, including the king repented and God took pity on them and changed his mind. Imagine that! The God of the Old Testament is not always seeking vengeance, sometimes great mercy is shown.

This is not the end of the story either. This person Jonah (who is portrayed as a willing disciple in this bit of scripture we read) is actually angry with God for sparing all these people’s lives. He even tells God that he knew this would happen and because he was aware that God is gracious and merciful and slow to anger. That’s why he was running away the first time God called.

Then God made a bush grow to shade Jonah from the sun and the very next night sent a worm to destroy it. Once again Jonah was furious and said he wished to die. God points out to Jonah that he had great concern for the bush dying but did not understand why God would spare a city of millions in Nineveh. In other words Jonah is more concerned about himself than the people in the city. He thinks God unfair in sparing the many lives while he has to sit in the hot sun. So much for a willing disciple who is answering the call.

It makes me wonder about the “follow me” and “come and see” stories we are hearing. Can it possibly be that the disciples were that willing to immediately forsake everything and everyone in order to follow this Messiah? I suppose the answer lies in the fact that this man is the son of God and there must have been some special something that allowed them to see this at their very first contact. Of course Jonah also realized he was talking to God before he turned and ran from his first call.

Now I want to talk about our world and the call that we hear or don’t hear. The call that we say “here I am Lord” or turn and run as fast as we can. I think it fair to say that we are far more likely to react as Jonah did than like Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John. We may come to Jesus but it is most likely to be kicking and screaming that we come with.

I feel like everyone receives the call but we don’t have the benefit of hearing that audible voice of God or seeing the humanity of Christ. At least that is true for most of us. But the call is not a one time or even two time thing. It is multiple and persistent I think.

When I was about ten years old I was watching TV and there was some sort of telethon, maybe for Polio, which for some reason inspired me to go from door to door asking for donations to help. When I was in Morristown, I was touched by a story about a child who was dying and wanted a bicycle. I bought one for them. I felt called and I thought I was answering the call. But was I really? I don’t think so.

Yes, I was being called but my response was not one of answering that call. I was being charitable, I was showing love for my fellow human being, but not answering the call. What I was doing was good but not life changing. Answering the call would come later in my life.

You see, I am much more like Jonah than I am like any of Jesus disciples. I had to be swallowed by the whale before I heard the call. I am unlike Jonah though in that God did not send that whale, in my opinion. I fell into the sea and was swallowed.

From that falling into the sea and being swallowed by a whale, I think my eyes and ears were opened. The call continued and I began to realize that this call was more than some one specific need for one specific individual or cause. I was being called t change my entire life. I did not need to forsake anyone to answer the call but only to change the direction of my life. The needs are with everyone and every cause.

I am fortunate that I had such great support in answering the call. Sonya and the children were willing partners in the sacrifices of going to Seminary for three years. The bishop and discernment committees were sources of encouragement as were all our friends. No one ever said, Joe you shouldn’t be doing this. At least not out loud.

All of you are called, too. Not to the priesthood maybe, but certainly to become closer to God through Christ. The thing is, that it is not an on again off again call. It is constant call and lives need to change in order to answer. It is more than being in church. It is striving to do the will of God in every aspect of your lives. Being called means being more loving, giving, helpful, forgiving, inclusive and honest. It means being less careless, gossiping, exclusive, greedy and vengeful. The call means doing what God wishes you to do above what you want to do. Sometimes they are not the same thing. Like with Jonah and the people of Nineveh. Sometimes they are the same thing. Like with Jesus’ disciples.

Answering the call is a never ending process. The more you do, the more you wish to do, it seems. Take inventory of how it is that you answer your call. Then discern how you wish to answer more consistently. The call is there. Try not to wait to be swallowed by the whale before you pick up your phone.