[This meditation was delivered online in lieu of in-person worship due to adverse winter weather. It was preceded by reading the scripture in the form of Lectio Divina.]
Whatever gift God has given you through this time of reflection was for you, even if it was only a time of silence.
The word that settled on my heart was “follow.” Maybe that’s because it was repeated 3 times. Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him; they left Zebedee and the hired help and they followed him.
Maybe I just like the word "follow" because “followers of the way of Jesus” is what the early believers were called well before they were called “Christians.”
We usually call these first few “Disciples,” and sometimes we act as though that title, Disciple, only describes 12 men who lived about 2,000 years ago. Maybe that is because there is some shred of humility and dower Calvinism in us that makes us feel unworthy of the title. Maybe it’s because it seems like a higher level of faith than we want to engage. It’s like being an Elder or something morally compelling and totally inconvenient!
Maybe it’s because the idea of becoming a disciple implies giving up control. Maybe it’s too close to the word discipline. Maybe it is even because the word disciple has been used to describe fanatics who have caused harm in the name of faith.
Our text doesn’t actually use the word disciple, but it does in chapter 2. In Jesus’ day, the word might also have been “adherents.” The Rabbinic tradition held that those who wanted instruction would adhere themselves to a teacher. They would become an adherent - literally bound to the teacher to become a part of the teaching - with the hopes of becoming a Rabbi in the same tradition when the teacher departed or became too old.
What was different about Jesus is that he chose his disciples. Jesus called Simon and Andrew mid-cast, and they came and followed him. Jesus called James and John and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired help. I’ve always wondered how Zebedee felt about that. Obviously, he was more successful than Simon and Andrew because he had hired help - but these are his sons. In the past I’ve felt bad for him, but now I am not so sure. Jesus came to tell James and John that the Kingdom of God was at hand and that he would help them to “fish for people.”
Ol’ Zeb was not called to be a disciple because someone still had to catch real fish for real mouths, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It does make me wonder, though. How many of us are called to keep fishing, and how many of us are called to let down our nets and follow Jesus as an adherent - fusing our very lives with his teachings and becoming the fulfillment of the promises that he made? And is that truly an either/or?
I hope not. Hopefully, following Jesus and working for a living are not mutually exclusive. Truly, I think there may be nets within each of us that need to be set down in order to pick up the nets we are properly called to. For if we are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:19, surely we must, ourselves, be Christ’s disciples.
Admittedly, the New Testament does throw this word around a lot, sometimes referring to the 12, sometimes to curious followers in the crowd, and sometimes to those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
While I believe the answer is D) All of the above, I think our reading has some special insight in verse 15, where Jesus comes to town calling out, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
There is another story that the lectionary pairs with Mark 1, that our children have been studying in Sunday School, and it is the story of Jonah. If you haven’t read it in a while – spoiler – Jonah’s message to the Ninevites was to repent…and they did! They turned from self-gratification toward God’s glorification. And God... changed... God’s... mind. Jonah, the reluctant prophet - all covered in fish goo, got up and spoke the word of God to them, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” End game. Boom. You’re done. Thus says the Lord, and so say we all!
And they heard it. And they – as a people, from smallest to tallest and all their cows and goats – repented. And God changed – God changed God’s mind.
It makes me wonder. Could we? I doubt that many of us think God is poised to strike a world that is already bent on self-destruction, but could we change God’s perspective of the harm done in God’s name if we own it and truly repent of it? Could our repentance of full participation in a culture of idolatry allow us to participate more completely in the Kin-dom of God? Could it be that we are being invited to lay down our nets – which aren’t catching anything anyway – so that we can pick up the net that Jesus has placed at our feet? Could it be that God awaits our repentance and invites us to participate in changing the present form of this world?
That’s what the Apostle, Paul, said was happening in 1 Corinthians 7:31, “The present form of this world is passing away.” Guess what? Just like the melting ice and snow outside, the present form of this world is always passing away. The present form of our institutions, even our very buildings and structures are always passing away. The opportunity to follow Christ – to become more disciplined – and to offer discipleship is always passing away, but it is also always passing our way.
As we follow the way of Jesus – as we adhere to the call of Jesus to repentance – we have been given the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing, even as the form of the world changes around us.
And what does all of that look like? It looks like a world where all serve each other - a world where the voiceless are given a voice, the friendless have comfort, and the invitation to receive and respond to God’s grace is constant! It looks like a world that expresses the love of God for all of creation! It looks like a world where people give glorify to God over and above themselves.
In the end, as we move into a new season of ministry with new church leaders, what matters is that we follow in the way of Jesus, together, proclaiming the Kingdom of God – which is both present and yet to come! I’ll leave you to think about what that might look like in your life, and in ours together, as we continue in ministry together.
Whatever gift God has given you through this time of reflection was for you, even if it was only a time of silence.
The word that settled on my heart was “follow.” Maybe that’s because it was repeated 3 times. Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him; they left Zebedee and the hired help and they followed him.
Maybe I just like the word "follow" because “followers of the way of Jesus” is what the early believers were called well before they were called “Christians.”
We usually call these first few “Disciples,” and sometimes we act as though that title, Disciple, only describes 12 men who lived about 2,000 years ago. Maybe that is because there is some shred of humility and dower Calvinism in us that makes us feel unworthy of the title. Maybe it’s because it seems like a higher level of faith than we want to engage. It’s like being an Elder or something morally compelling and totally inconvenient!
Maybe it’s because the idea of becoming a disciple implies giving up control. Maybe it’s too close to the word discipline. Maybe it is even because the word disciple has been used to describe fanatics who have caused harm in the name of faith.
Our text doesn’t actually use the word disciple, but it does in chapter 2. In Jesus’ day, the word might also have been “adherents.” The Rabbinic tradition held that those who wanted instruction would adhere themselves to a teacher. They would become an adherent - literally bound to the teacher to become a part of the teaching - with the hopes of becoming a Rabbi in the same tradition when the teacher departed or became too old.
What was different about Jesus is that he chose his disciples. Jesus called Simon and Andrew mid-cast, and they came and followed him. Jesus called James and John and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired help. I’ve always wondered how Zebedee felt about that. Obviously, he was more successful than Simon and Andrew because he had hired help - but these are his sons. In the past I’ve felt bad for him, but now I am not so sure. Jesus came to tell James and John that the Kingdom of God was at hand and that he would help them to “fish for people.”
Ol’ Zeb was not called to be a disciple because someone still had to catch real fish for real mouths, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It does make me wonder, though. How many of us are called to keep fishing, and how many of us are called to let down our nets and follow Jesus as an adherent - fusing our very lives with his teachings and becoming the fulfillment of the promises that he made? And is that truly an either/or?
I hope not. Hopefully, following Jesus and working for a living are not mutually exclusive. Truly, I think there may be nets within each of us that need to be set down in order to pick up the nets we are properly called to. For if we are commanded to go and make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:19, surely we must, ourselves, be Christ’s disciples.
Admittedly, the New Testament does throw this word around a lot, sometimes referring to the 12, sometimes to curious followers in the crowd, and sometimes to those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah.
While I believe the answer is D) All of the above, I think our reading has some special insight in verse 15, where Jesus comes to town calling out, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
There is another story that the lectionary pairs with Mark 1, that our children have been studying in Sunday School, and it is the story of Jonah. If you haven’t read it in a while – spoiler – Jonah’s message to the Ninevites was to repent…and they did! They turned from self-gratification toward God’s glorification. And God... changed... God’s... mind. Jonah, the reluctant prophet - all covered in fish goo, got up and spoke the word of God to them, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” End game. Boom. You’re done. Thus says the Lord, and so say we all!
And they heard it. And they – as a people, from smallest to tallest and all their cows and goats – repented. And God changed – God changed God’s mind.
It makes me wonder. Could we? I doubt that many of us think God is poised to strike a world that is already bent on self-destruction, but could we change God’s perspective of the harm done in God’s name if we own it and truly repent of it? Could our repentance of full participation in a culture of idolatry allow us to participate more completely in the Kin-dom of God? Could it be that we are being invited to lay down our nets – which aren’t catching anything anyway – so that we can pick up the net that Jesus has placed at our feet? Could it be that God awaits our repentance and invites us to participate in changing the present form of this world?
That’s what the Apostle, Paul, said was happening in 1 Corinthians 7:31, “The present form of this world is passing away.” Guess what? Just like the melting ice and snow outside, the present form of this world is always passing away. The present form of our institutions, even our very buildings and structures are always passing away. The opportunity to follow Christ – to become more disciplined – and to offer discipleship is always passing away, but it is also always passing our way.
As we follow the way of Jesus – as we adhere to the call of Jesus to repentance – we have been given the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing, even as the form of the world changes around us.
And what does all of that look like? It looks like a world where all serve each other - a world where the voiceless are given a voice, the friendless have comfort, and the invitation to receive and respond to God’s grace is constant! It looks like a world that expresses the love of God for all of creation! It looks like a world where people give glorify to God over and above themselves.
In the end, as we move into a new season of ministry with new church leaders, what matters is that we follow in the way of Jesus, together, proclaiming the Kingdom of God – which is both present and yet to come! I’ll leave you to think about what that might look like in your life, and in ours together, as we continue in ministry together.
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