In the name of
God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
What does it mean to follow Jesus?
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee and calls out
to Simon, Andrew, James, and John, inviting them to “follow me.” And the
invitation is extended to us as well- follow Jesus. But when the rubber hits
the road, how do we do this?
After all, there is no guidebook to
following Jesus. Some might point to the Bible, but it is worth keeping in mind
that while the Bible gives direction to our lives, it is not a set of
directions. Despite what some might claim in their self-help books that promise
to give you the pathway to a better life through faith, there is no one process
to following Jesus. And even the Bible is split on what following Jesus means.
Sometimes Jesus’ followers are called disciples, coming from the Greek for “student,”
and other times they are called apostles, meaning “those sent out.” Is
following Jesus about learning, or teaching?
And
if we’re honest with ourselves, I suspect that very few of us are actually
interested in following the exact model that Jesus did. Jesus was a homeless itinerant
preacher who was rejected by his peers, he never ate a nice restaurant, never
took a vacation, never got married or had children, and he ended up being
violently and publically killed in his early 30s. Following Jesus is important
to me, but I’m less than excited about following that pattern.
Furthermore, labeling ourselves as
followers of Jesus today can be a challenge. In many parts of the country, the
word “Christian” is associated with judgment of others, homophobia, hypocrisy, and
the belief that the world is only 5,000 years old. There was a Gallup report
that came out last month that said, for the first time, clergy were rated below
50% when people were asked to rate them on honesty and ethics, which is a huge
drop from just 7 years ago. Why would people follow Jesus when his spokespeople
aren’t deemed to be trustworthy?
There
are a lot of people that also claim that the world is busier than it used to
be. I don’t really buy that argument, I think we’ve just forgotten how to set
priorities, but either way, we believe that we’re busier than we used to be. So
figuring out how to pack following Jesus into an already busy life can be a conundrum.
We’ve been in the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, so
being charitable with our money is harder than it used to be. Following Jesus,
as simple as it appears at first glance, is actually quite the challenge.
There
are some things about following Jesus though that we can learn by paying
attention to how he calls these early followers in today’s reading. The first
thing that Jesus says is “repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has come near.” As
I’ve said before, this one sentence shapes more of my theology than perhaps any
other in the Bible. Jesus did not say “the Kingdom of heaven will be where you
go when you die,” or “will be the reward for those who follow me.” No, Jesus
said that the Kingdom has come near, or as other translations put it, “is at
hand.” How might this change the way we see the world? Heaven is at hand, not
an alternate dimension that only exists after death. In Spanish, the word for
heaven is the same as sky, and that’s a beautiful way to think of it. Heaven is
as near to us as the sky above our heads, we breathe it in with each breath, it
is where the light comes from.
And
Jesus says that the response to this nearness of heaven is to repent. Repent in
Greek is metanoia which literally
means “to change your mind.” Jesus, though, wasn’t Greek, he was Jewish; and
the Hebrew word for “repent” is shuv,
which means “to turn back.” So we might understand this sort of repentance to
mean something like “going in a new direction” or “establishing new priorities.”
English Bishop NT Wright has said that the nearness of the Kingdom of heaven is
“not about our escape from this world into another one, but to God’s sovereign
rule coming on earth as it is in heaven.”
The
nearness of heaven necessitates that we do things differently. It means that we
must turn from the way that things used to be. The Kingdom’s presence means that
we can no longer, in good conscience, walk down the road of selfishness, of
apathy, of jealousy, hatred, or violence. As our Gospel hymn reminds us, once we’ve
decided to follow Jesus, there’s no turning back. Many theologians have talked
about a sort of duality of heaven and earth, and St. Augustine famously wrote
about the City of Man and the City of God. And with all due respect to such
esteemed theologians, I think they got it wrong. Heaven and earth are not
separate realties or places. Isn’t this what happened when the curtain of the
Temple was torn in two at Jesus’ crucifixion? The division between God and us
has gone away. Or as Paul puts it in Ephesians “in Jesus’ flesh…he has broken
down the dividing wall.” Perhaps it is best put by poet Elizabeth Barrett
Browning who wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven / and every common bush set afire
with God // but only he who sees takes off his shoes / the rest sit round and
pluck blackberries.”
So
following Jesus then becomes a question of whether we see this reality, or do we
ignore it and pretend that this world is whatever we want to make of it? As the
prophet Isaiah writes in today’s reading, “the people who have walked in
darkness have seen a great light.” Will we close our eyes to this light, or
embrace the warmth of it? The French philosopher, Simone Weil, once said that attention
is the primary way that the soul encounters God, and so it is in following
Jesus. Heaven is all around us: will we repent of all that leads us away from
it? Will we change our minds about priorities? Will we turn towards God and
away from the idols that we have made? “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven has
come near.”
The
way that Jesus calls these first followers is important as well. I realize that
when we hear this passage, we are often jarred at the way they seemingly
abandon their life at the drop of a hat. They leave their nets and their father
upon meeting Jesus. But it likely wasn’t such a dramatic event. Matthew is
clear to locate this story on the shores of Galilee, in Capernaum where Jesus was
living at the time. Scholars tell us that the population in this area wasn’t
huge, perhaps 1,000 residents. Simon, Andrew, James, and John had all likely
met Jesus before, or at the very least, they had seen and heard of him before.
Perhaps Jesus made some of their tables or equipment in his work as a carpenter.
Maybe Jesus frequented the fish market and knew these people.
Part
of what is so scary about this passage is the use of the word “immediately.” No
time to consider the invitation to follow, no time to get our affairs in order
back at home, no chance to put up an out of office responder on our email.
Immediately. But that’s not really a fair reading of the text, because as I
mentioned, they very likely knew Jesus already. They had heard some of what
Jesus said. They were perhaps already intrigued by Jesus when he called them to
follow. They also came back from time to time, as Scripture tells us, we know
Peter came back to visit his mother-in-law at one point. So while following
Jesus can be a radical move, it might not be quite as jarring and impossible as
the text makes it out to be.
And
there are two lesson for us in this. The first is that following Jesus can be a
process. This isn’t conversion by the sword where we are introduced to Jesus just
seconds before we are forced to follow him. Jesus lays the groundwork for these
fishermen, and for us. In the same way that you don’t generally ask someone to
marry you on the first date, Jesus builds on an already established
relationship. Perhaps some of you are just learning about this Jesus character
that we’re talking about. Some of you might be ready to leave everything today and
immediately follow Jesus. And both are okay. Get to know Jesus, build the relationship,
and then when he calls, answer.
And
that’s the second lesson in this part of the passage. When Jesus comes to us,
after having established the relationship, and asks you to follow- take the
leap and go. We can’t know exactly what Jesus said to these men, if anything
more than “follow me,” but it must have been a compelling argument for them to
do it. At some point, Jesus is going to come to each and everyone one of us and
say “follow me.” It will be a scary proposition, but you’ll know that following
will be the only real choice.
There
is a great video of TED Talk given by Derek Sivers called “How To Start a
Movement.” It’s a short video, just a few minutes long. And in it, there is a
man standing on grassy hill dancing all alone; we might be tempted to call him “crazy.”
No one else around him is dancing, but he just stands up and starts moving. He
stood out, perhaps others around ridiculed him. But them something interesting
happens. Another man comes over to him and joins the dance. And all of sudden, the
crazy dancer is transformed from a lone nut into a leader. And within a few
minutes, dozens of people join in the dance.
In
Jesus’ day, people called him a lone nut, and much worse. But it was those
first followers that turned Jesus into a leader. Now if we decided to follow
Jesus today, weren’t not going to the one of the first followers, but we might
feel like it. The first follower still has a tough task; they stand out and
might be judged as crazy by others as well. I think that we all know that our
world needs more followers of Jesus, more people who are willing to risk
following the Lord of Love, the Prince of Peace, the Savior of Souls. So when
Jesus comes to you, perhaps seeming a bit crazy, and says “follow me,” just
remember, you are being called to a movement, to the dance of life.
And
lastly, let’s give a few moments to the way in which Jesus invites them to
follow. Jesus says to the fishermen “follow me, and I will make you fish for
people.” He didn’t go to the fishermen and use the metaphor of a winemaker.
When Jesus calls us, he knows us and calls us to use our gifts. Had Jesus
called carpenters he would have said “follow me and build the Kingdom,” to
farmers he would have said “follow me and plant seeds,” to teachers “follow me
and teach,” to doctors “follow me and be the cure,” to lawyers “follow me and
be the voice of justice.” I don’t know how Jesus will invite each of you to
follow him, but I trust that you already have the skills and passions to do it.
How is God calling you to use your gifts? As you pay special attention to the
Kingdom of heaven that is all around us, consider how you already have the
tools to further it along.
One
of my favorite movies is The Matrix.
Early in the movie, Morpheus, played by Lawrence Fishburne, is speaking with
Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, about the fact that the world in which they live
isn’t quite as real as he thinks that it is. The Matrix, Morpheus tells him, is
just an illusion, but reality is deeper. There are obvious parallels to us
being aware of the Kingdom of heaven which can be hard to perceive, but is our
true reality. Morpheus says “the Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us…you
can’t be told what it is, you have to see it for yourself.” And then he offers
Neo two pills, if he takes the blue pill, he’ll forget this conversation and go
back to believing whatever he wants to about the world. But if he takes the red
pill, Morpheus tells him “you will stay in Wonderland and I will show you how
deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo chooses the red pill, and Morpheus then says “follow
me.”
This
morning, Jesus is presenting us with the same two pills. We can take the blue
pill and pretend that the heaven isn’t all around us, that it is just waiting
out there in some distant future for us. Or we can accept reality, knowing that
earth indeed is crammed with heaven. Following Jesus can be a daunting
challenge, one that perhaps we’re not sure if we’re ready for. But if we can
turn our attention to the fact that heaven is all around us- that will be the
first step. We can then focus on building our relationship with Jesus, and then
use our passions and gifts when the invitation comes. I pray that each of us
might choose the red pill to follow Jesus and find out how deep the love,
grace, and peace of the present Kingdom of heaven goes. Amen.
