In the name of God ☩ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of my many flaws is that I like things to get resolved quickly instead of dragging on. Just ask my wife about my refrain of not having things “halfway done.” No, when there is a project or task at hand, I immediately get to work on it. Perhaps this idiosyncrasy of mine is why I find Mark’s rendering of the Gospel to be the most compelling.
One of Mark’s most often used words in his telling of the Gospel is “immediately.” In today’s 6 verses, the word is used twice; and in the entirety of Mark, “immediately” is used 41 times in 16 chapters. As I mentioned two Sunday’s ago when we were considering the opening verses of this Gospel, Mark is writing from an apocalyptic perspective in which the fate of all Creation hangs in the balance. God is doing battle with the forces of evil in Mark, and you’ll recall as Mark begins the story, God rips apart the heavens to announce the Good News of Jesus. Jesus is the incursion of God’s grace into our world to save us from all that prevents us from living fully in God’s love and grace. Jesus comes in a divine D-Day sort of operation to usher in the Kingdom of God. And so, for Mark, there is an urgency to all of Jesus’ ministry. There is no time to waste when it comes to bringing Good News and salvation, so there is a strong sense of immediacy throughout Mark’s writing.
We are clued into this when we hear Jesus’ first words spoken in Mark: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” When Jesus says “the time is fulfilled,” he doesn’t mean that God had preordained a particular chronological time and place to launch this invasion of grace in the Messiah, but rather he means that it was right moment. In Greek, the word used for time here isn’t the word associated with the time that a calendar or clock might give us, but rather the word means that it is the right time and an opportune moment. Another way to understand this sense of time is as a crisis, as a decision point. Why it is that Jesus was born in the 1st century in Palestine, we don’t know. Scholars call it the “scandal of the particular.” Why Jesus of Nazareth? Why then? We don’t know, but we trust that God coming to us in Jesus happened at the right time and was God’s response of love to the crisis of human sin.
So when the time was ripe for God to break into our world, God did. And Jesus announces that the Kingdom of God has come near. We don’t really have kingdoms anymore, and so maybe that word seems a bit archaic. What Jesus came to announce was not the creation of a geographical kingdom where God’s peace would exist, nor was it that Jesus intended to be a king in the way that earthly kings rule. Instead, what is inaugurated in Jesus’ coming is a new way of being, a new way of seeing the world, a new set of priorities, a new type of leadership. If kingdom is a translation from another time and place, to use a word from our world instead, we might say that Jesus is announcing the God Administration.
Jesus then says that the response to this new era of God’s reign is repentance and believing in the Good News. As I’ve mentioned many times, to repent is not a moralistic exhortation to show remorse, but rather means “to change your mind.” And belief in the Gospels is not about thinking certain things, but rather is about being a relationship, it’s about aligning yourself with the truths of God. Mark then gives us a glimpse into what repenting and believing looks like in the call of the first disciples.
Jesus is walking along the sea of Galilee and he calls to them “Follow me,” and they immediately do. Now, the Gospels don’t purport to capture every moment of Jesus’ life. We know there is more to the story than what is written in these scenes. And I’ve often wondered what was going on behind these words in Mark. Of course, it could be that Mark is spot on and all Jesus said was “Follow me and I will make you fish for people” and because the Simon and Andrew had already heard of Jesus, they immediately took this chance to join him. Maybe that was the gist of what he said, but there was more to it. Or, perhaps because Jesus is God incarnate, there was just something about his invitation that compelled them to follow. Whether in words, tone, charism, or in the peace exuded by Jesus, these brothers saw the thing that they had always hoped to find, or maybe even the thing that they didn’t know they were longing for.
But I wonder, what did Jesus say to you to bring you here today? What is it in Jesus that makes you want to follow him? Forgiveness, hope, healing, purpose? Maybe you’re not sure why you’re a Christian other than the fact that you can’t remember a time when you weren’t. Spend some time considering what got you to follow Jesus, and then go deeper into invitation.
The answer is going to be different for all of us. For me, I grew up going to church and started serving as an acolyte when I was about 8. I absolutely fell in love with the liturgy and remember thinking that serving as an acolyte was the way for me, as a child, to offer something to God because I didn’t have a job to earn money to give and because I was in school, I couldn’t volunteer in other ways. Eventually, I became the head acolyte at my parish and when parishioners asked what I wanted to do for a living, I replied “I’d like to be a professional acolyte.” Lo and behold, look what I’m doing today. While being the Rector of a parish involves a bit more than what I did as a 14 year old acolyte, the nature of my call hasn’t changed – it’s still rooted in serving God through the liturgy.
Notice that this is how it happened for Simon, Andrew, James, and John. They were fishermen and Jesus approaches them and asks them to become fishers of people. The experiences that you have had, the skills you possess, the knowledge and training that you’ve gained – all of these things have been preparing you to answer the call of our Lord and Savior. There’s no separation between what you do on a daily basis and Jesus’ call to “follow me.” It’s no accident that Jesus calls fishers and tells them that they will be fishers of people. Had they been teachers, the call would be to teach new students. If they had been bankers, the call would have been to help others invest in the kingdom. If they had been lawyers, the call would have been to defend justice. If they had been chefs, the call would have been to feed people’s souls. And Jesus has called you to follow him – how he has called you is based on the person you’ve been shaped to be. Spend some time considering your call and how it is rooted in your life.
It’s important to realize that the translation we have isn’t as precise as it ought to be – Jesus doesn’t ask them to fish for people, but rather invites them to be fishers of people. I know the difference is subtle, but there is a world of difference between fishing and being a fisher. It’s the difference between going fishing for a weekend versus moving to a fishing village, buying a boat, and spending nearly every waking hour casting a net. What Jesus calls us into is not a task, but rather a new identity.
And this is why the call to repentance is foundational in following Jesus. I know that I talk about repentance often, always reminding you that it’s not about feeling sorry but about changing our minds. The reason why I bring it up so often is that I don’t think the importance of repentance can be overstated. The Gospel is about transformation, and repentance is the process by which we grow in holiness and are transformed in God’s love and mercy. Christ makes an immense difference in our lives, and faith is the process by which we are transformed in that difference and become distinct from what society would describe as “normal.”
The call to discipleship is not a new assignment or task for us to fit into an already over-booked schedule, it’s about ripping apart the old calendar and starting anew with the fresh priorities of the Kingdom. Just as being a parent makes demands on us and changes us, so, too, does following Jesus. And just as we can’t stop being a parent when it’s difficult or inconvenient, nor can we stop following Jesus once we’ve been made a part of his Body; rather, the choice is whether or not we are true to this calling.
The call to discipleship through repentance is about so much more than having some new thoughts or having a change of heart, it is the radical re-ordering of your life. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote “when Christ bids us to follow him, he bids us to come and die.” And it really is that radical. Discipleship is not something to do, it is the total remaking of our lives in the light of Christ. Repentance would be so much easier if was simply about apologizing and promising to follow the rules. But repentance is deeper than that. Repenting isn’t about changing your mind on your individual sins or mistakes, it’s about giving up your allegiances and your social, political, and economic agendas. It’s no wonder that as soon as people figured this out, they began the plot to kill Jesus. The miracle is that still we find the radical message of Jesus so compelling today.
This repenting as we enter into Christ’s new creation means that we must renounce the old order. Prestige, wealth, rank, IQ, body shape, country of origin, academic pedigree, race – these are the trappings of society and are rejected in God’s Kingdom. As the old King James translation so eloquently puts “God is no respecter of persons.” Everything about living in Jesus’ kingdom is a departure from the ways of Rome, Wall Street, and America. Some reject Christianity, some domesticate it and lessen its demands on us, and some strive first for the kingdom. But whichever route we chose, it is clear in Mark that Jesus is the great disrupter.
This is what St. Paul is saying in the passage from 1 Corinthians – “the present form of this world is passing away.” Marriage, mourning, rejoicing, consumerism, materialism – these are things that Paul would have us to reject in favor of the Gospel. And I admit, this is a challenge. The Gospel names patriotism, political affiliation, socio-economic class, even family as things that can become idolatrous. To be clear, the call to follow Jesus is not a call to reject others, abandon responsibilities, or forsake our families. Rather, the call is to go deeper into the love of God so that we will be ready to love our families and act as citizens out of the depths of God’s love. But the point remains, we are to love our families, live as Americans, and earn money on God’s terms and not the opposite where we turn to God as our schedule or preferences allow. Discipleship is not about withdrawing from obligations or the world, but it is about engaging in a different way under the Administration of Jesus Christ.
And notice that Jesus does not call disciples alone or to practicing a personalized faith. Rather, he calls them into a community. The Church is so important in the work of repenting and deepening our discipleship. I can’t be a Christian without you, and you can’t be a Christian without your neighbor. The more you can commit yourself to being active in a community of faith, like St. Luke’s, more fully you will be transformed by this love of God.
For Mark, the call of Jesus comes with a sense of immediacy. The call to discipleship comes not only as an directive, but also a promise; as Jesus doesn’t just tell them to fish, but promises that they will have an abundant harvest. Based on who you have come to be, God has called you to be a disciple and to turn toward the Kingdom of God’s grace, peace, and love. That turn may be difficult, but will lead us into the abundant life intended for us. And what could be more important and immediate than entering more fully and deeply into God’s love for you? May the Lord who has called you to follow him by repenting also give you the grace and power to do so. Amen.
