Sermon: "Go Fish"

Scripture Intro - Mark 1:14-20

Our reading this morning is from chapter one of Mark’s Gospel - verse 14.

This is essentially page one of Mark’s Jesus story.

Mark doesn’t bother with a Nativity story,

or stories of 2-year old Jesus fleeing to Egypt,

or Jesus getting lost in Jerusalem as a 12 year old.

Mark’s gospel has an urgency to it.

He’s anxious to get to the point.

Mark begins his gospel with Jesus’ baptism as an adult,

he mentions briefly that Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness,

and by verse 14 he’s already calling his disciples.

Repent! 

Is the urgent message Mark has for his readers.

Repent is one of those religious words that makes many of us twitch.

Because its often thrown at us in a very judgmental way - 

and with not so subtle undertones of fiery consequences.

But repent was at one time a common middle English word 
that has since taken on a distinct theological meaning.

The word Mark uses in his gospel that we translate as 'repent' 

was a common word in his native language – the word “metanoia.”

In Greek it means 

“change your way of thinking.”

In Hebrew it means

“turn around, change direction.” 

Mark recognizes the arrival of Jesus in the world as the signal 

that the time of sitting idly by in the midst of pain and suffering  

and waiting for God to do something has passed.

In Mark's gospel, Jesus says, "Time's up!

Change your ways, now! For now is the time for change."

God is on the move in the world.

And God is calling us to move as well.

The Rev. Maureen R. Frescott

The Congregational Church of Amherst

January 21, 2018 – Third Sunday after Epiphany

Mark 1:14-20

“Go Fish”

Here’s a fish story for you.

In July 2008, a man named Bob Greene was sitting on the shoreline of the Kennebec River in Hallowell, Maine.

It was just before 4:30 a.m. and he was drinking a cup of coffee and waiting for the sun to rise over the river, when he heard what he thought was a bird calling in the distance.

His first thought was that it was a cormorant, and he was going to have to battle the large birds out looking for their morning meal as he fished along the shore.

He ignored it, but after about 20 minutes went by, and he was readying his fishing gear and preparing to cast off, he looked out in the river and saw what he thought was a log bobbing up and down.

Then he heard a faint cry for help and realized it was a man.

The current at the shore was too strong to wade in, so he fumbled for his cell phone and called 911.

The dispatcher asked him if he had anything he could throw to the man to hold him in place until help arrived.

So Bob Greene picked up his fishing rod, cast the line in the man’s direction and managed to hook the man’s shirt right on the shoulder.

Green was an experienced fisherman who made custom fishing rods for a living, and using his skill and being careful not to pull to hard and break the line, he gradually reeled the man in and pulled him to safety just as the EMT’s arrived.

The man in the water was 25-year-old Michael Gibbs, who had jumped into the river from the Cushnoc Crossing bridge in Augusta -- a 114-foot high span – in an attempt to take his own life.

In one of those moments that make the skin prickle on your arms, Greene told the EMT’s he had planned on fishing some 10 miles further down stream that morning but something drew him to the shoreline in Hallowell instead.

"For some reason, I was meant to be here," he said.

“Cast down your nets, and become fishers of people,” Jesus said to his first disciples.

Have you ever wondered how you would respond if Jesus showed up at your workplace – or in your kitchen as you were washing dishes or in your driveway while you were out shoveling snow, and said, “Hey (your name here), drop what you’re doing, and follow me!”

We might think that the chances of this happening are very slim.

If Jesus did return to pick a modern day troupe of disciples we might think that the chances of him choosing us to be one of the twelve are about the same as being struck by lightning, or winning the power ball lottery.

We might think that we don’t have what it takes to live a life of such devotion to one cause, and that Jesus certainly wouldn’t choose us to be an example for countless others to follow.

We are flawed after all.

We fail on a daily basis.

We yell at our kids,

Or lose patience with our spouse or our aging parents.

We have trouble managing our finances,

or we think we’re not very good at our jobs,

or we’re too old or ill and have trouble even getting out of bed in the morning.

And we struggle with loving others, and forgiving others, and offering mercy to others, like good Christians are supposed to do.

And there was that thing we did a long time ago – or are in the midst of doing right now – that God would certainly not approve of. 

So, Jesus would certainly walk right past us and choose the next person casting their net along the shore.

We’re damaged goods, and Jesus surely would not want us by his side.

Well, here’s breaking news - good news - for us all.

We’ve already been chosen.

That was the purpose of the activity we did this morning.

Before you even had a chance to think about it or know why you were doing it, you were asked to write your name on a paper fish and were invited to hang it on the fishing net here in the front of the sanctuary.

You have been chosen.

You didn’t have to submit a resume,
or get yourself out of the house to buy a lottery ticket.

And you certainly didn’t have to read through a lengthy contract containing religious doctrines and beliefs, and sign your name at the bottom as proof of your commitment.

If we think about it, that’s not what Simon and Andrew, and James and John did either.

Jesus showed up at their workplace and said, “Hey, time’s up! God needs you!” and they dropped their nets and followed.

There’s no indication that they even knew who Jesus was.

It’s not like they had just heard him preach, or were handed a pamphlet laying out his strategic plan to save the world.

There’s also no indication that Jesus knew who they were – that he chose them because they had somehow earned his attention – earned a place in the inner circle of the Messiah – because of their righteous acts or their pure hearts.

The Rev. Nadia Bolz Weber writes:

“Blessed are the ones for whom life is hard, for Jesus chose to surround himself with people like them.”

Jesus chooses us because we are flawed.

Because we are ordinary and we struggle with the consequences of being human.

If we think about it, the 12 men Jesus called were far from model disciples.

They were always questioning his teachings,

Squabbling amongst themselves over who was more important,

Doubting his prediction that he would suffer the consequences of trying to change the status quo,

And at the first sign of trouble, they all deserted or betrayed him.

Yet they too were included in Jesus’ final plea from the cross,

“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

God calls us just as we are.

Just as we walked through the door here this morning.

Carrying whatever tangled mess we’ve been holding on to or had foist upon us.

The Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor describes our doubt over our state of chosen-ness in this way:

"What we may have lost along the way is a full sense of the power of God--to recruit people who have made terrible choices; to invade the most hapless lives and fill them with light; to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and smack them upside the head with glory." 

When we classify discipleship as a conscious choice,

or a divine gift we earn by merit or righteous behavior,

or something we sign off on by promising to be good Christians who accept Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior, then we’re missing the point.

We are called to be dispensers of the good news – by virtue of being human.

We’re called to care for one another – especially those who have the least among us.

We’re called to love one another – even when we do horrible things to each other.

And we’re called to live in community – to be mirrors for each other – to hold each other and ourselves accountable when we lean towards acting out of fear rather than being ministers of grace.

Being fishers of people is not about saving souls for Christ.

It’s about being the presence of God for each other when we need it most. 

It's been said that the most powerful sermon we have to offer one another are the words, "Me too." 

The greatest gift we have to give is the ability to say, 
"I see that you're hurting, I've been there too, let's find a way out together."

When we’re floating downstream struggling to keep ourselves from going under – we need someone to cast their line and reel us in.

Even if we jumped into the river ourselves.

We are all disciples in this way.

Sometimes we’re the one’s casting the line.

Sometimes we’re the one’s trying to keep our head above water.

Often we’re both at the same time.

The time is now, as Jesus said.

It’s time to stop waiting for God to step into our broken world and make it whole again.

God is already here.

Acting through us and in us.

It starts with our willingness to change.

It starts with a change in direction, a change in the way we think and act.

If we want to live in a kinder, more loving, more just world, we need to be kinder, more loving, more just people.

And not only with those whom we agree with, or think like us, or look like us, or who are deemed worthy of love, kindness, and mercy.

That’s the good news for all of us.

That we’re all worthy of being reeled in.

"Time’s up!  God needs you!" Jesus says.

Now “Go fish!”

You never know what or who you might catch.

Thanks be to God, and Amen.