Fish Stories (1/21/18)
He Qi, Calling Disciples
On Sunday, January 21st, we heard the story of Jesus calling some of the disciples: Simon, Andrew, James, and John. We also heard part of the story of Jonah. In seminary, I was taught that it was best to preach on just one text. But I think that the story of Jonah really sets up the call story in the Gospel of Mark, so I offered some exegesis of the Jonah story before I read the Gospel lesson. Also, I added some verses to the Lectionary reading, as they offer some important clues about how to read the Jonah story.
Good morning! One of the things that they tried to teach me
in seminary was to preach on one text—to pick only one piece of scripture for
my sermon. It didn’t quite work. So, let me offer some quick thoughts on Jonah,
to set up our Gospel lesson. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the first part
of this story: Jonah, son of Amittai, is called by the Lord to go to Nineveh
and cry out against the wickedness of that city. Jonah resists that call. He
gets in a boat and heads away from
Nineveh, away from his call to follow
the Lord. That doesn’t go well for Jonah.
There’s a storm at sea, and the sailors throw Jonah
overboard, so that God will calm the storm. It works! And then Jonah is
swallowed by a great fish. He remains in the belly of the fish for three days,
and then he’s deposited on dry land, so that he can go to Nineveh, as the Lord
has called him. I’m going to read all of the verses of Chapter 3, and then I’m
going to explain why.
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a
second time, saying, 2 “Get up, go to Nineveh, that
great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3 So
Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now
Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah
began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days
more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” 5 And the
people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and
small, put on sackcloth.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose
from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in
ashes. 7 Then he had a proclamation made in
Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal,
no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they
drink water. 8 Human beings and animals shall be
covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from
their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who
knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger,
so that we do not perish.”
10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from
their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he
would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Exegesis
The Book of Jonah is placed toward the end of the Old
Testament, in a section with other short prophetic works. The Book of Jonah is
only 48 verses long. Strictly speaking, Jonah is not a prophet. Usually, when God
is speaking through one of the prophets of the Old Testament, the word of the
Lord is introduced with the phrase, “Thus says the Lord.” This phrase does
appear anywhere in the book.
The Book of Jonah is also not a work of history—it’s not to
be taken literally. That’s why I added in verses 6-9; they signal to the reader
that this is a story, and it’s supposed to be funny. When the people repent
from their sins, they put on sack cloth and sit in ashes. They do the same with
their livestock. Why on Earth would the livestock need to repent? This detail
is supposed to be funny!
Also, if the Ninevites had actually repented of their
sinfulness, there’d probably be some sort of historical record of this. Nineveh
was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Presumably, one of their sins was
worshipping false gods. In which case, repentance might mean conversion to
Judaism—and there’s no record of a mass conversion to Judaism in the Assyrian
Empire.
So why is this book in the Bible?
The name Jonah is also the Hebrew word for dove. His father’s
name, Amittai, means faithfulness. The story of Jonah, I believe, is a humorous
meditation on what it means to be faithful to God’s call. And this story fits
very nicely alongside our Gospel lesson this morning.
Mark 1:14-20
14 Now
after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news[i] of God,[j] 15 and saying,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[k] repent, and believe in the good news.”[l]
16 As
Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew
casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And
Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And
immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As
he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who
were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately
he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired
men, and followed him.
Sermon
Good morning. The last time I went fishing I was thirteen
or fourteen years old. I fished in a pond on a farm in Perryopolis. It was a
family reunion and I caught a catfish—it was this big! It was yuuuuge!
There were witnesses to my triumph, but I doubt that anyone
remembers. I’d bet that half the people at that reunion are gone now. And honestly,
I don’t remember how big the fish was. I remember that the line broke, just
after I got it out of the water. It landed on the ground, so I was able to show
the fish to everyone before we tossed it back in the pond. I was awfully proud
of myself and I was glad that I didn’t have to clean it. That story popped into
my head when I was considering our texts for today.
Like the story of Jonah, our Gospel lesson is also a call
story. That is, it tells the story of someone who is called to serve God. In
this case, Simon, Andrew, James, and John are all called to follow Jesus as
disciples. What I find amazing about this story is that the disciples just
dropped everything and followed Jesus, without hesitation. No long goodbyes to
family or friends. No packing of suitcases. Nothing! They just followed Jesus.
Period.
Duccio di Buoninsegna, Christ Calling the Apostles Peter and Andrew
That Simon, Andrew, James, and John were willing to drop
everything and follow Jesus surely speaks to the power of Jesus’ call. Even if
they didn’t know that Jesus was the Son of God, they realized that Jesus had
authority; they needed to follow. Still, this had to be difficult. All four of them
were fishermen; they left their jobs and their family obligations. James and
John literally left their father in the fishing boat with the hired help.
In first-century Palestine, the family was the most
important social unit. It would seem that Zebedee was a man of some means. His
business was big enough that he hired fishermen in addition to his sons James
and John. So perhaps Zebedee had some amount of property. James and John were,
in effect, throwing away their inheritance by leaving their father and following
Jesus. Of course, we don’t know if there were other siblings who might have
taken over for James and John, but still, they were forsaking their obligation
to their family. It was a huge decision! They were turning their backs on their
livelihood, their inheritance, and their responsibilities to their families—all
so they could follow Jesus.
For most of us, following Jesus takes a lot less effort; it’s
an easier commitment. We don’t have to give up everything to follow Jesus. The
church doesn’t tell you how much money you have to put in the collection plate.
We don’t shame you or punish you if you don’t come to worship. Last Sunday it
was bitter cold outside, and I totally understand that some of you can’t come
to church when it’s that cold. We had about thirty people in worship last
Sunday; I’m surprised it was that many.
Now I know there was a time when, if you missed church, the
pastor might show up at your door to see if you were sick. At both of the
congregations I’ve served, members have told me stories of pastors who just
showed up at the door. People have suggested that I do that, too. I’ve been
told to make random calls on people, even when they’re not sick.
Now I’m happy to come and visit you, wherever you are, but
I’m not gonna show up at your door, unannounced. I should say that these
suggestions usually come from people who are over the age of 80. I hear two
things in these requests. First, I hear the desire for a greater sense of
connection—and I’m happy to do that, just ask me to come over for a visit and I’ll
be there. Second, I hear the desire to return to the way church used to be,
with more people in worship, a greater sense of connection among members, and
always enough money in the collection plate.
I know I’ve talked about this before. A lot! But the past
is a powerful drug. We have to recover from our addiction to our memories of
the church of the past if we are to respond to the needs of the present and to
maintain a vital presence in this community that nurtures our children and
grandchildren. And let me be frank: if the church of the past was really as
great as we thought, then we wouldn’t be in this situation today, struggling to
get people in the pews and money in the plate.
The truth is, the Church in the United States is a victim
of its own success. For generations, everyone went to church. But a few things
changed in our society in the generation after World War II. First, a whole
bunch of men came home from the war and started families. The Baby Boom
triggered a wave of construction: new schools, new roads, new housing developments,
new shopping centers, new communities, and even new churches. With all of those
kids at one time, most churches had to build new wings to accommodate all the kids
in the churches.
All of that coincided with a period in which the economy really
took off. There were more people in church and
they had more money. That’s why churches could afford to build all those new
Sunday school wings. Churches needed to hire youth pastors for all those kids
and they had the money to hire youth pastors because the economy was growing
rapidly. The reason that churches were so full 40, 50, or 60 years ago is that
all of our communities were full of people, and most of those people were
better off financially than they’d ever been before.
Big churches would have two or three pastors on staff. The
senior pastor would preach every Sunday, moderate all the meetings, and maybe
do some pastoral care. An associate pastor would handle missions and
evangelism, and perhaps officiate at weddings and funerals. And there was a
youth pastor, too.
In large and medium-sized congregations, there was a paid
staff person for every function. This is how the Church became a victim of its
own success. Everything became professionalized, and that took much of the work
out of the hands of members. If there was a pastor whose main task was to evangelize
to the community, then the members didn’t learn how to do community outreach.
Church became a thing that most people did for an hour or two on Sunday.
And then society changed. Everyone got a lot busier. Pastors
didn’t challenge their congregations because everything seemed good. Some
people lost their faith, while others never really had a deep connection to the
Church. In that era, faith became an intellectual exercise rather than a way of
life. Faith became belief, rather than action. Some people decided they could
do it on their own—they could pray on their own, they could read the Bible on their
own. Individualism eroded the community of faith.
So, how do we get people back to church? How do we rebuild
the faith communities that we used to have? I’ve told you before that there are
no unicorns—you won’t find a new, young pastor who will magically draw all sorts
of people into Rehoboth Church. First, we have to let go of the past. All of
that stuff I said about the Baby Boom and church growth—I know that you already
know that. What he have to admit is that social context doesn’t exist anymore;
we can’t go back to the 1950s or 60s. Nor should we expect a church that looks
like that. It’s not realistic. But that doesn’t mean we have to give up.
The rebirth of Rehoboth Church begins with you! Look at
this morning’s Gospel reading. Yes, Jesus gathers in the first disciples—and then
he charges them with the responsibility of calling more disciples: “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
The work belongs to the disciples, too. And that’s what we are, disciples, all
of us:
When Jesus calls the
disciples in Mark, notice what’s absent—no individualism, no being left on your
own, no pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. No, “you can handle this, so,
buck up, buttercup.” No, “follow me and good luck with that.” Rather, “Follow
me, and I will make you fish for people.” That is, follow me and more followers
are to come. Follow me and you will never be by yourself. Notice—Jesus calls
them together, not separately. Andrew and Simon. Then James and John.
Discipleship is not an autonomous profession.[1]
So, it’s up to you! It’s up to you, not as individuals, but
as groups of members, sent from this community out into the world. And it
begins with a conversation or an invitation. It begins by reaching out to
people you already know, who aren’t here with us today. And it takes repetition—you
have to cast your line many times to catch a fish.
Yes, anyone can read the Bible on their own. In fact, I
encourage all of you to do that. But we have more than the Word on a printed
page—we have the Word of God, made flesh. We have a community that was ordained
by Jesus Christ and is nourished by the Holy Spirit.
Yes, anyone can turn on the TV, any day of the week, and
hear a sermon. What we have here is more important than the words that come out
of my mouth—or any other preacher’s mouth—on a Sunday morning. We have a place
where people can hear that they are not alone. We have people who are sent from
this place to remind others that they’re not alone. If I am the fishing pole,
you are the hook and the line; if I am steering the boat, you are casting the
nets. The rebirth of Rehoboth Church begins with you! Thanks be to God. Amen!
Benediction
Now, beloved, as you depart from this place, remember that
we are called to be the Church, the body of Christ in the world today. We are
called to go forth and be instruments of God’s love and peace and love and reconciliation.
We are called to fish for people. Do not return evil for evil to any person,
but know that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to reflect that
love to everyone we meet. Go forth and be the salt of the earth and the light
of the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, let all God’s children
say, Amen!
[1]
Karoline Lewis, “You Are Never Alone,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5044
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