"One Radical Angle"

1-26-14 (Ordinary Time 3A)

Sermon Texts: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

One Radical Angle

How do you picture the scene unfolding?  How does it happen that Simon Peter and his brother Andrew are swept up into discipleship, or that James and John leave the fishing to their father and decide to angle for a much different catch?  When you close your eyes and listen to the passage read, what are the images that play through your mind’s eye?

As I’ve heard it read and listened to it taught throughout all of my Christian life, I’ve imagined this call happening in a very sudden and dramatic fashion.  Jesus is walking by the lakeshore.  He sees these two men at their fishing and tells them to join him.  And in a scene straight out of Forrest Gump, Simon and Andrew say “OK,” leap out of the boat, swim to shore, and follow behind Jesus.  And then we repeat the same scene with James and John.  Maybe it’s something about the way Jesus says “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  Or some kind of mystical pull that comes from his gaze as he speaks to them, calling them away from their nets.  Whatever it is that this stranger possesses, it’s enough to command obedience without a second’s hesitation.  It’s a dramatic scene that has always left an impression on me.

And it’s this same imagery that is the basis of just about every sermon, devotional, bible study, or camp curriculum I’ve ever seen.  Jesus calls the disciples - they drop everything and go.  So should we.  Let us pray.  It's a message that’s simple, that we feel like we can really get behind.  We’re supposed to be willing to follow Jesus.  We’re supposed to be ready to hear Christ’s call, to be prepared to drop everything to follow where he takes us.  It’s the kind of faith that we envy, that we wish we had every time we see it in others.  We know that we should be as willing as the Mother Teresa’s of the world and we tell others exactly how important it is to follow that calling no matter where it may lead us.

And yet… something doesn’t add up.  Something about that sermon, that study, that campfire lesson… it feels like what we’re supposed to say, but then when we put it into action… well… it’s not always easy to practice what we preach.  We may not want to admit it, but the fact is, many of us have pretty deep roots where we are.  If we take this story and Christ’s invitation to the disciples seriously, it should make us uncomfortable.  What James, John, Simon, and Andrew do is radical in every sense of the word.  How comfortable would we be if, midway through the school period, midway through the work shift, in the middle of combining the back 40, or in the middle of writing a sermon or putting a bulletin together, this stranger Jesus comes to us and says “Come, follow me?”  Would you be able to just drop everything, not even pack a bag, and leave everything else behind?  What about your families, your job, your responsibilities?  It’s a scary thought!  And yet… this is what seems to happen in the Gospel we read.  This is what we tell each other we need to be willing to do, but when we stop to think about it, it seems we’re making hypocrites of ourselves.  I listened to a pastor who shared about a Bible Study he’d been a part of where his mentor said “I don’t want to go to hell, but I don't want to go to India, either.”  So what happens to us if we don't want to go to India?  

Here’s the thing - there’s a reason the story doesn’t quite add up as we’ve always heard it told.  Let’s take a step back and look at the first part of the passage, before Jesus calls the disciples from their fishing.  The passage doesn’t start with Jesus walking by the lakeshore - it begins with John’s arrest.  Jesus hears of John’s imprisonment and he withdraws for a time and decides to make his home in this small town of Capernaum by the sea of Galilee.  He moves away from the eye of the empire, avoids putting himself in a similar situation to his cousin, and keeps a bit of a lower profile for a while.  But while he's there, he actively begins his ministry.  It’s in Capernaum that Jesus takes up John’s message of repentance, proclaiming that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.  Jesus spends some time here in Capernaum as he preaches and ministers.  So as we come upon him in this scene on the lakeshore, it’s actually very unlikely that Jesus is simply strolling along, calling random people to come follow him and snaring them with his Godly “come hither” gaze… in small-town Capernaum, it’s much more likely that these men already know Jesus.  They’ve heard him preach in the synagogues, they’ve heard his message, his proclamation that the Kingdom is near.  They’ve probably said hello to him a time or two, maybe even asked him some questions.  We can even imagine that as they’ve heard Jesus speak, they’ve actually been interested in what he has to say.  And so now, as Jesus comes to them, it’s not so much a mystery, but a fulfillment - Jesus isn’t randomly sweeping them up into a rapidly unfolding drama as much as he is building on a life that he has already shared with them.  Jesus meets these men where they are, then uses their own experiences and their own language, even, to show them exactly what God was calling them to do.  Suddenly, Jesus’ words go from being some cryptic invitation to being a marvelous confirmation, an encouragement to us that as we are called, so too are we prepared.  What if the disciples left their nets without a second glance because they were already prepared to do so?  What if Jesus invitation was actually the answer to a question the Disciples hadn’t even known they'd been asking in the first place?  Suddenly, this call story seems a whole lot less magical, but it’s also full of much greater promise and encouragement to us.

And yet, perhaps there’s still some magic to be found, if you really want to hold onto that.  Jesus' call is still radical - we just can't escape that truth.  It still changes the very lives of the disciples who leave their nets to follow and become fishers for people.  That’s the very nature of what Jesus’ message is to the people of Capernaum to “repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.”  Repentance isn't just a matter of turning away from sin and fixing our bad habits; it’s a complete changing of the way we think, of the way we see and understand things.  It’s a transformation of ourselves into people who follow Christ.  And in that transformation, we're empowered in every way to follow where Christ calls.  For some, yes… that does actually mean going to India.  But it won't be without a passion and a conviction that India is where they need to be, or without that way being opened up to follow the calling in the process.  For others, it may actually mean the realization that the classroom, the cornfield, or the workplace have been the places where God has called them to be already - and that now they can see how God has called them.  The transformation we experience in Christ is still radical - we’re even still encouraged to follow with that same faithfulness as the disciples did.  But suddenly, hopefully… it’s more exciting now than scary.  To God Be the Glory.  Amen.