“FISH STORIES”
Rev. Ann L. Pitman | January 22, 2012 | Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62; Mark 1:14-20
Our gospel lesson this morning is a real “fish” story. Just having brought in the morning catch, while cleaning and repairing their nets, an apparently unknown man walks by the fishing boat and says to the two brothers, “follow me and I will teach you how to fish for people.” And Immediately – or so we are told – the men leave their fish, and their nets, and follow this stranger! A short distance later, the scene is repeated, except this time the men in the boat include a father and his two sons plus some hired men. The sons leave their father and their boats, not to mention their families, and follow the stranger.
This sounds like the biggest fish story around! There is no business plan, no evangelism outreach strategy, no job description, no interview, no time to consider the pros and cons of the offer – just an itinerant preacher who appears on the shore, calls out an invitation and walks on. And 4 grown men follow! I don’t know about you but it I want to know where the nominating committee was, and where was this guy’s Personal Information Form, and what about the Church Information Form?! I mean, who doesn’t ask questions?
I would be much more like Jonah who said, “No way, no how, am I going to go there and do that!” In fact, I did say something much like that. I didn’t like public speaking. It is one thing to talk about something I like doing, like quilting, or sewing, or reading. But – these biblical call stories confront us with the reality that God has a habit of showing up unexpectedly in the oddest places and inviting us to see, listen, and turn around from where we are and follow him – no questions asked.
Barbara Brown Taylor, however, suggests that we're missing the point if we linger on such questions. This is a story about God, not the disciples or us, she claims in her sermon, "Miracle on the Beach." To focus on what the disciples gave up (and whether we could do the same), is "to put the accent on the wrong syllable." This "miracle story," as she calls it, is really about "the power of God--to walk right up to a quartet of fishermen and work a miracle, creating faith where there was no faith, creating disciples where there were none just a moment before."
Jesus returns to Galilee and begins to proclaim God’s good news – that God’s reign of justice and compassion has come near. A new age is about to begin. Jesus’ call is to repentance -- which means both a turning away from sin – those things that separate us from relationship with God – and also a turning towards the good. Jesus’ message is clear and challenging – it demands both movement and change.
Mark doesn’t give us much information about why Jesus chose those he chose, Mark simply tells us that there was a call and that four people responded to that call. What we do know is that Jesus called these four as they were going about their daily work as fishermen. Having just hauled in the morning’s catch of fish they were cleaning and mending their nets. While we don’t know a lot about the four, we do know that if they were successful at fishing then they brought the qualities that are needed for the work of extending the gospel. Patience, perseverance, and hard work will be required of those who choose the path of discipleship. They are called not to become different people or to acquire new skills, but to employ their existing personalities and skills for a new purpose.
Jesus told them that their new work would be to “fish for people.” Their work would be to tend to relationships, to care for others, and to invite them to hear the good news that Jesus was proclaiming. Responding to the call to follow Jesus means leaving behind a past way of life and trusting in the one who calls into an unknown future.
Jesus didn't begin his ministry by walking into the temple, the center of the religious life of his people, or even into the city of Jerusalem, and announcing who he was and what he was about. He started out on the edges. He came out of the wilderness, preaching in places like Galilee, and gathering his little band of disciples not from the religious leaders and scholars but from fishermen, here and there, along the seashore, prosperous ones like James and John (with their boat and their hired men), and poorer ones like Simon and Andrew, who had to cast their nets from the shore.
Today, when congregations nominate, elect, ordain and install deacons and elders who have heard the call from their congregation and from God to serve as officers, they come with gifts and talents to use for furthering the ministry of Jesus in our community and in the world. Their call is to use the gifts God has already given them with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love, to further the peace, purity, and unity of the church as they follow in the way. They are not being called to become anything other than they are, though they may be called to discover gifts they don’t know they have, gifts that others see in them, but they may not yet see in themselves.
We are called not only to ministries, but sometimes we are also called away from ministries. Sometimes what worked well in a congregation may no longer be effective in a new day and a new time. Each time we are called to serve, we are asked to open our eyes and our ears to God’s new call on our lives. Every year when a congregation elects its officers they become a new session and a new board of deacons and they are called to listen to a new time, a new need, a new way of being that works for the congregation in a new day. Just as this congregation is receiving new leadership which will be elected at your annual meeting in two weeks, I am being called to serve in a new ministry. Each of us is being called to respond to Jesus’ call to follow him and to learn a new way to fish for people. We are not being called to do things the way we have always done them. We are called to serve in a new way for a new time. May God grant us the wisdom to discern how we are to serve in our new ministries. May God bless us all in our new calls. Amen!
Rev. Ann L. Pitman
First Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne, IN (01/22/2012)
