Drop the Net

More sermon catch up. I'm only 3 weeks behind after this one. Yay! Click here to download the audio of this one. Listen and read along. It's fun! See if you can spot how many times I deviate from the written version.

Can you think of something that is so wonderful, so compelling, so promising, or so important that you would be willing to leave everything you have, everything you know? I wonder what something like that would look like.

I tried and tried to think of something last night and I just couldn’t. Not for me anyway.

One thing I did think of was the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In the days and weeks after the attack Armed Forces recruitment centers were overwhelmed. There were reports of lines stretching around the block. In the days and weeks after the attacks, hundreds of thousands of young men and women left their jobs, their homes, and their families to sign up to serve in the army, navy, marines, and coast guard. It was an almost immediate response to drop everything and serve their country.

Immediacy is a theme in Mark’s gospel. The word immediately shows up a lot in Mark. The Greek word euthus or eutheos which means immediately occurs 11 times just in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel and over 40 altogether. Mark gives us the feeling that things are happening fast. And it begins with Jesus’ calling his disciples and their response.

Mark 1:14-20 - ¹⁴ Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’ 

¹⁶ As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen.¹⁷And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

I’m going to be preaching from Mark’s gospel for most of this next year. There will be a Sunday here and there where I’ll preach from one of the other Gospels, but for the most part we will be in Mark. Mark is thought by most scholars to be the earliest of the Gospels. It is also the shortest. Mark is blunt and to the point. We don’t get a lot of details or wasted words. This style adds to the sense of urgency in Mark’s Gospel.

Growing up I would set my VCR and record shows I knew I wouldn’t be able to watch as they aired. These days I have a DVR and I hardly ever watch things as they air. I like being able to fast forward through the commercials. Friday night I decided to catch up on some shows I had not watched. I had 5 or 6 episodes of one show. I love that I could fast forward through some of the boring parts or the parts where they stretched the suspense out a little too long. I can skip that stuff and get to the important stuff. It’s almost like Mark has his own fast forward button. Mark gets straight to the action and doesn’t waste time on details.

After Jesus’ baptism, Mark tells us in one verse that Jesus “was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan…” Then after John’s arrest Jesus returns to Galilee to preach the good news. He comes to Galilee preaching the same message John preached before him. “Repent.”

And his message echoes the immediacy of the rest of Mark’s gospel. 

“Repent!” Turn around. It’s time to turn around now! It’s a call that demands a response. “The time has come. The kingdom of God is near! Repent!”

That immediacy is evident as our passage continues. Jesus is walking along the shore and he sees a couple of guys casting their nets into the sea. Simon and his brother Andrew are fishermen. Jesus calls to them, “Come with me, and I’ll make you fishers of people!” And they immediately drop their nets. The Greek tells us the “let go” of their nets. Nets they bought in order to earn a living. And follow Jesus.

Then the 3 of them go a little further down the shore and come upon another boat where James and John are mending their nets along with their father Zebedee and some laborers. Jesus calls them the same way. “Follow me.” And they immediately leave their father in the boat and go with Jesus.

In both cases, Jesus calls and the two sets of brothers immediately follow.

Mark, again, doesn’t give us many details. Do they know Jesus? Remember in last week’s reading from John we read that Andrew was a disciple of John and met with Jesus after John called Jesus the Lamb of God. Then he introduced him to Simon. Maybe this meeting took place after their initial encounter. If Andrew had been a disciple of John, then he must have returned to his previous life as a fisherman after John’s arrest. And at the drop of a net, he’s off again. Following a new teacher.

We’re not told what went through their minds as they left their livelihood to follow Jesus. James and John left their father with only hired men. They left the family business to become disciples. Was it an easy decision? Were they looking for a reason to leave anyway? Was Jesus just that charismatic or that convincing?

We don’t know. We just know that Jesus called them and all four immediately followed.

Honestly, I can’t relate to that. I’m not that spur of the moment. I prefer to have time to think about things. To weigh the pros and cons. To do the math. Figure out exactly how something will or won’t work. I asked earlier what it would take for you to drop immediately drop everything and pursue something new. I can’t think of anything.

As I read this passage I thought about my own call. There are a few parallels. These guys were called and they answered. For me, God called and I tried something else, and I pushed it aside, and I ignored it. God called and I thought about it. I tried to figure out how to make it work. If it could work. And finally about 15 years later I was ready to drop my net. And that’s ok, too.

That’s the beauty of God’s call. We can act immediately or we can take our time and God is still there. God is patient. God is gracious.

And after all, it’s not like the disciples did a bang up job to start. Yes, Peter immediately dropped his net at Jesus’ call. But before long he will be misunderstanding parables with the rest of the disciples. And he will be afraid of the storm with them. And he will join the argument about which of them is the best disciple. And he will proclaim Jesus to be the Son of God and then be rebuked for refusing to accept that Jesus must die. And at the transfiguration he will forget that he is called to follow Jesus, not just be with him and worship him. And then in the courtyard outside the chief priest’s house his fear will cause him to deny that quick, immediate decision.

And that brings up a second part of Jesus’ message. First he calls us to repent. But look back at verse 15. There is a second part. “Believe in the good news.”

The call for repentance expresses the immediacy of a moment. A decision. A decision to turn around and follow Jesus.

Believing, though, takes a continuing response. Believing takes work. It takes change. It takes time. The lives of the disciples show us that that initial decision is constantly reaffirmed and corrected.

The call of Andrew and Simon Peter reflects this two-fold message of Jesus. In verse 17, Jesus tells them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” At least that’s what my translation says. But that translation leaves out an important word. The Greek verb ginomai.  It means to become. “Follow me and I will make you to become fishers of people.” Well, that’s discipleship.

In Jesus’ message, there is the immediacy of repentance. “Turn around. Change your way. Follow me.” And there is the ongoing process of becoming fishers of people. “Believe the good news.” And again, there’s probably a better translation than believe. I saw one pastor translate it as “Faith-as-a-verb”. The word translated as believe means trust or conviction. It’s a radical trust; trusting with all that we are.

So we hear Jesus’ call. Repent! Change your life! Believe the good news! Trust the reign of God. It is a call that begins in a moment, but then it takes a lifetime. Thankfully we have a life time to reaffirm and correct. Thankfully we have God’s grace to allow us a lifetime to fully trust.