Epiphany III - Lynn Campbell

“Follow me and I will make you fish for people. And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
In the name of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

If only it were that easy. If only we could walk up to someone and say, follow me, and they followed. Perhaps that works in the game of follow the leader, but other than that I don’t think it is very practical. So, what was it about Jesus that his simple words, “follow me and I will make you fish for people” were compelling enough that Simon and his brother Andrew and then James and his brother John, dropped everything to follow him. According to the gospel readings Jesus had yet to perform any amazing miracle. The sight of the blind man had not been restored, no one had been raised from the dead, and no demons had been cast out. So, what made these brothers leave their families, leave the source of their income, leave their security behind to take on a new way of life? What compelled them to make this radical change of direction?

Perhaps they heard Jesus speak, and recognized something divine in his words or in his presence. Maybe they heard him announce that “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news” and found these words compelling enough for them to leave everything behind and follow the one who called them.

Have you ever had the experience of being caught up in the nets of your everyday life, your attention focused on the direction you are going- only to have that direction, that focus changed? I’m not just talking about major life changing moments; I’m talking about those smaller moments that can occur in our daily lives. I had one of these experiences two years ago while I was working as a chaplain at our Diocesan summer camp. I was supposed to meet a group of campers by the waterfront to go canoeing. As is typical for me, I was running late. I had my eyes focused towards the water and I was speed walking my way down the hill. But then something compelled me to look to the side. When I did I saw a young camper walking alone along the path. She had her head down and was kicking the dirt with her shoes with each step she took. Something in me knew I had to go over to her. I began walking beside her and asked her how she was doing. It wasn’t long before she told me how sad she felt. How homesick she was for what was familiar, for her parents and her friends. We had a good chat and I was able to work with her counselors and with her fellow cabin members to bring her more into the fold and to help lessen the feelings of homesickness. This encounter had very little to do with me. It was God compelling me to reach out to one of God’s little ones in need. I never did make it to the waterfront that day. The course of my day changed and my eyes remained much more open to the people around me.

I realize now that I had begun walking over to this young camper before I really knew what I was doing. And it makes wonder how much Andrew, Simon, James, and John understood what they were doing. Mark tells us that after hearing Jesus’ call, they IMMEDIATELY left their nets to follow him. They didn’t know what would come next. They didn’t know what would come from following Jesus. But they trusted the compelling nature of the call and the one who called.

I often think the path of discipleship for us is similar. We begin following Jesus’ call without really knowing where it will lead. We are told in scripture that the way of Jesus is the way of life but we don’t really know what that will look like for each of us. We didn’t ask to be called any more than the fishermen in today’s gospel did. Yet each one of us has been called. In our baptism we have been claimed by Jesus Christ and called to follow him. We have not been claimed because of WHO we are, rather because of WHOSE we are. Jesus’ first disciples were not called because they were the well-educated, elite, powerful members of society or because of any great acts of kindness they performed. They were simple fishermen who spent their days on the Sea of Galilee, dropping their nets into the water and hoping to catch some fish. In the same way, we are not called by virtue of our talents or excellence or education. We are called because Jesus has found us and claimed us as his own.

Jesus has found us, and extends an invitation to us. It is an invitation to love as he loves. It is an invitation to go where he went, to see with his eyes, to hear with his ears, and to love with his heart. It is an invitation to walk in the life-changing, world-changing way of Jesus. This invitation, this call to follow Jesus, comes to us each and every day. The way we live out the call will look differently for each one of us. Frederick Buechner, an author and Presbyterian minister writes, "The place God calls you to is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.” This is how he and others define vocation. We often think of vocation as being only for those of us who serving as ordained minister. But the word vocation, coming from the Latin word, vocare, simply means “to call.” Each of us has been called and each of us has a vocation. Your vocation, the place God calls you, is where your passion and deep joy meet a need and a hunger in the world. As Jesus’ disciples, we can’t solve all the problems of the world. We can’t bring about, through our own actions, God’s kingdom of justice and peace, but we can do our small part. We can use the gifts and talents God has given us to feed a hunger in the world. Not all of us are called to provide medical care to people in Haiti, to bring clothes to homeless shelters in Boston, or to knit prayer shawls for people who are hurting but each of us is called to do something.

There are so many needs in our world, so many places to use our gifts in the service of others. We need the eyes to see the hurt, the ears to hear the pain and the wisdom to discover where these pains and our deep gladness meet. It doesn’t help anyone if we are miserable in our service of others. We are not following Jesus if we are miserable with each step. This doesn’t mean we don’t experience suffering. We know that pain is part of the journey. But it does mean that deep down there is a joy in knowing we are loving God by loving others and there is a joy in using our gifts in the service of our sisters and brothers. And it is this gladness, this deep joy, that draws others in. When people see you serving with gladness in your heart, they will want to know more. They will want to share in this joy and they will ask you about it. Here is an opportunity to tell people about the one who has called you to follow him. It is an opportunity to invite others to follow Jesus. And in this way we join Simon, Andrew, James and John and become fisher for people.

I offer again the prayer from this morning’s collect and invite you to hear the words anew:

Let us pray.

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.