Betting on the Plain Folk
David C. Myers
January 25, 2009
Epiphany - 3
Jonah 3:1 - 5, 10
Mark 1:14 - 20
Text: "Follow Me and I will make you fish for people." . . . Mark 1:17b
"Jesus went a little further and saw James Bar-Zebedee and his brother John. They, too, were in their boat, mending the nets. Immediately He called the, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed Him." (Mark 1:19 - 20) As I have studied this passage over the years I have some observations - three to be exact.
1.) The first is that Jesus was a pretty powerful figure. Imagine yourself walking to two total strangers, not even remotely in your lifestyle and with one sentence have them leave everything, change their careers and follow you. I mean, when I preach I have no illusions about people changing their lives. I am satisfied if they listen. And then that got me to thinking.
Maybe I am doing something wrong. Do I go about preaching in the right way? I mean most of my sermons are meant to be edifying; I see myself trying to help people understand what Jesus and the Scriptures are all about. I try to do it in a nice, engaging way. Very seldom do I even try to ruffle any feathers. If anything I am trying to comfort and soothe. When we get confronted by a challenging text, my tact is often to try to take the sting out of it. I had a reputation in New England - my sermons were described as three stories in search of a point. While I never tried to evade the difficult dilemma we might face if we took the Gospel and the prophets seriously, I at least tried to reduce the sting, to lessen the conflict.
But not Jesus. He doesn't come preaching about how to be happy, or how to find peace and security; rather His preaching and His words always seem to increase conflict.
• He tells two brothers to leave their father and the careers he had for them. They do.
• He tells others to give up all they have and if they have defrauded anyone of anything to restore it to them fourfold. Zacchaeus does.
• When asked about family relationships, He says those who follow Him must hate - that's right, hate - father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters (Luke 14:26). Yeah - that would go over big in my preaching!
• A rich man comes to Jesus and asks Jesus what he must do to get into the Kingdom of Heaven - and Jesus tells Him, and the man turns his head and walks away because he is unwilling to give everything up. He blasts the Scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites.
However, there is a group that apparently had some kind of immunity against Jesus' words - the Scribes and the Pharisees, for when He accused them of being hypocrites they didn't seem to change; rather they crucified Him.
Jesus' preaching and teaching expected and demanded response. And maybe that's my mistake. You see I am not very demanding in trying to evoke a response, usually all I am trying to do is communicate. But it is very apparent that Jesus is doing something else. He is enlisting. Instead of expecting, "Nice sermon, pastor." Jesus is saying, "Will you join Me?"
Jesus doesn't just announce the Good News, its happening! And it's so happening that you better join in and help get it done!
Last week I mentioned that to the Hebrew people that followed Jesus followed Him not because of His teaching, but because Jesus showed them the Messianic signs. He wasn't asking people whether they gave intellectual agreement with His teachings - Jesus was ushering in a whole new way of living and acting and of treating one another. The Good News is revealed when people look around and see Good News being given to the poor, the oppressed being set free, the visionless gaining sight once again, the lame walking, the sick being healed.
2.) Second observation. It has to do with the nature of fishing. So Jesus asks these two fishermen to leave their father Zebedee high and dry and to follow him. And they do. I don't know what kind of dynamics might have existed between Zebedee and his sons. Maybe he was such a curmudgeon that he deserved to be left high and dry. But I doubt it; not in that culture, not in that day. But I have always found it interesting that Jesus invites them to go fish - for people instead of fish. Jesus is not really asking them to change professions - just the object of their fishing.
Fishing. A couple more thoughts:
1.) People who fish like to be close to God and nature. When I was a small lad, my father and grandfather cultivate in me a love for fishing. My grandfather summed it up in a very similar manner. To be successful at fishing all you had to do was 1.) have the right bait; 2.) in the right place; 3.) in front of the right fish; and 4.) at the right time.
At least when I was eight-years old it sounded simple.
What I have since discovered is that to do the above means that it all involves knowing a lot about nature - the phase of the moon, the time of tides and their strength (yes, some would say this is true of fresh water fishing as well); what the fish are feeding on at a particular time, the weather conditions and changes, what the particular species of fish you are fishing for and how the travel (school or by themselves); and their breeding practices. And this doesn't even include all that is involved with boats and navigation. And in Jesus' time that all involved knowing how to work with nature and not trying to beat nature.
As you can see being a successful fisherman meant being in tune with nature, which ultimately means that people who fish for a living must be close to God. Think about Jesus' teachings: His parables and metaphors - like sowing seeds, putting leaven in bread, salting the broth, working the vineyard, building rock, not sand - all things of nature and common sense. With that in mind, perhaps it is no surprise that many of Jesus' disciples were people who fished.
2.) Another characteristic of being a person who depends on fishing for their livelihood is that they must being willing to work hard. Having a summer place along the Maine coast, I am a little familiar with the lot of those who depend on fishing for a living. And I have come to learn that as much as I envy some romantic parts of their profession, I have come to appreciate with great respect other aspects of it.
I know a lobsterman who has such a tough time of it that when he can't trap lobster of fish due to weather of other obstacles he has to scramble to do anything he can to make a buck - cut firewood, tend cottages -he'll do any descriptions of odd jobs - whatever it takes to make ends meet.
3.) And the final characteristic of the one who fishes is that he or she is one of often great courage. One who fishes for a living must be a person willing to take risks. Every day on the ocean or even a big lake is a day at risk. Will launching out on the deep meet a sudden and dangerous storm? Will the motor give out? Will the catch make the effort worthwhile - will it cover the cost of the boat, the bait, and the nets?
With these characteristics in mind - being in tune with nature, willing to work hard and having courage - it's not hard to see why Jesus might choose four of His disciples from the profession of fishing.
3.) My third observation has to do with the nature of being an ordinary person - one of the plain folk. And in Jesus time being a fisher was being an ordinary person. Fisherman, farmers, laborers were all part of the 90% of people that were the lower class, the underprivileged, the ones that weren't allowed to live with the city walls. They were known as what has come to be translated as the "Daughters", as in the "daughters of Jerusalem." They had no power in society and were subject to the whims of those who did.
Only the merchants, the governors, the priestly class were allowed to live within the protection of the city walls. And it was only within the city walls that there was the convenience of such luxuries as stored food and a source of water. The workers were forced to stay outside the city and fend for themselves - both in time of attack, but also in time of famine or drought.
It is interesting that Jesus not only choose the powerless, ordinary folk to be His disciples, but indeed, He was one of the "daughters", one of the common folk Himself.
E. G. Chesterton, famous preacher, teacher and evangelist of almost two generations ago, had a marvelous essay about jury duty. In it he contrasts the role of a specialist, the educated, the professional, with the role of the common persons. He observes that when society wants a new universe discovered, or using his words, "some such trifle as that," it calls in a highly educated, brilliant and skilled professional, like an astronomer. But when society wants something really important decided, like the fate of a person accused of a crime, it calls in 12 ordinary people, places them in a jury box and gives them this fateful power. "I seem to recall," Chesterton concludes, "that the founder of Christianity did precisely the same thing."
Christ did indeed; . . . fishermen, the ordinary people like you and me.
There is a legend which tells the story of Jesus meeting in heaven the angel Gabriel shortly after His crucifixion. (Incidentally, I used this story once before as a benediction at the end of the worship service. Since it was decidedly longer than the benediction to which most people are accustomed, I fast learned a lesson to make such a story part of the sermon).
Anyway, at this heavenly meeting between the angel Gabriel and Jesus, Gabriel is impressed with Jesus and how Jesus showed people a new way of living, how He loved people, even to the point of sacrificing His life for us. Gabriel then asked, "What plan do you have that Your message of love and grace and justice may be passed on? Certainly You much have instituted some plan to spread Your Good News."
Jesus replied, "Oh no! Not yet. Right now only a handful of people in Palestine know."
Gabriel was perplexed and asked, "Then what have you done to let everyone know about Your love for them?"
Jesus said, "I've asked Peter, James and John, and a few more friends to tell others about Me. Then those who are told will tell others and, in turn, they will tell still others. And My story will be spread to the farthest reaches of the globe."
Gabriel frowned and looked rather skeptical. He knew well about the unpredictable nature of people. He said, "Yes, but what if Peter and James and John grow weary? What if the people who come after them forget? What if they don't get it straight, or emphasize the wrong things? What if was down to the twenty-first century people just don't tell others about You? Haven't You made any other plans?"
And Jesus answered, "I haven't made any other plans. I'm counting on them."
Twenty centuries later - God still has no other plan. God is counting on you and me - the ordinary folk, whose only qualities are to be close to God, to work hard, and to have courage - to be the called disciples, to allow God's love to be felt.