Sermon for 3rd Epiphany
No Turning Back
By The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer -
This past week I spent time focusing on the two living relatives I still have from my parents’ generation, my Aunt Ruth, age 94, who lives in Pennsylvania and my Aunt June, age 97, who lives in Vermont. I do not have much regular contact with them, distance and health get in the way, but this week it was a pleasure to focus a bit again on their lives.
And that got me thinking about my own roots.
When we meet someone new, we often ask basic questions - what do you do, where are you from – questions like these. If you ask Kris and me where we are from we would say Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, California. Recently, we even counted the places we’ve lived as a couple, not the cities or towns, but the addresses, and came up with at least 14 different homes or apartments we have lived in since we began our married life.
Jesus grew up in Nazareth. We do not know anything about his life growing up there, but it is safe to assume that he was comfortable in Nazareth, the place of his childhood.
We do know from the Gospels that Jesus visited Jerusalem at least once while growing up, at age 12 or so. And we know from that story that Jesus appeared to be pretty comfortable in Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religious and political life in his day, that Jesus was pretty comfortable there, spending time in the temple listening and asking questions.
However, as today’s Gospel’s tells us, when Jesus began his public ministry he chose not to begin it in his hometown, Nazareth, or in the center of Jewish life in his times, Jerusalem. No, Jesus began his preaching and teaching in what became his adult home, Capernaum in Galilee.
And, when Jesus goes to Capernaum, Jesus does not go to the town leaders, or others with wealth or power. No, Jesus reaches out first to a few young fisherman who have been brought up in their family fishing business. “Follow me, “ the text tells us Jesus said, “And I will make you fish for people.”
Unlikely people in an unlikely, unfamiliar place. This is how Jesus made his first disciples. This is how God still makes disciples today.
Pastor Amy Starr Redwine tells the story of an incident in the life of Pastor Sam Wells. One day Pastor Wells was visited by a man he barely knew, a man very prominent in his community, a CEO of a major company in his community. This man came to see Pastor Wells and he was nervous. He had obviously been up all night and his clothing looked it.
“I’ve come to you, Pastor Wells,” his visitor said, “I’ve come to you because there is no one else I can tell. I want to be a Christian. In my business world, Christian values are not popular, making money at all cost is.” His visitor continued, “I have been up all night and made this recording for you, because there is no one else I can give it to.” The man handed Pastor Wells an old-style cassette tape recording.
For this man, Pastor Redwine notes, handing over that cassette tape was as momentous as Peter and Andrew setting down their fishing nets, it was as momentous as James and John walking away from their father’s fishing boat, doing this after Jesus simply says, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
Why did these first disciples drop everything to follow Jesus? After all, Jesus had just begun his public ministry. Jesus was not yet well-known in Capernaum or anywhere. Jesus had not done any remarkable yet.
Some say that Jesus must have been incredibly charismatic, the kind of person you just wanted to be near.
Perhaps.
Others say that these first disciples were just waiting for a chance to do something different. They were ready to go out and see the world beyond Capernaum. Jesus simply gave them the opportunity to do this.
Maybe.
But maybe, perhaps it was a bit more. In these few words of invitation Jesus seems to know something about these young men. Jesus seems to know who they are and what they are capable of. Jesus has a plan to take that knowledge and transform it into something spectacular, not just for these four young men, but for others as well, “I will make you fish for people.”
Jesus plans to use all of the skills these fishermen have learned on the sea – patience, discernment, observation, respect for nature – Jesus plans to use these men and their skills to transform the world.
This is what God does. This is who God is.
God goes to the most ordinary places and finds the most ordinary people and then uses their hard-earned skills to transform the world.
For some, these skills are learned in years of education and hard work. For others, these skills are learned through years of suffering and hardship.
Whatever these skills are, God does not let them go to waste. With God, not one second of our lives is wasted. All of the times of our lives are part of our lives with God, where we have lived, our salvation history if you will, our journey of discipleship.
Nothing is wasted with God. Everything, even our most colossal failures and our deepest regrets, everything is something that God can and will use.
God calls every one of us, no matter how ordinary or unqualified we may feel. Our job is to answer God’s invitation.
Pastor Redwine tells another story, about a wealthy corporate executive named Jack. Jack was very active in his congregation, active with his wife and three children – worship and education every week, confirmation for his children, mission trips as a family, generous financial support of their congregation. Jack was the kind of person with the kind of family any and every congregation would love to have among its members.
Jack’s daughter Anna left home for college and found a wonderful congregation in her college town. While worshiping in that congregation, Anna heard a presentation from a speaker who worked in an orphanage in Africa, in an area ravaged by civil war. As this speaker ended his presentation he added that he needed help for this ministry, money of course, but also people to come and volunteer at the orphanage.
Anna called her parents right after she heard this speaker. She spoke a mile a minute. She wanted to get involved in this orphanage.
Her parents listened intently. They said it all sounded wonderful. They said they would themselves make a major donation to the orphanage. And they did.
A few days later Anna called her parents again. Their donation was wonderful, she told them, but it wasn’t enough. “I think I need to go to Africa,” Anna said. Like any parent would, her parents first reaction was that that was just too dangerous, Anna heading into a country racked by civil war. “Can’t we just make another donation?” they said.
But, Anna was determined to go. She had to be there. To see for herself, to learn from the African people, to serve the children in the orphanage.
“Okay,” her parents said, “Why don’t you just go for a visit there this summer, on your summer school break?”
“No,” Anna replied, “I do not want to go just to visit, I want to be part of this work. This is what God is calling me to do.”
Anna’s parents had no choice but to support her decision. They were moved by her sense of call, but they worried about her safety. Secretly, they hoped Anna would change her mind.
Jack later told his pastor, “I can’t believe she is doing this. You know, we raised our daughter to be a respectful Christian. We didn’t actually want her to be a real one.”
When it came time for Jesus to begin his ministry, Jesus made a decision that shaped the rest of his life here on earth: Jesus decided where he would go and whom he would invite to join him.
Those first disciples made a decision, too: Would they turn from what was safe and familiar and venture into the unknown with Jesus? And not just for a couple of days or weeks, but over and over again, every single day of their lives.
God invites us to make the same decision. To follow Jesus requires us to hold lightly all the things we know, the comforts of our relationships, our knowledge, our stuff, all of it. Jesus asks us to open ourselves to be transformed and to join in the work of transforming the world.
I don’t know about you, but for me, it is easy to be heartbroken and angry and overwhelmed by the suffering and division of the world around us – escalating tensions between the US and Iran, the ugliness and seeming intractability of the racial divide in this nation, the fear millions of refugees and immigrants have who do not know if they will ever again have a place to call home.
I am sure you could add your own heartbreak, situations personal and global that leave you angry and overwhelmed, ones that get under your skin and break your heart.
Well, God gives us a choice of what to do with our own despair and anger.
We can stay local, we can stay in the safe confines of our own Nazareths, where we have history and relationships and know our place.
We can head to Jerusalem, our religious center, where the rituals of our faith comfort us.
But before we do this, remember that Jesus is calling us, you and me, Jesus is calling us to our own Capernaums, places we have not been before, to places where we can see our faith and even ourselves anew.
Jesus knows how hard this all is. Jesus knows how broken we all are, how broken this world is. Jesus’ choice to go to Capernaum reminds us that this work of bringing God’s kingdom, God’s ways to this earth, that this all starts with an invitation to move away from all that we know. God needs us, all of our hard-earned skills and knowledge so that God’s love and God’s invitation to do this gospel work can reach every broken and breaking place in this world.
Remember Pastor Redwine’s story of Pastor Wells and the CEO who visited him and left an old-style cassette tape, the story with which I began. Well, after the CEO left, Pastor Wells found an old cassette tape player and played the CEO homemade tape. You could hear the man clearing his throat and then there was a long silence. Finally, the CEO began to sing a simple song:
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back. No turning back.
Amen
(Adapted from a sermon by the Rev. Amy Starr Redwine and the “A Sermon for Every Sunday” series).
The Rev. Eric Christopher Shafer
Senior Pastor - Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California
January 25 & 26, 2020
