by Fr. Bill Garrison
Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.
After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
—Mark 1:14-20 (NRSV)
There’s a lot of talk about leadership these days and I am quite certain that one of the things great leaders are constantly seeking is good information with which to make decisions. Here’s a quick story about that.
A man was driving around the backwoods and he saw a sign in front of an old, shanty style house that said “Talking dog for sale.” So, he rang the bell and the owner appeared and told him the dog was in the backyard.
The guy went into the backyard and saw a nice looking Labrador retriever sitting there. “You talk?” he asked.
“Yes I do,” the Lab replied.
After the guy recovered from the shock of hearing a dog talk, he said “So, what's your story?”
The Lab looked up and said, “Well, I discovered that I could talk when I was pretty young. I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA. In no time at all they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping.”I was one of their most valuable spies for eight years running. But the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger so I decided to settle down. I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security, wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings and was awarded a batch of medals.
“I got married, had a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired.”
The guy was amazed. He went back in and asked the owner what he wanted for the dog.
“Ten dollars,” the guy said.
“Ten dollars? This dog is amazing! Why on earth are you selling him so cheap?”
“Because that dog's a liar. He never did any of those things.”
I have had the opportunity to preach about today’s gospel many times. It has always concerned me that these four fishermen were willing to just jump up and follow Jesus. “Follow me”, he said, and they did. Really?
Now I have theorized many things. I have wondered if this was some sort of miracle. I have thought perhaps they already knew Jesus and were just waiting on the sign from him that things were about to start. I have wondered if Jesus was just that charismatic and people automatically did what he suggested. Unfortunately, the gospel writer doesn’t bother to flesh the story out. He just tells us that immediately they got up and followed Jesus with absolutely no explanation why. It has always bothered me since it makes little sense that they would do that.
But then I recently had a new thought. Perhaps that’s the point. Perhaps we are called by Jesus, our leader, and asked to do things without all the information. And Jesus hopes we will respond to the call based strictly on his request and our trust in his leadership. And sometimes we do.
And sometimes we don’t.
So why don’t we? Well, it seems there are many good reasons. Perhaps we are unsure the request is real or that it is truly coming from Jesus. Perhaps we are concerned with lifestyle questions. What might we have to give up or take on? Perhaps the request doesn’t make sense to us. Maybe we don’t feel we have the time. Perhaps it’s just something we don’t want to do. Perhaps we feel incapable.
Now we often envision huge issues when we think about a call from Jesus. Does Jesus want us to become an ordained leader in the church? Does Jesus want us to become a monk? Does Jesus want us to take on lay leadership? As part of the call, do we need to go back to school or jump through various hoops? What will be required of us?
Or is the call from Jesus something less onerous. Is it something we are being asked to do in place, right where we are? Is it something just for today? Is someone standing in front of us with a need we are being asked to fulfill? Are we being asked to drop everything we planned for the next couple hours and do something else? Not all calls are huge, but often they may feel like they are in the moment.
Ok, of primary importance of course is discerning the reality of the call. Is it really from Jesus? Does Jesus really want something from me? From me?
As we think about the reality of the call, we have a huge decision to make before going any further. We need to decide who is in charge if it turns out to be a real call. Is it us or is it God?
Here is a term we may have discussed before that applies to the situation. “Holy Indifference”. This means we want to know what the call is and we want to know if it is real, and most importantly, we have decided that we are personally indifferent. We are only interested in doing what God is asking, whatever it may be. We are going to maintain a state of “Holy Indifference”, waiting on God to make God’s wishes apparent.
We will pray about the call. We will visit scripture. We will share with our brothers and sisters as needed. And we will wait.
My experience is that life changing calls take time to discern. Little calls are pretty obvious. The other day I was walking up to the grocery store. There was a mother there with a small child and they had a sign telling the world they needed financial help. God clearly told me in that moment I was being called to help them. So, I did. It was an obvious call, quickly understood, and quickly followed.
The truth is God speaks pretty directly to each of us, rather regularly. Often, we aren’t listening, and even more often we say no. But this I am sure of: the more often we answer the call the better we become in discerning the voice of God as opposed to the noise that surrounds us. Try it out a little more often if you haven’t already. See if I’m right.