Karen Hollis | January 22, 2023
Jesus calls disciples 2
Matthew 4:12-23 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen. And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be reflections of your word to us today, in Christ’s name we pray. Amen
As a minister, one of the questions I’m often asked is when and how I heard my call to ministry. As many of you have heard, I studied astronomy and physics in university . . . after ruling out becoming an astronomer, I thought I might actually follow in the way of my father’s footsteps and teach high school physics (dad’s watching the live stream). But even through school, physics didn’t answer all of my questions. When listening to lectures or doing assignments, my mind would sometimes wander to God. In Relativity class I remember my professor explaining how in our reference frame, we see photons or light particles moving at the speed of light. But from the point of view of the photon, it is everywhere in space and at every moment in time simultaneously . . . I was completely distracted and captivated by this idea, because in church we not only refer to God as light, we understand God to be beyond time and space. And particularly during the season of Epiphany, we acknowledge God as the source of light and new insight. I’ve never struggled to bring together science and theology, but the connections between the two in this example of light is among the most beautiful in my mind.
After graduation, I volunteered with the youth program at my church. I organized a day-long retreat for the middle schoolers and their parents to discuss the ideas in Marcus Borg’s book, The Heart of Christianity. I realized during the retreat that this was the kind of work I was called to – opening up conversations with people about God, opening up conversations within families, and walking with people on their journey of faith. There were other indications that I was called to ministry . . . the details of which I honestly can’t remember, but that’s how calls often materialize . . . little by little and then all at once.
I wonder if it worked that way for Jesus’ first disciples. I read a novel last year called The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd . . . she wrote it from the perspective of a woman imagined to be Jesus’ wife . . . there is no evidence Jesus was married, though there is no harm in wondering. In the story, Jesus is away a lot, especially once he begins his ministry . . . but prior to that he is a day labourer, which is historically plausible . . . he spends a lot of time by the Sea of Galilee, finding work on fishing boats. My mind wandered as I read along . . . so, what if he already knew them, the men he called to be his first disciples. What if he already knew them? There’s no harm in wondering. What if, during all those hours of sitting on the water, sorting fish, and tending to nets, they talked about life . . . their families, their dreams, their struggles, life under Roman occupation . . . what if they talked about what it would take to bring hope and liberation to their people.
So when Jesus comes calling, Peter and Andrew, James and John, see their friend walking down the beach. Jesus says to them, “follow me and we will fish for people.”
Now there’s another piece to this call that I like to think about . . . These were all good Jews Jesus was meeting. As good Jews, the men would have attended the local synagogue school at the age of 5 to learn Hebrew and memorize the Torah. By the time of their bar mitzvahs, they would have been completely conversant with God’s Word. Those who showed great promise were encouraged to continue their education. This would entail studying the wisdom and authoritative interpretation of the Torah by the sages known as “The Yoke of Torah.” In the next multi-year phase, young men around 17 years old, who continued to show great promise were further encouraged to find a rabbi to follow. It was important to find the right rabbi for the student, because the purpose of the yeshiva experience or essentially seminary, was to make the student exactly like the teacher. The student’s life would forever be bound to the teaching, so they had to seek a rabbi with care. The rabbis in turn looked critically on potential disciples. They tested not their knowledge, but what they were able to do with it, particularly what kind of questions they asked. When a student really showed promise and the teacher thought they would be successful at becoming like the teacher, they would say to the student, “Follow me.” This was the most affirming statement, the highest praise, the greatest honour for any Jewish man. So Jesus comes walking along the shore of the Galilean sea and calls to them . . . they hear, “follow me . . . I believe in you.”1
As disciples of Jesus, we are always called to follow and deepen our learning . . . that is always contextualized in our individual journeys of faith and our particular community of faith. I have learned some about this community and have a lot more to learn. One of my sources, which I know is important to you right now, is the Visioning report – James and I watched the worship service a few times and I read the written version last week. Well done and there is so much in the report to work with and follow up on. I look forward to talking with groups around the church about initiatives they received from the Visioning Team, what they have implemented, and what might still be in the works. I am curious about the values you identified: Spirituality, Openness, Care for the Common Good, and Radical Love . . . I wonder – and perhaps you do too – how those look in practice, the ways they have materialized in the past and how they may manifest in the future.
Given this morning’s scripture, I invite us to look at the fruit of your labour through a different lens. What does the Visioning Report reveal to us about God’s call at this time for Comox United? What is your current understanding of God’s call for you as a congregation? God’s call is not something we come up with . . . we perceive it and receive it. God’s call changes over time . . . it is born out of God’s prayer deep within our hearts and our own prayer within the heart of God. It’s born out of the needs of our community and our ability to serve. As one season gives way to another, God’s call says to our community, “I see you . . . I value you . . . I believe in you.” Exploring our vision, call, plans and implementation is exciting and energizing for some . . . it can be worrisome for others – do we have the volunteers to take things on? Do we have the energy? We’re not as young as we used to be. I think God calls and we have the agency to discern how best to respond. God’s call lived out in the most authentic way for our community, gives us energy, rather than taking it away. So, if we’re tired, if we’re stretched too thin, we have some more work to do on our authentic response to God’s call.
We have lots of time for conversation about all of this and more. I look forward to learning more in the coming months about Comox United and how we will continue to live out of our identity, values, and relationship with God in service of God’s kindom here on earth. Thanks be to God.
1 http://preservingbibletimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Reflection.Follow-Me.pdf