Gone Fishing!     (Return to Sermon Page)

January 27, 2008

Matthew 4: 12-23                                                                 

1 Cor. 1:10-17

Overview of the scripture:

          See the Light, get baptized, hear the call, go fishing! 

What could be easier than that!?

Gather the faithful, give them all a piece of the work to do, have church!

                   Sounds pretty simple.

You think?

Your best friend and mentor gets murdered,

the people want a new king so they can get revenge,

          you leave town to get away from them so they don’t elect you.

You know you’re not called to that: ruler, revenge, power struggles.

Sometimes even the church gets that way—but not here.

Paul wades into Corinth to set them straight and

we get a good reminder about discipleship

Let’s get back to fishing. 

Jesus went away because he was focused on the future and

he didn’t want to get caught up in all the anger around John’s death. 

Fishing’s a good way to get away from it all.  Water is soothing. 

Ocean, lake, river, the water moves and you didn’t have to make it happen. 

Maybe that’s what drew Jesus there. 

It’s drawn many of us when we needed time away, time to regroup, time to think.

And there at the lake Jesus finds some men fishing.

Whenever I hear this story, I just think :    Really?!!     

He just said you and you and you?  I guess Jesus will take anybody.

And they just up and left?  Even more amazing; who would do that? 

It’s all a little shocking, then and now.

Can you leave your life behind?  Can you just suddenly go in a new direction?

What about your families and the mortgage and

the thousand errands you have to do?

We know stories of other disciples who made radical changes:

          Mother Teresa, John Wesley, Martin Luther King Jr.

Don’t you wonder: how could they do that? 

Don’t you think: how could they be so dedicated, that persevering, that focused?  They’re hard to believe too.

          But I suspect that not one of them started out to do something grand. 

They started out telling the truth, shining a light on something they observed or

that happened to them and they decided to do something about it.

          We have many great stories of discipleship. 

In most cases, persons started out doing what they always do, fishing for example. 

And in some form or other Jesus comes along and says:

I want you to take this a bit further. 

Maybe that Jesus moment is real clear. 

Maybe it develops over time, sort of emerges. 

But they and we didn’t start out to change the whole world, just a corner of it.

          See the light; get your feet wet; get baptized into doing God’s work.

Go fishing—that is: tell others. 

That’s how Habitat for Humanity got started. 

Millard Fuller saw a need, talked to some other people,

took their skills and put them to work, one house at a time.

Look what they have accomplished.

It is about as easy as that.    And as hard as that.

Isn’t that how Wayfarer’s got started?  Some people saw a need, they used what they had, they worked hard, the vision expanded and a center was born and built. 

Most importantly lives are changed. 

Jesus comes through the heart and hands and work of others.

Jesus calls us to be fishers with him. 

A little later in the scripture story we get our instructions for the journey.

          But for now, we are asked to be willing to go to work for him.

So how did Jesus call you? 

In what form did Jesus come to you and say: follow me?

Maybe Jesus has always been there, since your child hood.

Maybe camp or confirmation class brought Jesus into focus, into your heart.

Maybe Jesus’ teachings just make sense of your life, help you to untangle

all the choices we have, help you to walk a straight and narrow path.

Maybe Jesus stepped right up to you and said: Follow me!

Maybe you saw Jesus through the loving acts of another.

Maybe you yearn to hear that call and it hasn’t come full blown yet.

I remember as a young person knowing that I was called to be a disciple,

wanting to be found doing right, wanting to serve and not knowing how. 

I imagined walking a path roughly parallel with Jesus, but not too close. 

I was afraid that if he saw me too clearly or knew me too thoroughly that

I’d be judged unworthy.

It’s amazing to me how many Christians feel that way.  After all the songs of ‘Jesus loves me’, after all the prayers, after all we have learned, still we expect judgment.

That’s what the world gives us. 

That is the world’s way: constant evaluation, getting even, tit for tat.

          It’s not Jesus’ way.

Jesus didn’t appear to evaluate when he met those men by the lake. 

Maybe he already knew them; seems possible. 

It isn’t reported that he asked for their credentials or set them tests to perform. 

They already had what he needed: a boat. 

They already had skills he thought could be put to use: fishing.

What do you have to offer?  What is your equivalent to a boat?  Or fishing?

Whatever it is, Jesus can use it. 

Jesus does not have time for the world’s evaluation. 

There is work to do; there are people in need;

there is no time for pettiness or wrangles or power trips. 

Let’s go fishing!