Sunday, January 26, 2014

Drop Your Nets! Matthew 4:12-23




I am sorry, I keep thinking of poor Zebedee, you know the father of James and John the Guy who owned the business Zebedee and sons; fresh fish market Price!  So here it is a nice sunny day you have been out fishing with your boys all day and you’re just sitting in your boat mending your nets.  Suddenly this man comes along with Simon Peter and Andrew in tow and your kids drop everything and followed along.

I first imagine Zebedee to be a bit dumbfounded  as he watched in amazement while his sons walked away from everything they had established. It wasn’t until he got home that the anger started to set in.  How could they do this?  How could they just leave all we had worked for, to follow some Carpenter’s son; the cousin of the madman in the desert?  I mean really “God’s kingdom is at hand,” what kind of message is that anyway and just because Peter and Andrew are following that should be the first clue that there is going to be trouble!

The Rev. Roger Allen Nelson has his own reflection on the boys which I found quite interesting. Of peter he says;
“Peter had hustled the fish down to the market. Early and fresh they would bring a nice price.
But, he was always late. There was something so impulsive about Peter.
He would stop to see his wife,
stop to help another boat,
stop to pick a fight,
stop at the bakery for warm bread,
stop to listen to a rabbi.
Peter always led with his heart. Strong head, strong back, strong heart. He never ceased to make Andrew smile. And they wouldn’t do as well as they did without Peter’s bull strength, but sometimes Peter just didn’t see the big picture. He lived in the moment.”[1]

Here we see Peter as one who had a love of life and adventure and wherever he was he was right there, bold in that moment.  I think the kind of a guy I would probably hang around if he didn’t smell like fish all the time!

As for his brother Andrew he was more of the worrier, always looking towards tomorrow to see what may be coming.  He was always focused on the prospective and what the trend of the day may be at the market as to best profit from the shoppers.

Yet, on this day, Peter seemed unusually distracted and Andrew himself felt there was a shift in the air.  Something was coming and yet he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.  He and Peter had recently heard John the Baptist speak.  His message of forgiveness and redemption seemed to make sense.  It was moving and now the disturbing news of his untimely death maybe that was weighing on Peter’s heart.

Reverend Roger goes on and tells us that: 
“Andrew could hear Zebedee and his boys coming ashore. They were a bigger outfit with a few hired hands, and they certainly made a bigger ruckus, but they were good guys and hard workers. They were just loud.

Just then with a big loaf of bread, and a bigger grin, and before Andrew could say a thing, Peter showed up and piped up,

Come on, let’s put in a little ways and see what we can pull out before the day gets too hot. Maybe we can get one more good load! And, if we don’t we can eat this bread and relax and talk and we’ll tend to the nets later!
Andrew, shrugged his shoulders, chuckled, and turned toward the water.
It was good work with a brother; he could live in that moment!
An hour later they were pulling up empty nets and empty conversation.”[2]

So here it was an uneventful day the two families and others had been out fishing.  Just working their daily lives and yet…Yet there was something, an electricity like an unseen storm just on the horizon.

Then slowly coming from the distance was Jesus.  At first one couldn’t tell who he was as the heat of the day had placed a shimmer in the air.  But as he stepped closer and they could make him out they knew who it was.  They had heard that John had made some comments about him to his followers

.“And then Jesus walked by.
Jesus walked by,
in the middle of a work day,
on the shores of a distant lake,
nowhere near the temple,
in the flow of life,
with an indifferent sun in the sky.
Jesus walked by and called out to
two average guys
two blue collar brothers,
two working stiffs trying to make a wage,
two guys who weren’t the brightest or the bravest,
two guys who weren’t looking for him.
Jesus walked by and called out to follow.
Andrew and Peter followed, and James and John followed.
They left Zebedee in Zebulun and they followed Jesus.
And down the shore journeyed a carpenter’s son and four fishermen.”[3]

An interesting note In rabbinical and Greek literature "to catch men" usually has an evil sense, as in Jer. 16:16: “I’m going to send hordes of fishermen to catch them, declares the LORD. Afterward I will send a party of hunters to hunt them down on every mountain, hill, and cave.” Jesus turns the idea around; his disciples become fishers of men in order to save them. 

Zebedee knew there was something different here.  Zebedee could feel the shift in the air as Jesus approached.  Zebedee’s heart Jumped and stirred as Jesus called out to his boys.  How he wish he could go as well.  He even considered dropping everything himself and yet, at that very moment Jesus gave him a look that just melted his heart and he knew he had to stay.  He knew he had to support his family and he knew he would be supporting his boys as well.
You see not everyone is called to follow Jesus in the same way. Some people even question what is a vocation?  What is a calling?  What am I to do to be the best follower of Christ and the best me I can be?

 John Neafsey in his book  A sacred voice is Calling, reminds me our sense of calling;
         
   “Our sense of vocation is intimately linked to the people and things that move us to passion and compassion.  We cannot answer the authenticity question, ‘Who am I?’ without also answering the passion question, ‘What do I really want?’  We discover who we are only by becoming conscious of the most authentic desires, loves, and longings of our hearts. ‘Who am I?’ is also closely related to another question, ‘Whose am I?’  We come to know ourselves by recognizing those to who we belong.”[4]
            
By this statement the Fishermen were men of God.  They belonged to God and they were seeking God.  Maybe not consciously, yet there was something stirring.  So that when approached by Christ their hearts were open and moved.  They were able to respond immediately and passionately to Gods call.
            
In my case, I always had a calling from God to go into ministry and service.  I know this.  I mean really know.  Sometimes I heard it more clearly than others and sometimes I choose to outright ignore it.  The answering of my call was not easy.  I struggled and prayed.  I tried to be practical.  I told myself I would go so deep in debt I would never see the light of day.  I asked myself did I really need to leave a comfortable, simple life in a community I loved to allow myself to fully answer a call.  In the end the answer came back as a simple yes.  This is true but only after months of struggle, prayer, and deal making.
           
Often people think that the call from Christ; “Drop your nets and follow me and I will make you fishers of humankind,” Comes just as clearly and easily as it happened in this gospel reading.  The chosen dropped their nets, leaving family behind and went where Jesus went.   The Gospel is a bit dramatic in this way there is no back story, we do not have a narrator telling us what is going on inside the head of the apostles.  They just up and leave everything behind.
           
 Actually there is no evidence that this is true or false.  The area that Jesus covered is small in territory.  It would be easy for a disciple to leave for a day or two or even a week take care of business and head back out again.  We know that Zebedee stayed behind to tend to the family business.  We don’t know if he had hired hands or other family, which is very likely, to help out.  We know that Jesus went back to heal Peter’s Mother-in-law so there is evidence that the disciples kept contact with family and friends.           

Actually this call and follow business is odd for Jewish tradition.  It was considered bad form for a Rabbi to seek out students it was the other way around.  If you were a good Rabbi, a good teacher it was the student to sought out the teacher.  Yet here this is a story of Jesus seeking out his followers, calling them individually.

God is seeking out Humanity.  God is calling and looking for us if we choose to listen.  The Bible is proof of this over and over again.
“Over and over in Scripture God seeks after us.
God goes looking for Adam and Eve.
God calls Abraham.
God tracks down Jacob.
God picks Moses.
God interrupts Jeremiah.
God chooses David.
God intrudes on Mary.
God shows up as a baby.
God gathers a band of disciples.
God goes to the cross.
God busts through death.
God calls you and me.

Or think of Jesus.

He told stories of a shepherd who beats the bushes to find one lost sheep, a women who turns her house upside down to find one lost coin, and a father who runs down the road to welcome his one lost son,

Or think of Jesus.

He picks Zacchaeus out of a tree,
He saddles up to two men walking on a road to Emmaus,
He enters a closed room of a bunch of uneasy and uncertain disciples.
He shows up on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and calls fishermen to follow”.[5]

It is that simple.  It doesn't matter if we are rich or poor.  It makes no difference if you are straight or Gay or transgender.  It doesn't matter if you’re a lawyer or a farmer.  God is seeking you out.  God is calling you to be the best human you can be from where you are now.
Reverend Rodger goes on to say;

“I don’t know how God shows up in our lives. I know that sometimes I am too dense, self-absorbed, busy, or cynical to notice. Maybe there is something that gets in the way for you as well. But, I do know that the record of Scripture, played with a reformed hermeneutic (interpretation), has a boldly struck chord. God comes after us!

In creation,
in covenant,
in Christ,
in cross,
in church,
in sacrament,
God comes after us!
Someday when you’re cleaning nets,
or looking for your brother,
or waiting for your lover,
or doing your best to make ends meet,
or burying the dead,
or buying the bread,
Jesus will show up and call you to follow.”[6]

Isn’t this why we do Sundays?  Isn’t this why we pause to pray?  This is all so that in those sacred moments, when Jesus calls us, we can see it, recognize it and hear it. Then drop our nets  drop our nets that need mending, drop our nets; those daily things in life that annoy us, drop our nets; the things that must get done,  Drop our nets and just  follow.
May we all have the Ears to hear, Eyes to see and heart to follow.
Amen!



[1] Rev, Leaving Zebedee in Zebulun, http://www.crcna.org/resources/church-resources/reading-sermons/leaving-zebedee-zebulun
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] John Neafsey, A Sacred Voice Is Calling: Personal Vocation and Social Conscience (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2006), 71.
[5] Rev, Leaving Zebedee in Zebulun.
[6] Ibid.