WALKING AWAY - WALKING TOWARDS
Matthew 4: 12-23
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Preached at Central Lutheran Church
January 26, 2002
Good morning! It is good to be with you here at Central Lutheran Church this morning as several churches in Yakima recognize the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity through this pulpit exchange. Seven different churches are participating. I bring you greetings from your sisters and brothers at Englewood Christian Church.
The Gospel reading for today is the story about Jesus calling four people to follow him as disciples. Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen by trade on the Sea of Galilee. What strikes me is that this happens at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry when he has no reputation to precede him. The way the story reads is that Jesus approaches them, tells them to "follow me, and I will make you fish for people." And they do. Matthew wants to make it clear that they respond immediately!
I generally ask the question: what about their families? What about financial income? This was their job; this was their livelihood. And to "immediately" leave it to follow a stranger around seems strange – at least to my ears and mind. Maybe it is my middle-class 21st century American values that shape my life, but leaving the security of a job that at least got you food and paid the bills, leaving family and friends, leaving what you know you can do for something you don’t know makes me nervous. Many of us might call someone like that irresponsible. Think about it; don’t make a quick decision.
A family in my congregation has a son around 20 years of age. Having grown up in the Moxee area, he decided he wanted to go to Los Angeles and try his wings there. With the promise, but no guarantee, of a job and with no place to lay his head when he got there, and with a few dollars in his pocket, he headed for Los Angeles. Mom and Dad, to say the least, were nervous; they asked for prayers. They stayed home from church that Sunday morning to see him drive off into his dreams, 1,200 miles from home.
Empty nets; empty boats. Dad is left with a family business, and all his help, his own sons, up and leaves him, high and dry. Maybe they were tired of doing the same old thing every day. Maybe they saw it as a dead end job, spending their whole life right there and never exploring or going places. Maybe they had gifts and talents in another area but in those days you kept your place in society and this Jesus called them to use those gifts. Maybe it was because there was something in the voice and face of this stranger that compelled them to make a career change on the spot. Maybe there was something about him that awoke a stirring in their souls, a vision of a new world, a new day. We don’t know. All we know is that Jesus said, "Come" and they left everything immediately and followed. There was an irresistible authority about him that compelled them to drop it all right there.
I remember my college days and I was becoming interested in doing some dating. This particular woman caught my attention and I walked her back to her dorm one Sunday evening, only later to find out that she had announced to the girls in the dorm that evening that she was going to go after me. They all wished her luck. What I thought was my idea was her scheming all along. When there is a restless stirring within a person to reach out to God for help and guidance, it has been God working in their lives all along causing the restlessness. In all our searching, we are the one being sought; the one we choose is the one who chose us first.
We live in a culture that sees the restless stirrings all around us yet have chosen to fill that restlessness with things. We fill our closets with more clothes than we need, hoping to find a peace of heart and mind. We fill our homes with more and more gadgets, furniture and things so that we have to have garage sales to keep it under control, all the while longing for the "good life." We work ourselves to the bone to earn a larger salary making sure that we can live comfortably now and in retirement, believing the message of the culture that wealth and possessions are the sign of success. Some people get to searching to fill that longing in their soul and become addicted to drinking, drugs, gambling, sex, only to end up broken and in despair.
Jesus approached these four fishermen and said, "Come, follow me." They left the security of their job; they left the security of their home; they left the security of their family and friends – the only life they knew – to follow the One, the only One, who can give fullness of life. Jesus said later, "For whoever saves their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." St. Augustine said in a prayer, "O God, our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee."
So, do we take off and leave our jobs, our homes, our families and lock ourselves away from the world? I pulled out my copy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s "The Cost of Discipleship" this week. Martin Luther entered the monastery to leave all behind in order to follow Christ. But in the monastery, he was awakened to the fact that his attempt to flee from the world turned out to be a subtle form of love for the world. He had to confront his own ego and the power of God’s grace. "The only way to follow Jesus was by living in the world."
We may think that it would be difficult to drop our current living and lifestyle, our jobs and homes and move into a monastery or convent, in order to give ourselves totally to Jesus Christ. I don’t think that is the case. The most difficult task we have as Christians is to walk away from it all, while at the same time staying where we are. We are called to drop our nets and leave our boats, even leave our fathers – our family - and follow Jesus Christ, but to do that where we live. It means a mental and spiritual mindset of being overwhelmed with the grace of God so that the nets and the boats, the salary and the possessions do not control us. It means changing our values and lifestyle. We may not leave our business, but do we operate our business in the sense of discipleship? Is the bottom line more important than serving Christ? We may not give up our home, but do we live simply so that others can have more? We may not forsake our family but do we put the values of Jesus Christ first? The challenging task we have as Christians is to be a Christian in a society where many of the values preached every day are counter to Christ. Or as Bonhoeffer put it, cheap grace instead of costly grace.
Jesus comes to us, inviting us to drop our nets, leave our boats and follow him. It is not so much a journey of the feet, but a journey of the heart and mind and spirit.