5
Epiphany C February 10, 2019
Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13] Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Luke 5:1-11
The season of the Epiphany is about how God's
love wins us in such a way that we seek to become winsome in sharing that love
with others too. How does God become manifest to us?
The readings from the Scriptures appointed for
this day gives us insights into the dynamics of God's call.
Today's Gospel presents us with the well-known
calling of the fishermen by Jesus. When it comes to the Gospel fishermen, I think that we often project our notion of
fishing as a relaxing recreational sport back onto these fishermen of Gospel
fame. Apparently, Peter, Andrew, James and John were from families on the Sea
of Galilee that shared a fishing business. Fishing as
business and fishing for sport are quite different things. Peter, Andrew, James
and John had to fish as a part of the family business. And they probably ate
lots of fish too.
Jesus, an itinerant rabbi, knew that these four
men had interests beyond fishing. How did he know this? Some were followers of John the Baptist, a
relative and friend of Jesus, so we know that these men were looking for
something beyond just the fishing business.
How do you think professional athletes feel when
fans and amateurs try to tell them how to play their games? People in any profession
do not like outsiders messing in their business. But Jesus meddled in the
fishermen's business. "Hey, guys, you're not doing too well on the Lake
today; why don't you throw your net in a different place?”
Can you imagine these fishermen rolling their
eyes? “Jesus, we were born and raised on this Lake and into a fishing family.
We know this Lake. We know the fishing spots. So, why would you presume know more
about fishing on this lake than we do? Okay, we've heard good things about you,
we trust you and we'll be polite and follow your fishing advice.” And what
happened? They caught a bumper crop of fish. And Peter felt all embarrassed
that he had doubted Jesus and he humbled himself apologetically before Jesus. And
what did Jesus do? He called them to follow him. He gave them spiritual mobility. Their
family script told them they were locked into the fishing business for the rest
of their lives. But Jesus knew that they were men of words and curiosity about
something completely different than fishing. The call of Jesus gave them a
deliverance from being locked into just earning a living. Frankly, their
families were probably happy for them since there were probably other family
members in the business and so if some left the business there would be more
left for those who remained.
So, we should be prepared for Christ to meddle
in our business. Spirituality will meddle with every human enterprise. God's
Holy Spirit will tell us how we can actually do our occupations better if we will
allow the insights of our faith to enter our life calling.
What we also can learn from the Gospel is that
you and I can do many things at the same time. We can have occupations to earn
our livelihood and we can respond to the call of the Christ and much more at
the same time. So, we should not let our occupations be an excuse to avoid responding to the call of Christ to our lives.
No, matter what we are doing in our lives, the
call of Christ comes to us to make us better people persons. Jesus told the fishermen, "From now on
you will be catching people."
Sometimes we can use our occupations as excuses
to avoid learning people skills; the call of Jesus is the call to love. And the
call to love means learning people skills. It means learning how to be winsome
with others.
One of the most famous accounts of the call of God was to
the prophet Isaiah. And it is a rather
ironic call. His epiphany was a profound
theophany. He entered a mystical dreamy realm
and he experienced something that we are told that people cannot do: He saw God
and the angelic singers of the heavenly courts.
What did they sing? Holy, Holy,
Holy…..meaning uniquely different and distinct from anything human. And God’s uniqueness and fame called glory
filled heaven and earth.
From hearing such holy singing, what did Isaiah feel about
his speech? He felt like he had a potty
mouth and he dwelled among people who also had potty mouths. And so, the hot coals had to sear his lips to
give him the right words to speak.
The irony of Isaiah is that he was called to be a
failure. He was told that the people
would not listen to him. Isaiah was an
unrequited prophet; he preached a message that wasn’t received in his own time.
It is still the irony of the call of Christ for us
today. Sometimes we are given insights,
ministry and mission even when there are no people present to accept to our
insights, ministry and mission. I’ve
seen people become all “gung ho” with
insights and energy to make the parish a better place, but they haven’t always
found other people to support them. When
we seem called to be irrelevant, it can be frustrating; and we can be tempted
to give up and sometimes we need to remember that the greatness of the one who
calls us is greater than what we are actually called to do. Very early in ministry, like the first week,
I realized that I was called to prepare my sermon with the same faithfulness whether
I thought 5 people would be present or 500.
It is important to know that the greatness of God and the calling itself
is greater than any seeming successful or failing results. It is also important to know that God hides
us from knowing how we are successful, especially when it comes in ministry to
youth. I had lots of mentors when I was young who probably never knew how much they did for me.
What else about the call of God? God is unique and holy, and God made each of
us in our being and in our experience unique.
No one can be called exactly in the way in which we are called. St. Paul noted how Christ appeared to him in
a unique way long after the appearances of Christ to many others before
him. When Paul was called, he quit
persecuting the church and he became the one who was called to preach the
Gospel to the Gentile people. As a
result, he became one who was called to suffer and be persecuted by his former
religious associates. Paul had a unique
calling and so do each one of us. The
call of Christ rides upon the obvious gifts and experiences of our lives. The call of Christ integrates our personal
experience and when we offer them to the church, they are blessed and made to
be winsome to other people.
The call of Christ has come to people in their life
experiences; they have brought it into the parish and “peopleized” it and it
becomes parish ministry. This is what
has happened in our parish in the past;
and I believe that it will continue in the future. What we need to let people know is that God is
calling them within the gifts of their lives and within their life experience;
and if they offer it for ministry within the church, Christ will make us all
catch people; Christ will make us people persons.
So the call of Christ upon you and me in the uniqueness of
our lives; and we need to say, “Here am I send me”…..and we can learn to
rejoice in the calling itself, because the calling is in fact our relationship
with Christ. We will have some success
and some failures; but let us not get disheartened in our callings as we
continually offer all that we have to God to be used to be winsome in enriching
the lives of the people whom we are called to be with.
Consider the call of Christ on your life today. Consider how Christ might want to bless and
use your gifts in our parish today. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment