Sermon Third Sunday after Epiphany
Sermon
Location Faith Lutheran – Date 1/25/2009
Third Sunday after Epiphany – Year B
Primary Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20
Ole buys a car phone and on his way home on the freeway, he calls up Lena and he says, "Oh, Lena, I'm calling you from the freeway on my new car phone."
And Lena says, "Be careful Ole because on the radio they say that some crazy nut is driving the wrong way on the freeway."
And Ole says, "One nut - heck, there are hundreds of them!"
This is not quite the same kind of calling that we get in our texts today. We have five different calls in this text. Jonah, Simon (later called Peter or Cephas), Andrew, his brother, James, and his brother John. Last week we heard of Samuel’s call in the Temple, and Nathaniel and Phillip. Callings are one of the most common stories that can be found in scripture, often with the most detailed description of the event. Samuel’s call talks of the difficulty in hearing, answering, and completing God’s call, Samuel needs Eli to push him along the way. Nathaniel and Phillip recalls that Christ sees and knows us before he calls us, and that Christ is with us during that process.
Today we get two very different stories. Simon, Andrew, James and John occur so quickly in Mark that we often overlook them and see simple, poor fishermen giving up nothing to follow Jesus. This is a limited, but not a incorrect view. They were fishermen and fishermen of that time would have been very simple and compared to the aristocracy would be seen as poor. But both sets of brothers own their own boats, and we even have it recorded that James and John, with their father are able to hire additional help for their boat. Now fishermen, and most workers would be working as family units, and the hired hands, would most likely be cousins and other relatives. But they are not simple fishermen, fishing just the two of them on a small rowboat. When I was in Israel, there is on display a boat that was recovered from the same period. It was 27 feet long, by 7.5 feet wide, not giant, but no small vessel. For the brothers to leave and follow Jesus so quickly would create financial hardship for not just them, but their entire families. We also get the idea that they immediately left their families and followed Jesus. Later in Mark, we hear of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law, and most thought is that Jesus stayed at Peter’s house while in Capernaum. So most of the leave taking was not until later, and we could even imagine that their families came along with them. But, this does not diminish their call, we may have to reimagine how is happened, but the fact that it completely change how they lived their lives remains.
We may also have to give up things when we answer God’s call, but one thing has already happened, through following Jesus our way of living has already completely changed. We would not be the people who we are without Christ in our lives, calling us to follow him.
But Christ does not just call us once, we are called many times by God. We are called to work for peace in the world, to help those in need, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, to help bring about God’s kingdom, where none will hunger, none will thirst and all will know that they are loved and cared for by their God.
But, this is a hard task, we often are like Jonah instead of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Instead of immediately setting out to follow, we instead fear for ourselves. Jonah is called twice using the same words, in Chapter 1, Jonah is called to go to the city of Nineveh. Nineveh is the capitol of Assyria, on of the great powers of the ancient Middle East. It would be the equivalent of a Jew now being called to go to Iran. Jonah does not immediately follow what God tells him to do. Jonah immediately heads the exact opposite way. Finally after episodes in the boat, and inside a fish, Jonah is called again, this time he immediately heads to Nineveh. We too push and fight, God calls us to do something, and we run the other way. It maybe because we are too busy, or are afraid, or like Jonah, we may not want God to help those who we see as unworthy. Jonah knows God’s message to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah also understands God’s mercy and grace. Jonah knows that despite God’s message promising destruction and death, God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”
The Book of Jonah is centered on two things, God great mercy for even the most hated and evil people of Nineveh, but also the fact that Jonah does not wish for God to do what God does, and how do we then deal with this. God’s mercy is so abounding and great that sometimes it is hard to accept whom God calls to and loves. God calls for repentance, and when given, God responds with grace and mercy. Jesus also calls for us to repent, and believe in the good news. I always like to remember that fact that the word used for believe can also be translated as trust. We need to trust the good news, that we are loved in spite of what we have done, and when we repent and are turned back to God, we will be welcomed back with open arms. Like the feast prepared for the prodigal son, God has prepared a feast for us in Christ Jesus.
It would defiantly be nice if we could be like the disciples and immediately follow, but we are unfortunately often like Jonah. We are concerned only about ourselves, and our understanding of whom God favors. To such an extent that we attempt to go against God’s wishes, we choose to run away, turn away and flee from God. But the wondrous thing is that God does not abandon us, God continues to call to us, to push us, and prod us. For sometimes we ourselves are people of Nineveh, when we are at our darkest, and others may feel that we deserve no love, God asks us to say what we have done, for we will be accepted no matter what it is, and are in fact loved all the more.
Let us pray, God of mercy and grace, we ask for you to be with us in all our days. Strengthen us when you call that we may be able to complete your tasks. We ask you to bring about peace in this weary world, especially in Israel and Palestine. We look forward to the time when your peace will be on this world, and all may know your great mercy. We humbly repent for all that we have done, knowing that you have forgiven us before we even thought the words. I ask you to be with all those in leadership in this great country, be with them in the beginnings of this new administration, help them to hear your will, and to bring peace.
In your Son’s name,
Amen
Location Faith Lutheran – Date 1/25/2009
Third Sunday after Epiphany – Year B
Primary Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20
Ole buys a car phone and on his way home on the freeway, he calls up Lena and he says, "Oh, Lena, I'm calling you from the freeway on my new car phone."
And Lena says, "Be careful Ole because on the radio they say that some crazy nut is driving the wrong way on the freeway."
And Ole says, "One nut - heck, there are hundreds of them!"
This is not quite the same kind of calling that we get in our texts today. We have five different calls in this text. Jonah, Simon (later called Peter or Cephas), Andrew, his brother, James, and his brother John. Last week we heard of Samuel’s call in the Temple, and Nathaniel and Phillip. Callings are one of the most common stories that can be found in scripture, often with the most detailed description of the event. Samuel’s call talks of the difficulty in hearing, answering, and completing God’s call, Samuel needs Eli to push him along the way. Nathaniel and Phillip recalls that Christ sees and knows us before he calls us, and that Christ is with us during that process.
Today we get two very different stories. Simon, Andrew, James and John occur so quickly in Mark that we often overlook them and see simple, poor fishermen giving up nothing to follow Jesus. This is a limited, but not a incorrect view. They were fishermen and fishermen of that time would have been very simple and compared to the aristocracy would be seen as poor. But both sets of brothers own their own boats, and we even have it recorded that James and John, with their father are able to hire additional help for their boat. Now fishermen, and most workers would be working as family units, and the hired hands, would most likely be cousins and other relatives. But they are not simple fishermen, fishing just the two of them on a small rowboat. When I was in Israel, there is on display a boat that was recovered from the same period. It was 27 feet long, by 7.5 feet wide, not giant, but no small vessel. For the brothers to leave and follow Jesus so quickly would create financial hardship for not just them, but their entire families. We also get the idea that they immediately left their families and followed Jesus. Later in Mark, we hear of Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law, and most thought is that Jesus stayed at Peter’s house while in Capernaum. So most of the leave taking was not until later, and we could even imagine that their families came along with them. But, this does not diminish their call, we may have to reimagine how is happened, but the fact that it completely change how they lived their lives remains.
We may also have to give up things when we answer God’s call, but one thing has already happened, through following Jesus our way of living has already completely changed. We would not be the people who we are without Christ in our lives, calling us to follow him.
But Christ does not just call us once, we are called many times by God. We are called to work for peace in the world, to help those in need, to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, to help bring about God’s kingdom, where none will hunger, none will thirst and all will know that they are loved and cared for by their God.
But, this is a hard task, we often are like Jonah instead of Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Instead of immediately setting out to follow, we instead fear for ourselves. Jonah is called twice using the same words, in Chapter 1, Jonah is called to go to the city of Nineveh. Nineveh is the capitol of Assyria, on of the great powers of the ancient Middle East. It would be the equivalent of a Jew now being called to go to Iran. Jonah does not immediately follow what God tells him to do. Jonah immediately heads the exact opposite way. Finally after episodes in the boat, and inside a fish, Jonah is called again, this time he immediately heads to Nineveh. We too push and fight, God calls us to do something, and we run the other way. It maybe because we are too busy, or are afraid, or like Jonah, we may not want God to help those who we see as unworthy. Jonah knows God’s message to the people of Nineveh, but Jonah also understands God’s mercy and grace. Jonah knows that despite God’s message promising destruction and death, God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”
The Book of Jonah is centered on two things, God great mercy for even the most hated and evil people of Nineveh, but also the fact that Jonah does not wish for God to do what God does, and how do we then deal with this. God’s mercy is so abounding and great that sometimes it is hard to accept whom God calls to and loves. God calls for repentance, and when given, God responds with grace and mercy. Jesus also calls for us to repent, and believe in the good news. I always like to remember that fact that the word used for believe can also be translated as trust. We need to trust the good news, that we are loved in spite of what we have done, and when we repent and are turned back to God, we will be welcomed back with open arms. Like the feast prepared for the prodigal son, God has prepared a feast for us in Christ Jesus.
It would defiantly be nice if we could be like the disciples and immediately follow, but we are unfortunately often like Jonah. We are concerned only about ourselves, and our understanding of whom God favors. To such an extent that we attempt to go against God’s wishes, we choose to run away, turn away and flee from God. But the wondrous thing is that God does not abandon us, God continues to call to us, to push us, and prod us. For sometimes we ourselves are people of Nineveh, when we are at our darkest, and others may feel that we deserve no love, God asks us to say what we have done, for we will be accepted no matter what it is, and are in fact loved all the more.
Let us pray, God of mercy and grace, we ask for you to be with us in all our days. Strengthen us when you call that we may be able to complete your tasks. We ask you to bring about peace in this weary world, especially in Israel and Palestine. We look forward to the time when your peace will be on this world, and all may know your great mercy. We humbly repent for all that we have done, knowing that you have forgiven us before we even thought the words. I ask you to be with all those in leadership in this great country, be with them in the beginnings of this new administration, help them to hear your will, and to bring peace.
In your Son’s name,
Amen
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