Sermon for Epiphany 3 Year B 2012 The Days of Our Lives

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Jonathan O’Neal’
5 years ago
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1 Sermon for Epiphany 3 Year B 2012 The Days of Our Lives Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. Kind of ironic that one of the few surviving television soap operas opens each week with these words which are meant to remind us in a similar fashion as the Apostle Paul does when he says the appointed time is running short... the present form of this world is passing away. Come to think of it, Jesus is also saying something much the same thing when he walks along the sandy shore of the Sea of Galilee and proclaims time s up! the days of your lives have lead up to this very moment when all that you long for is here for you if only you would turn around and realize and receive it. This is the Good News! But... I wonder how you might answer What is the good news according to you? Just as most of the television watching world could identify the program associated with the words as sands through the hourglass... within a second or so, we church-going people would certainly identify the words Good News with Gospel and then name Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Some of us might even be familiar with the Gospel according to Thomas, or Mary or even Judas but... from the vantage point of so many centuries after this sermon of Jesus and this letter of Paul... what is the gospel according to you? Since as I said gospel is the same thing as saying Good News, we might ask Just what is the good news according to our congregations? What aspects of our congregations are good news: Good News for you, Good News for us, 1

2 Good News for our fellow citizens, Good News for the world? What good news do we have to share about who Jesus is, who God is, or what insights we are living into about how we live an abundant life according to the way of Jesus? Of course, you might object that asking, What is the good news according to you or according to our congregations is inappropriate, or even arrogant. After all, who are we to write to our own gospel? Yet, here s the thing Telling the story of God s Good News in a particular time and place and for a specific community is exactly what Mark was doing in the first century, which is why we call his book, the Gospel according to Mark. Likewise, Matthew and Luke had a copy of Mark s account of the good news sitting on their desks when they were writing their accounts for their time and place and communities and so did John. What if we were to emulate Matthew, Luke and John, and we allowed Mark to inspire us to consider how God is calling us individually and collectively to share the good news in this time and place. Just take a few moments and contemplate with me how we might answer these questions What is the good news according to me? What is the good news according to our congregation? Do you have an answer at the ready? Or is it just beginning to take form? Either way, if you took these questions seriously then you may also have an answer to the question Do you know what time it is? Because Mark begins his account like an alarm clock, persistently declaring the time and demanding some response. 2

3 And in the mystery of time from God s perspective, the past, the present, and the future are collapsed. And so this is the day could be one answer but it is equally right and true to say when that day appears. God s promised future, God s dream for us is both now, and at the same time not yet. Which for some of us might make us put off answering the questions I pose today For others of us, it might just ratchet up the urgency. While Jesus words in Mark s gospel and my questions might seem to stress some kind of moment of decision for Jesus, these questions are meant to remind us that Christian discipleship is always both for now and for the long haul both a moment and a lifetime. Keeping this in mind, we do well to prepare and nourish our faith so we can find courage and fidelity for service in the midst of the drudgery of ordinary days as well as remaining supple and nimble in order to respond and act on impulse, trusting the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Think on this The call of the first disciples comes with Jesus announcement of the time. Jesus arrives at the shore of the Sea of Galilee and calls two sets of brothers, Galilean fishermen to discipleship. To what does Jesus call them? To add one more task to their busy lives? Or does he call them into new ways of being? When Simon and Andrew leave their nets, they leave a way of life. This is even clearer with James and John, who leave not only their nets but also their father. These disciples leave behind their work, their family and a place all the stuff of a new identity. Jesus says Follow me and I will make you fish for people. 3

4 Now this may sound as if fishing for people were a task. But a better translation of Jesus words would read: Follow me, and I will make you to become fishers. If Jesus had said, I will make you fish, that would give us one more responsibility, one more activity to work into our date-books. But Jesus actually says, I will make you to become fishers That is a promise of a whole new life a here and now and a not yet reality. Perhaps if you re not into fishing, this doesn t sound too exciting. So what would make you drop everything and pursue an entirely new life? A great job offer? A marriage proposal? The chance to make a huge difference in another part of the world? What do you think What would prompt you to take off from everything you know for something entirely different? What is the good news according to you? What is the good news according to our community? Do we know what time it is? As one preacher pointed out This is no story about the power of human beings to change their lives, to leave everything behind and follow. This is a story about the power of God To walk right up to a quartet of fishermen and work a miracle, creating faith where there was no faith, creating disciples where there were none just a moment before. Because this is not a story about us. This is a story about God and God s ability not only to call us but also to create us as people who are able to follow. And, if we stay tune to Jesus call and to his message that the kingdom is at hand we will discover that following Jesus is different for each person who heeds his call. 4

5 If the story is about being swept into the flow of God s time and giving ourselves over to God s will, then it seems to me that it will be a different story for everyone of us in our own particular lives. For some it may mean staying at home. For others it may mean leaving home. Sometimes following may mean casting the same old nets in a new way, or for new reasons. Or it may mean doing something different with the fish you catch, or spending the money they bring at market in a different way. Following Jesus may mean re-organizing the whole fishing business so that day workers have work to do And so that everyone who works receives a living wage. It may mean doing less of some things and more of others. It seems to me that the possibilities for following are endless. If we hold onto the promise that the God who called us can be counted on to create us as people who are able to follow then God s time is fulfilled and God s reign comes in the days of our lives. 5

other gospels, and he combines them into one remarkable passage. In Matthew

Luke 5:1-11 Sinful Man The author of this gospel takes three events we can find in different contexts in the other gospels, and he combines them into one remarkable passage. In Matthew and Mark we can