Today's Sermon - Calling - 2/10/19

Calling

(based on Isaiah 6:1-13, Luke 5:1-11)

Luke tells us that Jesus was being pressed by yet another crowd of people.  Although, unlike the crowds in last week's Gospel, these folks weren't trying to throw Jesus off a cliff.  They didn't yet know exactly who he was but they had heard of his miracles and teaching and they were crowding around him to hear the word of God.

Up to this point, the story of Jesus' ministry has him preaching and teaching in the synagogues.  This is the first account of Jesus going out among the people, into the streets, meeting them where they were and entering into their everyday lives.  And so today’s reading tells us that Jesus got into Peter's boat, summons him and asks him to put out a ways from shore so the people could gather on the shore and listen to him.

After speaking to the crowd, he told Peter to go out to the deep water and let down his nets for a catch.  Now, Peter and his partners in their fishing business had already finished a hard day's work and they had come up empty.  They had already washed their nets, while they listen to Jesus preach, all in preparation for the next day’s work and quite frankly they were probably exhausted, disappointed and ready to be done for the day. But Peter, in an act of early obedience to his new teacher says, OK, if you want me to, I'll do it.

I’m sure there have times when you are totally worn out, you’ve worked or have been busy all day, and at the end of those days there is always something like a plumbing emergency or a heating issue awaiting for you at home.  It is specifically in those times that you probably hope God doesn't call and ask you to do even more before you rest!  When you hope that the ringing phone isn't another emergency that you need to handle right away.  But this time it’s a God-need.  Someone’s in trouble.  They need you to visit or to just spend a few moments just talking to them.  This emergency are so very different from the leaking pipe or the broken down dishwasher or the office call.  When these calls come, and you are required to stretch just a bit more before the end of the day, God always seems to bless those efforts.

Sometimes it’s the blessing of holding the hand of a very sick person.  Sometimes it’s the blessing of entering into another's sadness and grief.  Sometimes it’s the blessing of finding some emergency food for those who need it desperately.  I believe the blessings that come from those acts of obedience to God’s calling are as great as a fisherman's boat overflowing with fish.

I must admit however, that personally, I only recognize some of those blessings in hindsight and not in the middle of my exhaustion.  But, I have also found that in the times when I have given myself over too much for dealing with worldly problems and done everything I can to control the order of my life, that’s when God steps in to press me even more into the work of living out the Gospel message. 

Back to the story!  Acting on Jesus' command, Peter raised the nets he had just cast out and low and behold, they were filled with fish.  So many that another boat had to be summoned to help them.  Peter's response to the miracle of abundance was to proclaim that he is unworthy of such a blessing because he is a sinful man.  Much like today's Old Testament reading, Isaiah is in the presence of God and is also being called by God to take a message to God's people.  Isaiah protests and says "Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!".  Both Isaiah and Peter feel the magnitude of their unworthiness.  A seraph cleanses Isaiah lips with a burning coal and Jesus has a cleansing word for Peter.  Whatever troubled their hearts about who they were, was let go as God set them on a new course and empowered them for new work in the kingdom of God.

Peter, James, and John dropped everything they were doing and everything they had and followed Jesus.  Just like Luke’s gospel, Matthew and Mark also recall the event of them following Christ, but they leave out the miracle of the fish catch.  The disciple's response of following Christ is probably easier for us to accept if we include the miracle of the great fish catch, because it makes more sense.  They witness a miracle from their teacher and wanted to see more, experience more with him, but their action is nonetheless an act made in faith and obedience to Jesus.

Agnes Bojaxhiu was born in Macedonia in 1910. At the tender age of 12 she strongly felt the call of God and knew she was called to spread the love of Jesus Christ. At age 18 she entered a convent and joined the sisters of Loreto. While teaching at a high school in Calcutta she was so moved by the extreme poverty she saw from her window that she sought and received permission to work among the poorest of poor in the slums. The story of her work became well known to all because this woman we know as Mother Theresa continued to obediently answer God's call to serve God's people until her death.

I know there are thousands of stories about people who have received calls to radical Christian vocation.  But the fact is, God calls each of us to follow him today just as certainly as Jesus called Peter, James and John.  I am not suggesting you drop everything and run away to a join a monastery or to enroll in seminary or immediately fly down to Honduras and work among the poor there.

The important thing to recognize is that God's work of calling did not stop with the Gospel stories and that God's calling to us continues to this day and requires us to answer that call right here.  God's call to us is not an invitation!  It is not "hey, if you have nothing better to do today, do you want to come over here and do this with me."  God's call has always been one of command; sometimes subtle and gentle and sometimes not-so-gentle.  God has already "ordered" things so the "call" is just one more piece in God's puzzle.  When Jesus commanded people to follow him, the events surrounding their lives had already been perfectly ordered to support their obedient response, they just needed to recognize it and to follow.

Just as Jesus involved himself in Peter's everyday concerns about fishing, God calls to each of us in our ordinary everyday lives and asks that we follow Him.  Sometimes that call is to radically change our lives and go places that we never thought of going, but more often it is a call to look after and care for God's people right where we are, in our families, at our work, in our church and in our communities.

Jesus' behavior and actions provide the perfect model for us.  He went out among the people, into the street, where they lived, worked, experienced joy and sorrow --- all of the messiness of their lives.

As for us, how do we respond to that command?  Did a person in need appear before you this week as a reminder?  Following God's call is not a single event, it is a life-long process filled with a lot of falling short of what we think God expects of us, but punctuated with occasional bright points of feeling like we’re doing exactly what God has called us to do.

I am convinced that we are called to continue Jesus' ministry to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and to let the oppressed go free.  The message in Luke's Gospel is not so much one of acceptance of, or recognition of a professional call to ministry or missionary work, it is rather one of obedience.  It’s a call to discipleship and is something that God has both commanded and enabled.

As the story of Jesus' ministry unfolds we see that his work and ministry have grown to require the recruitment of disciples.  After his death, the growth of his church required many workers in the vineyards, some far away, but many close to home, as well.  And the fishing for people continues in order to further the Kingdom of God which has not yet come, but is now, and is being built every day. 

Will you be obedient to the call?