Strategic Withdrawal

From that time Jesus began to proclaim. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea – for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat  with their father, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

~ ~ ~ ~

They were simply minding their own business.  Fishing -- not the kind that serves to relax, a hobby -- but fishing that served as a livelihood; small businessmen, working as families, not for huge profits, but just to have enough to live on and have a little left over.

Having just returned from the Holy Land where I visited the Sea of Galilee only a week or so ago, I have a “visual” of the place where this encounter took place. We went to a kibbutz where one of the most remarkable archeological finds anywhere in Israel (which has no lack of them) was made. A boat was recently found by two brothers when the level of the Sea of Galilee dropped dramatically during a drought just a few years ago. They were walking along the water’s edge when they noticed the outline of a boat. Archeologists were called in and with great care, the ancient  boat was lifted, cleaned and preserved. We, along with millions of visitors, have seen the wooden hull that was carbon dated to exactly the period of Jesus’ life.

Could it have been? No one knows. There were lots of fishing boats in that day. Fish were plentiful. The shores of the lake lay very near a cosmopolitan area with soldiers, wayfarers, peddlers and pilgrims coming and going, as well as the local population.

People would always want what the fishermen were selling. The new found boat is, if nothing else, a vivid reminder of the day-to-day existence of Peter and Andrew, whose lives were modestly secure, but hardly luxurious. When Jesus came to the lakeshore the sons of Zebedee were simply minding their own business and, knowing Peter, probably minding other’s business when they needed it. Remember that Peter was the guy who didn’t know what to say, so he said it anyway. The point I would have you note, the point that can help bring this story right into your living room is  that they were minding their own business, as you and I are doing every day.

They weren’t looking.

Have you ever been working on something, whether it was an important project or reading a book, and an aroma of food came drifting by making you suddenly realize itwas well past mealtime and you were really hungry?           Have you ever been slogging along in your routine which has begun to feel like a rut -- not particularly “alive” if you know what I mean -- and overheard something which was said… or someone was talking directly to you about some topic and you heard something else, something entirely different and as the saying goes – the penny dropped; it was an “aha” moment, in some cases almost, an epiphany. A line in a play or a movie, a child’s voice broke through some fog you were in and you knew it was a message to you? You weren’t looking. What is the saying – “Life is what happens when we’re on our way somewhere else?” A serendipity? A visitation? And you were awakened; perhaps life took on a whole new direction. You were looking, hungering… and you didn’t know it… until it was stirred.

The fisherman guys weren’t looking when Jesus stepped into their lives. But something resonated and they realized they were looking, harboring a deep hope that had slipped into a back room in their hearts and slid into slumber. Everyone knows, or once knew, they were made for something more than just getting by, putting in your time as comfortably as one can afford. Then the business of life, the strain of competition to do more than get by – get ahead; the seduction of the sensual or the material world muffles and then silences the dream, the hope of making a difference in the world. Or, maybe it’s just the steady erosion of living:

“The world is too much with us late and soon,”

In getting and spending we lay waste our powers,” says the poet.
Whether you are a teacher, a lawyer, a housewife, a businessman, a real estate agent or a fisherman, it takes something extra to relight your fire, to put you back in touch with a hope that seemed to have long since faded away; to recall that there are more important things, powerful priorities, that give life meaning; things that can’t be measured, calculated, bought or sold; things that give life meaning.

These guys, these fishermen beside the sea of Galilee discovered the call  on the day they were going about their business and Jesus said, “Come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” And life took a distinct turn taking them to places and into experiences they would never have dared dream.

 More often then not, we aren’t looking when life comes calling. Usually we are busily on our way somewhere else. We hear people, particularly American Evangelical Christianity converts, say, “I found it! Since I decided to follow Jesus. I have made the decision to invite the Lord into my life.”

I can appreciate and applaud the transaction that brought one to faith. I would have described my own awakening to Christ’s grace in similar terms, but that’s not the story. I didn’t find Jesus. He found me. I didn’t take Him; He took me. He came calling. I didn’t decide to follow; in Jesus Christ God decided for me. It wasn’t my call; it was God’s call first.

Everyone is here today because in some fashion God came calling. For some of you, the call was dramatic and life changing. For others, it was a quiet, gentle nudging and you’d be hard pressed to say the date, time and place you invited Jesus into your heart. You just know he’s there; He came calling.
Dag Hammerskjold spoke of it using these words: 

“I don’t know (how) the question was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer yes… and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that therefore, my life, in self surrender, had a goal.”

For every last one of us, God initiated, called, summoned, spoke us into life. You’ve been called.
This doesn’t mean business as usual. “Come follow” means you don’t stay where you’ve always been. Whether it’s to leave nets or your familiar locale as the fishermen did; or you follow in a non-geographical sense, the One who calls us is on the move. He’s going toward the fulfillment of his mission and intends to take us with Him. Another way of saying it would be to use that well-traveled phrase, “God loves you the way you are, but loves you too much to leave you that way.” Somehow we seem to get the first part, but if it stops there one wonders why Jesus came or called us.

It puts us in motion: “Come, follow…” As noted, it put those disciples in motion with a new understanding of what it meant to be fishermen. They didn’t just invite Jesus into their heart, they put their bodies on the line, following in a new direction for the rest of their lives. Again, in American Christianity it would appear that too often the goal is to get people to have an experience of Jesus and convert. In fact that is not to be pooh-poohed. However, the goal is not “conversion experience,” it is lifelong discipleship. We’re put in motion for the duration… and beyond.

Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo tell a parable of a boring, little town that decided to hold a footrace. On the appointed day, the runners showed up in all their athletic finery. The crowds gathered. But then, something very strange happened:

The gun sounded. “The runners took a step or two or three across the starting line, and then abruptly stopped. One man fell to his knees, crying, ‘I have crossed the starting line! This is the happiest day of my life!’ He repeated this again and again, and even began singing a song about how happy this day was for him.
“Another woman started jumping for joy. ‘Yes!’ she shouted, raising her fist in the air. ‘I am a race-runner! I am finally a race-runner!’ She ran around jumping and dancing, getting and giving high-fives to others who shared her joy at being in the race.

“Several people formed a circle and prayed, quietly thanking God for the privilege of crossing the starting line, and thanking God that they were not like the skeptics who didn’t come dressed for the race.”
The spectators, the authors say, were baffled by this strange behavior, but finally one observer turned to a neighbor and suggested there might be more to the race. Many others joined them:
“And they ran – past the praying huddles and past the crying individuals and past the jumping high-fivers. And they found hope and joy in every step, and they grew stronger with every mile and hill. To their surprise, the path never ended. So they were never bored again.”

Now an editorial note: As noted earlier, I have just this past Thursday returned from a trip to Israel. Knowing I would have to preach upon return, I took materials for the task of preparing a sermon. But there is so much to see, to ponder, it was only the last day or so of the trip that I got around to it.

Last Wednesday, sitting in the waiting area in Tel Aviv Airport on the night of return, I was staring at a blank sheet of paper. There were, of course, conversations going on all around me – not the quiet context of one’s study or a library... staring at a blank sheet when one voice, really no louder than the others, a woman telling a friend of a major change that had taken place in her life, a breakthrough, said she had failed to pull it off repeatedly when she heard her preacher say “to succeed take immediate action.”

Don’t procrastinate, wait ‘til all the stars are aligned, the signs are right, or you feel like it – take immediate action… and she did. It was a word from on high for her and I overheard it… and it became a word for me. My eye fell on the sentence that described the response of Peter and Andrew – “Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” And now I offer it as a word for you.

Now is the time, if you hear that call, to respond – not later… (sounds like an invitation you might hear at a crusade, an evangelist’s plea). Now… take action. Don’t wait. You’ll just talk yourself out of it.
Take immediate action.

In review:

1. The call comes often when we’re not looking.
2. It doesn’t mean business as usual.
3. It puts us in motion.
4. Take immediate action, not precipitous action, but you know when you’re avoiding action!

Christ still calls; still gives purpose; still loves us into life and gives us purpose.

AMEN

Strategic Withdrawal

A Sermon by

Dr. J. Lawrence Cuthill

January 27th, 2008

Winter Park Presbyterian