I’m afraid that the quick (immediate) response of Andrew and Peter, James and John is more a feature of Matthew the Gospel writer than what might have actually happened.
Matthew’s text says they “immediately” left their nets and followed Jesus…they just dropped it all, which is both inspiring and intimidating when we put ourselves into the text.
Sometimes I wonder if it was more complicated than that. Some archeological evidence is helping to confirm my wonder: You see, fishing was big business, although I’ve always tended to think of fishing as a lower class job, stinky and for people without much in that time, archeologists and historians are showing us that fishing was actually quite lucrative. Because of the Roman Empire’s presence there were trade channels throughout the Mediterranean and so a fisherman was actually quite connected and well paid. So much so that it was not uncommon to become the family business…like the Zebedee and Sons Fishing Co. we hear about here today.
If fishing was just stinky low-wage labor, I think it would be much easier to follow Jesus...
Just like if we didn’t have anything, if we hated our jobs, if our families and friendships were unimportant, and if all our stuff — our homes, our valuables, our positions, our inside-industry connections — didn’t matter to us, sure we could drop the nets and follow Jesus too!
But as it turns out, I have many things. We all do, in this context. Many nets, many fish, many relationships, many dollars, and many-a-healthy day left. Many blessings. [pause] Maybe I should title the first part of this sermon “When Our Blessings Become Our Excuses.”
So many excuses...that frankly make me want to believe it was easier for the disciples because they didn’t have all the things I have. If they did, they never would have risked it all. “It was easier for them; they were just fishermen.”
But maybe I’m kidding myself. To leave behind their livelihoods and their connections to “follow Jesus” in a political and economic climate as harsh as the ancient Mediterranean world was just as frightening and risky – if not more – than it would be today.
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What are your nets, friends in Christ? What are your excuses, blessings that you’re unwilling to yield? What do you need to drop in order to hear Christ’s loving invitation more fully? Doesn’t have to be just physical things...Do you have obsessions that are getting in the way? Relationships that are unhealthy and “tangle-some”? Anger at something someone did to you, that’s pulling you under? Anger at God? What stuff is holding you back from letting go and following this One who proclaims, “Repent, for the realm of God is here & now!”?
Let’s engage a little more: Type, write down and answer this question (p28 is blank). It’s one thing to say you believe in Jesus, but what is it that’s keeping you these days from following Jesus, i.e. what are your “nets”?
That’s a private question, and rather than dropping them immediately, or bringing them up front or burning them symbolically right now, take those “nets” home. Live with that which is entangling you a little bit longer. Hopefully you’ve named it; that’s good. Now live with it, for a bit more. Acknowledge that “nets” can be a companion – probably been with you for a long while. Even our unhealthy habits – our anger, our over-consuming, our destructive relationships – can become friends because they’re what we know.
But in time, maybe later today, maybe later this week or in a month, maybe during Lent, start to let go of those, start to put down those nets. God will give us/you the strength.
“Nets” — I wonder about the nets the disciples were carrying, even after they left their physical nets. What were their doubts, their fears, their anger, their child-hood wounds... even after they got on the road with Jesus? We can engage this text on many levels...
But the bottom line is that Christ calls us.
Jesus calls you from the safety of your nets, from the security of your boats. Jesus calls you from your blessings...and your burdens and pains, and invites you, invites us — commands us, actually — to plunge into the deeper waters and rockier roads of ministry. All that we do is ministry: as we work in the office, as we parent our children, as we drive our cars, and as bake our bread. All is ministry, and Christ is calling each of us deeper. That’s why you’re here today: because Christ has a call for you. (If you were dragged here by your mom, then that’s God working through her :)
And sisters and brothers in Christ, while this plunging deeper talk may sound difficult and frightening, and it is certainly risky, this is God’s gift to us today. This is God’s love and God’s grace at work in many and mysterious ways.
God is offering us a richer life in following Jesus. Following Jesus looks different for each of us; and the specificity becomes clearer as we start let go of all the baggage, all the nets.) But I trust it looks something like ‘deeper connections,’ as we plunge into Christ’s call —
deeper connections with our neighbors, with the earth, with our own bodies. All, such a gift! This is salvation, in fact!
God is offering us our integrity and our health in this summons. (The word salvation, of course, comes from salvus which is all about wholeness and health of body, mind and spirit.)
So many of us live divided lives. Hidden secrets, immense baggage from past experiences. And we tend to pad that pain with stuff, we tend to busy our lives so much that don’t have to hear Christ’s command, Christ’s beckoning: “Drop that stuff. And follow me, Marie, Kate, Richard, John. Let’s go fish for people. We’re going to plunge into the world, and find lost, lonely, stuck, angry, sad, hopeless people. We’re going to pull them out from the depths of despair, from death itself, and into the radiance of God’s grace and mercy. How ‘bout it? That’s the kind of fishing we’re going to do now…
“And I am here with you,” Jesus assures us, “as you leave your abundance and your pain, your lucrative busy-ness and all the noise in your lives, your determination to be secure, I am here,” Jesus says, “holding you and calling you this day to come and follow me.”
The road will be rocky. The seas will be choppy. But when we are held in the arms of Christ, there is true peace—the peace that passes all understanding. That peace is yours...even today...even now...even before you drop anything and decide to follow.
But let’s let go of those nets. That’s the gift. God’s got you and Christ’s peace pours down on you...this day and forever. AMEN.
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