Gone Fishin'

 Mark 1:14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

People don’t normally read this as a miracle story but I think this is one of Jesus’ biggest!  Calming storms and healing sick people is impressive, sure… raising the dead… also pretty good... but getting fishermen to give up fishing!?  Now THAT’S a heavens opening, angels singing, all out miracle!

Jesus was asking Simon and Andrew, James and John to do nothing less than leave the place and the profession that gave them and their families life, and had for generations!  And Jesus calls them to leave fishing for what? To “come and fish for people.”  We assume when he says that he’s calling those disciples (and by extension, you and me) to join him in sweeping up all the people of the world in our Jesus-net, hauling them out of that nasty, dirty ocean we call “the earth,” and pulling them into a wonderful boat called heaven.  That might be how you've always heard this lesson, but that wasn't what Jesus was really talking about. 

When Jesus called them to come and “fish for people”… which I’ll give you, does sound a lot like scooping people up in a Jesus net… but when Jesus said that, he was actually quoting passages in Jeremiah, Amos and Ezekiel… the social justice prophets.  When those prophets went, “hooking fish” or “fishing for people” it meant “hooking” the people who got rich and powerful on the backs of the poor and vulnerable, and pulling them out of their positions of power.  “Fishing for People” means changing the way the world works so that it works in God's way.

Jesus wasn’t looking to those boys on the beach for help scooping people up to heaven… Jesus was looking for people to join him in God's revolution, right here on earth!  Jesus was calling them to join him in making Mary’s Magnificat a reality!  The Magnificat was that prophetic vision she sung when she visited Elizabeth… the vision that her child would scatter the proud, bring down the powerful from their thrones, lift up the lowly, fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty!  THAT is what Jesus was calling them into.  A revolution… Here… In this place… not in some heaven light years away!

The miracle of this story was first getting fishermen to stop fishing.  The next step was getting them to follow him along the Way… not toward something easy, shiny, comfortable, or familiar, but towards God’s revolution.  He was calling them onto The Way… The Way that leads to changing the social, political, and power realities of the world.  The Way that leads to the Kingdom of God… which is THIS world working in a way where everyone has enough… enough food, shelter, dignity, justice and purpose.  This is The Way… and it inevitably leads to the Cross. 

We don’t follow to get us or anyone else "saved”... We follow Jesus to come and die.  Die to our former ways and our former lives… lives that got us ahead by using selfish, violent power, wealth, and privilege as a weapon against the poor and vulnerable.  In Baptism, those former lives are left drown at the bottom of the Font and out of that Font we are raised up by God to live in this world in a whole new Way… a Way of peace, justice, compassion, integrity,  and generosity right here in THIS world.  Simply by living our regular lives in that extraordinary way… we are following Christ’s call to do our part in turning OUR world… THIS world… into the Kingdom of God... the world God intended it to be from the beginning.  

In this story, Jesus asks us to leave everything we know.  All that we have been taught to lean on.  All that is familiar and comfortable.  THEN he asks us to follow him on The Way.  Not to be vacuumed out of this world filled with hurt and pain, but to join him in transforming the hurt and pain of this world into a world of Abundant Life for all! To live each of our days right here, in the spot we find ourselves each morning, modeling The Jesus Way in each of the regular things we do in our everyday lives… even… and perhaps especially… while many in the world around us keep insisting that the ways of our former selves is the ONLY way to do it.    

I know living that new Way can feel like a monumental task, an overwhelming, unscalable mountain, a feat that would take not just one miracle… but thousands!  But this is the Good News… Jesus has already worked all the miracles this world needs in the waters of your Baptism.  Now all we need to do from here is follow along in his footsteps.  One foot in front of the other walking The Way, each day further into the Truth, always moving toward abundant Life… for ALL of creation.  Amen.