21 January 2024 Epiphany 3
I have always tried to work in the ‘Anglican’ habit of ‘preach on the gospel’, but today’s second reading can be troubling enough for some of us that I think it needs to be mentioned as well. Whilst its eschatology, or its references to ‘last days’ may seem foreign, or maybe even frightening to us, most of us would probably agree that ‘life is short’ for both our planet, and ourselves, individually. The speed with which each moment vanishes invites us to ‘put first things first’ and try to discern where the important things lie and what can be left till later. But then we meet those very challenging comments of Paul about relationships and if we take these comments literally, we find ourselves on very shaky ground personally and relationally. But within these comments it is possible to see threads of the wisdom of non-attachment. Marriage flourishes when we allow our partners the freedom to be themselves rather than ‘hemming them in’ or objectifying them or trying to keep them ‘frozen in time’. All relationships grow best when we can respond with openness, and appreciation, and recognise both their fragility and beauty. We can love deeply while also recognising that all things will, and must, pass. This is the day that God has made, let us indeed rejoice and be glad in it.
And then we come to the gospel which, from my perspective has two ‘elements’ to it. The first could be described as an ‘in your face wake-up call’. Earlier in this first chapter of Mark, Jesus was baptised by John, then immediately driven into the desert. Then we hear that John has been imprisoned and it will be another 6 chapters before Mark continues this story of John’s imprisonment. But, for now, Mark is concentrating on the first words spoken by this man called Jesus as he ‘proclaims the good news of God’. And these first words – the kingdom of God is near, repent and believe. The kingdom of God is close, turn around, stop and reset your journey, look around and choose a new path; and believe.
And then our passage jumps straight into Jesus calling four fishermen to follow him – and he will show them how to fish for men. And we are told they immediately left their boats, their father, their family, and followed Jesus. We can speculate (forever) on what it was about Jesus that prompted them into this ‘spur of the moment’ action, but we will never know and thinking about it distracts us from the important word immediately. And that ‘immediately’ is less about marking time and more about action. It does not speak of a when but a what. It is not only a place in time, but it is an event that changes the meaning of life. Yes, the disciples probably had no idea how life had been changed, but we do. And ‘immediately’ is all we can do; all we can manage because – preparation?? Preparation builds expectations, it builds anticipation, and then when it doesn’t turn out how we expected???
Maybe a life of faith can only happen immediately; in the sudden, profound epiphany of God at work, God revealed in our lives. We are called perhaps not so much follow, but to take Mark’s immediately seriously. This is not ‘just a minute’, it is not a case of ‘I just have to …’; epiphanies just happen. No preparation, no packing, no recommendations of what you will need or what to do. Jesus just happens. Jesus’ call to the disciples to follow me and I will make you fishers of men was not a call to abandon all their experience and intelligence, but a call to bring the best of their core selves forward. And it made sense to them because they were fishermen. To us maybe he says follow me and I will make you educators of multitudes; I will make you healers of the sick; I will make you builders of communities; I will …. Because this is a promise to cultivate us, not to cut us off from what we love. It is a promise rooted in gentleness and respect. And it is a promise that when we risk letting go, the things we have relinquished may be returned to us anew, enlivened in ways we could not even imagine.
And most importantly, it is a promise from God to us – not from us to God. Why were these four fishermen willing to leave everything and immediately follow Jesus? Because Jesus makes it possible for them to do so. This is a story about God, about God’s ability to not only call us but also to create us as people who are able to follow – able to follow because we cannot take our eyes off the one who calls us, because he interests us more than anything else in our lives, and because he seems to know what it is we are hungering for.
This is not a call to cajole, manipulate, trap, bully, or even persuade others to ‘accept’ Jesus, or to join our religion. It is God alone who captures the imagination. God alone who makes the vision of the kingdom come alive in the human soul. All we can do is embody the vision in how we live our lives, reflecting into the water the profound beauty of who Christ is. The rest is totally up to God.