Fishing for People

3rd Sunday of Epiphany

Today's Readings: Jonah 3; Mark 1:14-20

Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

For the past few weeks we have heard the call to discipleship throughout our scripture readings and this week is no different. Our first reading was an excerpt from Jonah, whom you may remember put up quite the fight before he actually made it to Nineveh. When God first called Jonah to warn Nineveh of their coming destruction, Jonah ran. He got on a boat and attempted to sail away from God’s call. It wasn’t until a storm threatened to engulf the ship and it’s sailors that Jonah sacrificed himself, being thrown overboard to stop the raging sea, and then of course, getting swallowed by a giant fish, that Jonah finally agreed to go to Nineveh. This story of resistance is in direct contrast to the response of Jesus’ disciples, who follow Jesus immediately in the gospel reading.

Whether you are like Jonah, kicking and screaming every step of the way, or like the first followers of Jesus who’s response was of immediate obedience – God calls you all the same. I’ll even go out on a limb here and guess that the majority of us hear God’s call and run like Jonah. I know I did; I know I still have periods of resistance! The good news is that God is persistent. God will never stop pursuing you. Yell at God and tell God no, jump on a boat or a plane to escape, heck, hide in the belly of a whale for three days – God will not give up on you.

As the story of Jonah comes from the Old Testament, the stories we share with our Jewish siblings, I am reminded of an old Jewish proverb: “Whenever someone says, ‘I have a plan,’ God laughs.” I think most of us have learned enough from life to get behind that sentiment. Every time we think ‘Ah, yes, I have it all figured out,’ God interrupts and beckons us come; ‘Go do this! Go prophesy that! Go and fish for people!’ But we only sigh in irritation at the call when we mistake discipleship as a to-do-list instead of a way of life. When Jesus invites Simon, Andrew, James and John in this morning’s gospel he doesn’t invite them to go fish with him this one time. He summons them to learn how to be fishers of people. Jesus invites them to learn a way of being, a lifestyle. They already lived the lifestyle of fishermen; Jesus will teach them to redirect their vocation of feeding God’s people with actual fish to feeding the whole world with the very bread of life.

Like Jonah, when we are so comfortable in our own ways of life and thinking, we resist when we are called to turn our gaze from ourselves to God, to surrender to God’s will over our own. Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh, not because he was scared of answering God’s call, but because Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire which oppressed and killed Jonah’s people. Jonah knew all he needed to know about the people of Nineveh; he hated the Ninevites and would gladly watch God destroy their city! In fact, after the Ninevites repent and are spared destruction, Jonah goes and pouts, admitting that the reason he didn’t want to go to Nineveh was because, and I quote, “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing” (Jonah 4:2).

Jonah puts his own will, thoughts, feelings.. his own grudges and prejudices, before God’s will and feelings. Jonah would rather die than share his God of mercy and love with Nineveh. Often, like Jonah, when we are so comfortable in our own ways of life and thinking, we resist when we are called to turn our gaze from ourselves to God, to surrender to God’s will over our own. But as Jonah learned, God’s plan for us, God’s will for us, is to love so unconditionally that we extend the same love to our enemies as we do to our friends and family. God’s plan for us, God’s will for us is to love so unconditionally that all cities, all people hear the Word of God and are transformed.

Regardless of how it happened, what all the characters in each of the stories we heard this morning have in common is that they responded to God’s call. Jonah turned from his own will and did what God asked, learning the hard lesson of loving ones enemies. The Ninevites turned from their ways of sin and defying God to forgiveness and renewal. The fishermen turned from casting nets for fish to being fishers of all mankind. A shift has happened.. eyes have been opened to God’s will and lives have been altered forever.

As disciples, called by God, we too are being transformed. Discipleship is more than a task to be added to our already heavy plates, it is our identity. Our call is both urgent and longstanding; both a moment and a lifetime. In a moment, we can say yes to God’s call. We can go to Nineveh. We can fish for people. But God’s call is persistent. Finish one call and there will be another. Make your way down one path in life and God will call you down another. God will call you, not to where you are comfortable and unchallenged, but to where your neighbors are suffering and defeated. Until every last beloved child of God has life abundant, we will be called to task.. and until humans stop pursuing their own wills and lusts for power and luxury over the will of God, we will have work to do.. fishing for people, God’s people, whom God refuses to give up on.

We were created for this.. for doing the hard work of loving God and one another.. and God promises to help us do it, to empower us to do what we cannot do on our own.. until all are free from sin, death, and all that defies God and can rest in the comfort and glory of their Lord and Savior who came to give them life and life abundantly. The good news is that no matter what, our merciful and loving God will never tire of pursuing YOU, will never tire of pursuing justice and love for all. God will never give up on God’s world – because it is worth saving – YOU are worthy of life, love, and mercy. You are called to show your neighbor that they are too. Amen.