Sermon Mark 1:14-23

It is interesting who Jesus first chooses for disciples. He comes to Galilee to choose his first disciples from a group of fishers. He asked Simon, whom he would nick-name Peter, and his brother Andrew. And the other two brothers, James and John, the son's of Zebidee, which means Thunder. And so Jesus said, "Come and follow" and they left their old lives behind and followed him.

Now, one might be tempted to think that these were a bunch of young people who had no obligations, no prior commitments. Like college kids who go off to travel with someone, or decide to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, no, James and John left their Dad to run the business. Peter had a wife and probably children; as for Andrew, certainly he had family obligations. And yet, when Jesus called them they told the family, "Don't expect me back for a while, we're going to be disciples of Jesus. Take care of the house and the boats while I'm on the road with Jesus." Life changed for them, and for those around them. All because Jesus called them to become disciples, and they said "Yes".

For many in North America all this talk of Christianity creating change seems strange; especially strange to a church that has been part of the establishment for the past 1600 years. Perhaps it is because many still hold to the idea that one is just born into Christianity. For centuries in the west, that is how it worked for the most part. You had a baby, so you came to the local church and got him baptized. Some worshiped regularly if they felt inclined but when their kids were older they brought them to Sunday School to "learn values." We counted on the public schools to do some Christian praying and the society around us to support the Christian way; we were after-all a Christian country. Being a Canadian was being a Christian. Christianity was not about your life becoming different on the contrary, it was about becoming the same; about becoming a good Canadian.

Or so we thought until the world changed around us and the many faithful who stayed with the Church started to realize that indeed there is now a cost to being a disciple of Jesus; that is makes you somehow odd.. The truth now is that your different if you show you're a Christian to others.

If you say you go to Church, you know the looks you get from some co-workers, "Oh, you're a religious type eh." And parents know the price paid if they wish to raise their children in the Christian way "Sorry, but the soccer practices are on Sunday either you bring your children then or choose another activity." And many know that even from other family members there can be grief, "Why do you want to waste your time with all that Christianity stuff, it seems like more trouble than it's worth." Yes, indeed, life has changed for those who wish to be followers of Jesus.

But then from our text this morning it appears that life is supposed to change when Jesus calls us to become disciples. Jesus himself said, "The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"

That's what Jesus was teaching. The time has come for God to do a new thing, and he want us to be part of what he is up too ... he wants us to be part of his Kingdom. "The Kingdom of God is near" he says. But what is this Kingdom of God we ask him? He wants us to be followers who in this Kingdom of his; but what is it we wonder?

Part of us want to know what this Kingdom of God is so that we can know what to expect. "Explain your Kingdom Jesus and perhaps we'll follow". "Give us the bottom line and we'll calculate the cost benefits of the offer". Explain this Kingdom we ask. And yet it is not a question we hear from Simon, Andrew, and James and John as they give up their occupations, their time and their commitments to follow Jesus. Yet, maybe they know what this Kingdom is already; is that why they don't ask Jesus what it is?

Or is it because they know something about God that we have missed in our time? Maybe they know that God's Kingdom is not something that can be readily explained only something that can be experienced first hand. Maybe they know that the life of faith is not something that one can ever think oneself into but instead is like a journey into a new land. I Imaging it might be like explaining to me what a rural Taiwanese market is like, you can talk to me about it, you can describe it, you can show me a video but until your there with the sights and sounds and smells and who experience of it, you can not really know it. You have to take the journey to that place in order to really know.

And maybe that is why one of the marks of those willing to entering the Kingdom is repentance. We don't use the word often in Church; often because we're embarrassed by how it's been used. "Repent sinner! Turn from your evil ways." It's taken on that finger wagging, church lady or church curmudgeon meaning ... tisk, tisk tisk, shame, shame, shame. But the word repentance does not mean that! It is richer than we can imagine since the word in Greek is "metanoia", which means "to change directions." To travel a new way or path. And in this case, to enter a new reality, a new way of seeing things; to follow and learn from Jesus how God really sees the world, that is the deeper meaning of "repent".

It is Good News because it is more about promise than condemnation; more about a calling than making people feel guilty; more about grace than judgement. For where does this repentance lead us but into the Good News of the Kingdom to a life of believing. A life of sharing in the joys of Christian discipleship. Make no mistake though, this is no "come take a peek" offer from Jesus ; this is no, come and take audit a course in discipleship; this is no test drive; Jesus invitation for us to come and follow is about our whole life. A no turning back commitment! Jesus wants us to set us on the Good News path with him so that we will never go back as believers.

And that is why we must now look at his call to "believe". Like the word "repent", "belief" has also been misused. That's because the kind of belief Jesus is talking about is not what we tend to think about. "Hey Jerry, do you believe in God? Yes." "Hey Sally, do you believe that Jesus is the son of God? No. Hey Larry, do you believe in the Bible? Yes." We are taught to reduce the life of faith into a series of thoughts we agree with, rather than a life to live. So the questions are not, do you think there is a God, but how is your life different because of God? If Jesus is the son of God, how is that expressed in your daily life? And where in our lives does the bible make a difference for us disciples? Jesus is not talking about what is in our heads, but more about where we put our feet; more about our walk of faith, than our talk about faith.

That is why Jesus Christ has called us to be a church here together. That we might follow him in our lives together on a journey as a people for whom God is at work in. That we might glimpse how God sees the world, and change in response to what we see. I don't mean to lessen the importance of clergy to the Church, but what I say each week is not the most important message about the Kingdom of God. Rather it is the life of this community, and your lives as Christians.

Yes, the Gospel is about God's love for us and salvation for us. Our lives depend on it. Jesus knows what the cost is for us if we choose to follow another path. That is why he threw out his net and gathered us in. So that within his net of life, none of us will be lost to the ways of despair, destruction and death; however tantalizing and tempting they look to us. Jesus Christ fishes for people so that they may be brought into the boat, to be cared for, rejuvenated, and given new purpose and meaning. And so that we may join his fishing fleets willing to risk the rough seas, and the dangerous shoals of life, and so we can catch other people and draw them into the Christ's Church as witnesses to God's life, God's kingdom at work in the world.

And to be called by the Lord of Life as a disciple is nothing short of a miracle, because we all know, or will come to know, that none of us have the qualifications, nor right stuff for this calling. But then again that is why we are never disciples by ourselves. Christ calls communities like this one and gives us various skills so that we can fulfill the mission of Christ in this particular time. Some pastors, others elders, some teachers, other peacemakers, some cleaners, and others coffer makers, some comforters, and others challengers; prophets who, when we dare to think that we have Jesus, God and the Kingdom all figured out, they call us to look again.

And, of course, leading us on this great journey called "the Church". Which is indeed sometimes boring, sometimes joyful, sometimes very painful, sometimes comforting, sometimes frightening, sometimes reassuring and sometimes confusing, is the One whom we can entrust our whole lives to. The one who bears the marks of a life given for us and our world. The One who bears the marks of the Kingdom of God on his very body.

Sermon Mark 1:14-23
by James Love