The Third Sunday after Epiphany

Called to Action

Readings: Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:6-14; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 

During the season of Epiphany we consider how God is revealed to the world.  We reflect on what it means that Christ is the light of the world.  We reflect on how God calls and how people respond.  Most of all we reflect on our call to decision and action.  Our call as Christians is not easily discerned.  We are human.  Our humanity keeps getting in the way.

The Gospel is about the call of the disciples.  Jesus comes to Galilee preaching a message very much like his predecessor, John.  It is a call to repentance.  Yet it is a call to far more than simply asking for and receiving forgiveness.  It is a call to renewed faith and radical change. 

As Jesus is walking by the Sea of Galilee he sees Simon and Andrew fishing.  He calls out to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people."

Surely that is one of the memorable lines in Scripture, even with the change in wording.  It cannot help but speak to each of us.  It draws us into the story with its very simplicity.  At the same time, it raises some questions.  How could it possibly be that easy?  How could a few simple words such as Jesus spoke, be heard with such clarity by these simple folk?  Did it really happen that way?  How could anyone respond so completely and so quickly to God's call?  Would I have responded as Andrew and Simon did? 

Are we more like Jonah in the Old Testament reading?  Reluctant to make any commitment?  He is perhaps the most reluctant disciple of all.  Not only did God need to call him again and again.  It took really drastic action on the part of God to get him to respond.  He was swallowed by a huge fish.  Then he was spewed up on land.  And still he was reluctant to deliver the message God was sending to the people of Nineveh.  Yet when he finally got around to delivering the message, the people responded.  It made a difference.  They immediately proclaimed a fast, and everyone put on sackcloth.  And God did not destroy them. 

Mind you, Jonah was still angry about God’s decision.  God is challenging his notion that God’s love is limited to one people, the people of Israel.  Sometimes it takes a great deal to convince us about God’s grace.  We are far less willing to give people the benefit of the doubt.  It is a challenge to those who would define God’s grace by their own parochial boundaries.  God’s grace calls us to recognize that all people are God’s children.  It is especially important for us living as we do in an Ecumenical environment.  It is important as we come to the Week for Christian Unity. 

William Clare Menninger, a distinguished American psychiatrist, toured the states for years as a lecturer and consultant.  Frequently people asked him for the secret of a good and happy life.  He always said: "Find a mission in life and take it seriously." 

It is good advice for each of us.  It is our call as Christians to find a mission.  In fact it is our call to find the mission to which God has called us, and to take it seriously.  Jesus offers us that mission.  He proclaims, "The kingdom of God has come near."  The kingdom with all its spiritual blessings and possibilities is here, now, in this place, at this very time.  Turn back to God.  Repent.  Accept the Good news.  Have faith. 

That is a call to action.  We understand that we are called to repent, to believe with eyes of faith, to link our lives with the purpose of God revealed in Jesus Christ.  We know that we are called to any number of vocations, electricians, labourers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, accountants, homemakers. 

No matter what our worldly vocation, we are all invited to share in the redemptive dream of God for this world of ours.  We are called to use our own special gifts and talents to ensure the success of the kingdom.  We are called to follow, to love, to forgive, to witness, to serve, and above all to hope, to hope that our offering will make a difference. 

We have any number of excuses for ignoring God’s call.   There are any number of people who are more talented or more capable than we are.  There are people who have more time.  There are those who more secure.  We are too young or too old or too busy.  It won’t make a difference. 

That is the most difficult thing to overcome.  We look at the task and think, 'it is just too much.  There is too much to do.  I can never make a difference.'  When we think that way it is very easy to convince ourselves that there is no point.  But we must live up to the hope of our calling.  We must trust that we are part of the solution.  We must trust that God's plan will ultimately prevail.  We must trust that God will enable us to accomplish what we are called to do. 

There is a wonderful story about Ethel Waters, the black actress and singer.  She was performing in New York when Billy Graham was holding a crusade.  She went one evening and slipped into the choir.  Reporters found out and questioned her, "Aren't you afraid to identify yourself with something like this?  You're famous.  You have a reputation.  This might fail."  She replied, "God don't sponsor no flops."  

God calls us, not once, but again and again throughout our lives, to renewed life in Christ, to choose new priorities, to leave behind the things that keep us from truly serving God.  Like Jonah, God calls to us through the crises of our lives.  Like the disciples, God calls us from the ordinary routines of our lives. 

What is happening right now for us as individuals, as a church, as a nation?  What is God's call to us as we approach our annual Vestry?  How will we respond to God's call?   What is your call tomorrow as you vote in our national election? Whatever our call may be, let us all remember that "God don't sponsor no flops!"