“Get a Life: Go Fishing”

Mark 1:14-20

I don’t fish, but when fishing is mentioned, I do have one scene firmly planted in my mind. It comes from the opening credits of the old “Andy Griffith Show.” Andy and his son Opie are seen walking down a dirt road toward their favorite fishing hole. The scene is one of leisurely movement toward a relaxing task, a few lazy hours soaking up sunshine and some father and son bonding. No urgency. No particular goal in mind. Not a life-long commitment. Just fishing.

Today’s scenes reported by Mark are as far removed from that kind of fishing as can be. There is urgency. There is immediacy. The stakes are high. The goals are lofty. Life-long commitment is an absolute requirement. In the person of Jesus God is moving in the world and he’s doing so in the fast lane. Those who decide to join Jesus on this journey only have one chance to catch the train before it leaves the station. Once on it there is no getting off. They’re going fishing for the very souls of humankind.

In a previous sermon on this text I likened the pace of Mark’s Gospel to the cooking of Emeril, you know, the t.v. chef, the “bam” guy. Jesus is baptized and immediately goes off into the wilderness – bam! He leaves the wilderness and jumps immediately into his ministry in Galilee – bam! He calls Simon and Andrew and they immediately follow him – bam! Likewise with James and John – bam!

There’s a Gospel to be proclaimed and souls in need of rescue. The time has come. The Messiah has arrived. The Kingdom of God is drawing near. There’s no time for debate. There are no options, you’re either in or you’re out. Jesus says, “Follow me,” and you either do or you don’t. Jesus says, “Make a choice,” and you either choose him or not. God is at work. And so it goes – bam! bam! bam!

Mark’s urgency is merited. The Gospel message needs to be proclaimed, and it needs to be proclaimed now. Not at some more convenient time – today! People are literally dying to hear it. They can only have life, real life, through Jesus Christ. It’s time to go fishing, time to leave behind the comfort and safety of our congregational harbor and venture out to deeper, more turbulent waters. It’s time to venture out to where the unchurched and unsaved are to be found. Out there are friends, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students, strangers, and even enemies, all in desperate need of being caught up in the gracious net of the Gospel.

Simon, Andrew, James, and John knew all about fishing. It was their living. It was their life. It was what they knew and loved. When Jesus invited them to become fishers of men he was using familiar words and concepts. They weren’t people who stayed on shore and played it safe. They were risk takers.

What they didn’t know was how to be to be the kind of fishers Jesus was asking them to be. This was a whole new ballgame. They knew the sea. They didn’t know discipleship. They knew the physical dangers of fishing for a living. They had no way of knowing the physical, emotional, and spiritual trials that lay in front of them. But Jesus was ready to teach them this new business of fishing for people and they were ready to learn.

Let’s pay attention to how they were called to discipleship. There was no warm up, no period of preparation. They were given no time to consider all the pros and cons. There was no test run, no shake down cruise. Nor were there any signing bonuses or guaranteed contracts. Jesus said, “Come,” and off they went. And in the going they left behind all that was familiar to them: their homes, their families, and their friends. They gave up the only vocation they had ever practiced to take up something totally new. They were off with Jesus to be about the urgent tasks of seeking the lost and rescuing the perishing.

In that instant in which they answered the call of Jesus several things happened. Bam! They believed, they took Jesus at his word. Bam! They repented. There is no way to follow Jesus without doing so. They literally turned and went another way. Bam! They opened themselves up to a radically new way of living – no questions asked. Bam, he called! Bam, they went! To places the like of which they had never dreamed.

This discipleship business can be pretty risky. Anyone who says yes to the call of Jesus is opening him or herself up to a whole new world of thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes. Saying yes to Jesus will involve changes in our lives, some of them radical. Taking Jesus at his word and following him wherever he leads often requires us to make some very difficult choices, sometimes-sacrificial choices.

We may have to leave friends and family behind. We may have to give up homes and jobs. We may have to turn away from relationships and behaviors incompatible with discipleship. Like Abraham we’re going to have to live by faith, going to “only-God-knows-where.” Like every faithful disciple of Jesus who has gone before us we will need to be willing to save our lives by losing them, win by losing, be first by being last, and in Christ-like humility, get down on our knees to wash the dirt from the feet of a filthy world.

And sometimes these changes come fast. One day you’re in a job you love, living near your hometown, then -–Bam! – a few months later you’re in seminary. You finally receive a call that puts you near your wider family, then – Bam! – you’ve left Virginia and moved four hours away to West Virginia. You may be settled into a quiet comfortable ministry in rural West Virginia, then – Bam! – you’re serving a multi-cultural congregation located just outside the Beltway. Or you may have finally accepted the reality that you’re never going to get married again, then – Bam! – from out of nowhere God sends this Christian schoolteacher into your life.

Following Jesus involves change, some instantaneous, some gradual. Following Jesus involves a willingness to say and then act out, “not my will but yours, Lord.” Following Jesus can require us to love people we’d rather hate, accept people we’d rather reject, forgive seventy-times-seven those who have hurt us, or go the extra mile for somebody who might not even appreciate it.

Following Jesus will often put us in the position of proclaiming or living unpopular truths. Fishing for people makes us vulnerable to rejection by the very ones we’ve sought to rescue in the name of Jesus. As good as the Good News is lots of people don’t want to hear it.

To those unwilling to repent it is bad news. Folks don’t like being asked to change. Cultures don’t take too kindly to the news that they’re sinful and corrupt. Political movers and shakers don’t like being called to account. Those whose wealth, popularity, and station in life are dependent on maintaining the status quo get testy when whenever anybody rocks their boat. Those who live in denial or hide behind cloaks of lies aren’t real happy when confronted with the truth.

Whatever, the Gospel must be proclaimed, regardless of the consequences. Jesus must be followed, even if doing so leads to a cross. And anything in our lives that impedes our ability to follow must be cut loose, no matter how precious it may be. If we want to live instead of exist – if we want a real life – there is only one way to go, toward wherever it is that Jesus leads us.

And in the process we are required to invite others to journey with us. Call it witnessing, call it evangelism, call it mission, the real life to which Jesus calls us means going out into the world and fishing for people. Our call is to join Jesus in rescuing the perishing even those who would prefer to drown. Our call is to join Jesus in seeking and saving the lost even those who would just as soon not be found. The Gospel of Jesus must be proclaimed to everyone even those who are hostile to that Gospel, those who are quite often hostile to those who proclaim it.

Real life is life in Christ. Anything less is death masquerading as human existence. Real life is what we who go fishing for Jesus are to offer those we catch. The real life of following Jesus. The real life that can only be lived by doing what Jesus did: proclaiming that the Kingdom is at hand and inviting folks to become citizens of it. The fullness of this life cannot be realized until we do what those first disciples did – until we go fishing.

So, folks, let’s get a life; let’s go fishing. Amen.