Scripture: Mark 1:14-20; Jonah 3:1-5; Jonah 3:10; Mark 10:17-22
Drawing on his dislike of phone calls and habit of screening unknown numbers, Wilson asks how often we screen God’s call. Jonah flees God’s call like ignoring a voicemail; the named prophets and disciples are few because few can handle being called. Many said no to Jesus, and some said ‘not yet’—like the rich young ruler and Augustine—a way of managing Jesus while life goes well. When life turns hard, the need for Jesus becomes obvious; God doesn’t cause suffering but uses it, and rock bottom can finally make us humble enough to answer. The call (Mark’s ‘fishers of people’) turns hearts outward; service is grace, not burden, while living only for oneself is the true curse. Jesus qualifies the called, seeing us at our best. He closes by inviting the congregation toward next week’s Mission Sunday and to discern where God calls them to serve.
Illustrations: screening-phone-calls, pruitt-residence-phone, jonah-ghosts-god, michael-jordan-grudge, rich-young-ruler, augustine-not-yet, memento-mori-roman-triumph, jesus-qualifies-the-called
January 21
”The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.“ ”When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.“ - Jonah 3:1-5 , 10 NRSV
”Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.“ Mark 1:14-20 NRSV
I’ve never been the biggest fan of phone calls. Text messages were an easy transition for me. I’d rather text and call. I’m an elder millennial in this transitory generational period. So much could happen on a phone call and it could happen fast. You can be confronted by an unlimited list of possibilities and questions with which you might need to respond immediately. Text messages are fairly limited in the amount of information that can be conveyed, and I enjoy that limitation.
Growing up, I never had an issue answering the phone in our home because the phone was never for me. “Pruitt residence. Who may I ask are you calling for?Usually, they would be calling for my parents or my siblings; they weren’t calling me, so there was little that I had to think about. Most of the calls I receive today, as I imagine most of the calls that you receive on your cell phones today, are spam. They are automated calling systems trying to get me to answer by any means necessary. They leave messages saying that my car insurance warranty is out, or something to that effect. I don’t answer them. There’s a handy screening function with phones today where I can look at the number and see if I recognize it and if I don’t, I don’t have to respond. I am in favor of screening calls from scams that are trying to get something out of me. I was thinking about phone calls as I read the scriptures for today. When we look at these passages from Jonah and from Mark, it makes me wonder about how often we have been screening God’s call on us.
Jonah
Jonah basically gets a voice mail from God. He just doesn’t respond. He moves away instead of responding, God basically tells Jonah, I love you, and Jonah can’t handle it, and so he goes away. He ghosts God. Not many people could handle it. Handle this call of God to prophesy in the city. The list of prophets in the history of Israel is not a long list.
Jesus met a lot of people but the list of disciples named in the Bible is not long. Not many people could handle the call of Jesus directly on their hearts. We don’t know how many people said no to Jesus before they said yes. Mark wasn’t going around and talking about everybody who said no to Jesus. It’s not in the book. If Jesus were a normal human, he might have kept score of all the people who said no to him. If Jesus was like Michael Jordan, it would be different. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player who remembers the name of the kid who made Varsity before he did in high school and used that as a motivator to win six NBA titles. Michael Jordan would’ve remembered the people who said no to him. Jesus was not petty. Jesus was not petty. He didn’t keep track of many of the people who said no. The Bible doesn’t keep track of them. We have the people who said, yes. With that, we should also acknowledge that a lot of people probably said no. We have some people who said, not yet. The rich young ruler who comes up to Jesus and asks him, what must I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus says, have you fulfilled the commandments? The rich young ruler says, “yes, I have. I’ve followed them all my life.” Jesus says, “go sell all you have a give it to the poor. The man walks away sad because he had many possessions.” This is a way of saying not yet. Saint Augustine famously said, Lord made me chaste, but not yet.
The not yet see reasonable at first. There’s a life before grace and it can be enjoyable. This Jesus seems cool, but I don’t really want do anything about it. The not yet is a way to manage Jesus, A way to manage expectations, a way to keep on going in the same direction we’ve been going. Now, when life is going great, it’s easy to keep on going. When you’re successful at your job, your family’s healthy, you are healthy, your prospects look positive, it’s easy just to keep going. When the circumstances of life take a turn, it is hard to stay on the same path. When you or your family get sick. When you lose a job, it’s hard to stay on the same path. When addiction fills you, it is hard to stay on the same path. The need for Jesus is more obvious in those moments. Desperation offers clarity. The path of Jesus Christ is more obvious in those moments. God doesn’t cause bad things to happen, but God can use them. God offers grace through the suffering. Sometimes, when life is at its darkest, we are most open to change. People call this rock bottom. You can hit it with addiction. You can hit it in a lot of different directions. Rock bottom is one of those things that it’s impossible to recognize outside of yourself. You can’t tell another person where their rock bottom is. They have to find it. For some of us, it was only at rock bottom that we were humble enough to hear the call of Jesus and not to screen it. The call of Jesus is not that life is going to be great once you say yes to God or that you’ll never face hardship again after saying yes to God. The call of Jesus is right here in Mark, follow me and I will make you fishers of man. I will make you fish for people. The call of God turns our hearts outwards so that we will no longer be centered on ourselves. The call of God opens us up to an abundant life, even now, but a life that means we need to change. We can’t just do the same things we’ve always done. We need to act in love. The call of God also shows us that service is not a burden, but a grace. Giving of ourselves is not a burden, but a grace, and it opens our eyes to the reality that living only for ourselves is the true burden. Living only for ourselves is a curse. Living only for ourselves limits us. Living only for ourselves marks a road towards destruction. When Roman generals had a parade through the city after a great victory, they would have a slave on the chariot whispering in their ear: Memento Mori, you will die. These pagans did so because the adulation of the masses was so intoxicating. They needed a way to keep themselves from thinking that they were gods. The modern world is so intoxicating. There is so much that we can do so easily, so much at our fingertips, so much that we can do to try and fill the God shaped holes in our heart. So many reasons to screen the call of God. To say, not yet. To say, I’m not ready. Jesus doesn’t call the qualified. Jesus qualifies the called. I love this line. It’s not mine. I heard it from another preacher colleague, but I’m stealing it. Jesus doesn’t call the qualified. Jesus doesn’t look out and see. These are the ones who are going to be the best candidates. Jesus qualifies the called. You may not feel like you are ready, but it’s God’s feelings that matter. God sees you not for your worst, but for your best. God has seen your worst and loves you. Next week we’re gonna have our mission Sunday. We’re going to share about the missions and ministries of the church. We’re gonna celebrate the missions and ministries of the church and have an opportunity to learn more about each of them. Each of our missions and ministries are opportunities to serve our community. I want you all to prayerfully consider where God is calling you to serve. The call of God is not just what we get, but what we get to do. If there’s a ministry that we are not doing who you’re passionate about, come talk to me. Let’s get involved. Let’s be the hands of feet of Jesus in new ways.
Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, You have called us to new life. You have called us to let go of what harms us. Help us to answer your. Help us not to screen your love. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.