A Sermon preached on January 25th,
Epiphany III at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Jonah 3:1-5, 10, 1
Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20
The word “Epiphany”
means appearance or manifestation. In the Christian understanding the
appearance or manifestation of God in Jesus Christ. But our readings during the
Season of Epiphany also look back to other divine appearances. Last week for
example to God appearing to Samuel in the Temple. And when God appears it’s not
just to say hello or to prove that God exists. No, when God appears God usually
wants something from us. And that is the case in this week’s readings too. God appears
as the word of the Lord to Jonah or as God’s Son to the fishermen on the shores
of the Sea of Galilee with very specific, but also very different requests. What
is also striking about the 3 readings is not just how different these callings
are, but also the reactions of those being called.
God calls Jonah to
“get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I
tell you.” (Jonah 3:2) This turns out to be a very difficult message, anything
but good news, as Jonah has to tell the people of the capital city of Israel’s
greatest enemy that “forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (3:4)
OK, there is a happy ending, but Jonah did not know that, though God did. What
the passage tells us is that sometimes God’s call will be difficult and challenging,
especially if it entails telling truths that are unpleasant or unexpected to
those they are addressed to.
In 1 Corinthians
we do not hear God’s voice directly, only Paul’s advice to the Christians in Corinth.
And Paul’s advice is that they need to detach themselves from the world, from
their sorrows and joys, and from their existing commitments: “let even those
who have wives be as though they had none …. and those who deal with the world
as though they had no dealings with it.” (1 Corinthians 7:29, 31) To put it
into context, this was written when Paul and the first Christians still
expected Christ’s second coming to be just around the corner, in which case Paul’s
recommendation to avoid new commitments makes a lot of sense. It might also be,
and this is an idea from Tom Wright, a well-known Anglican New Testament
scholar and former Bishop, a temporary injunction in a time of famine or
crisis. But either way, a calling to detachment, to withdrawing from the world
to focus on prayer and worship is still a valid one for some people - it is the
monastic calling. I personally do not feel called to live as if I had no
wife, and I’m sure that Heidi will be pleased to hear that.
Finally we have
the Gospel passage about how Simon, Andrew, James and John are called: (Mark 1:17)
“Follow me and I will make you fish for people” Jesus says. This is a double
calling – follow Jesus as a disciple and help Jesus make other people into disciples!
What is unusual in the context of the day is that Jesus seeks out the
disciples. Normally Jewish disciples would seek out and attach themselves to
the Rabbi of their choice. Jesus’ call has massive consequences for the two
sets of brothers that go beyond what Paul is asking of the Corinthians. Not just
to behave as if they had no possessions, but to leave them and family behind,
to do without them. Simon, Andrew, James, and John are not day laborers either:
they owned their nets and boats and they had employees, so they are leaving a business
behind them.
These three
callings are very specific, but that does not mean that being called is
restricted to just a few people, or that you can hope perhaps that God
will pass you by….Being called by God is not restricted to a select few, and
certainly not to those who wear a special collar. One of the books I was given
when discerning my call to ordained ministry was titled “Called or Collared?”[1] Because
they are not always the same. It’s not the case that I have a calling and you
all just have jobs! A lot of what I do, in
administration, in communication, in running meetings is a job too, but one I
love and feel called to. God in Christ came into the world to call every single
person back into a relationship with God and through God into a loving
relationship with one another. That is God’s general or universal calling to
all humankind.
The Church teaches
that all the baptized are called to a ministry and some elements of Jonah’s,
Paul’s and the brothers’ calling also apply to all Christians. We must speak
the truth, in love. We do not have to detach ourselves completely from the world
and its business, but we must still live without fear and worry knowing we have
a promise that goes beyond this world and this life. And for the same reason we
mustn’t behave as if the world and our society will go on forever in this form.
That’s not what we want, believe, hope or work for. And like the first
disciples every Christian is called to follow Christ, to bear witness to him,
and, using the very particular and specific gifts we have been given, to accept
and live out the very particular and specific call God has for each of us.
I said earlier
that in today’s readings it is not just the callings that are very different,
but also the reactions of those being called. “The word of the LORD came to
Jonah a second time.” (Jonah 3:1) And I’m sure you all remember what
happened when the word of the LORD came to Jonah a first time: he ran as fast
and as far as possible in the opposite direction and needed a lot of “persuasion”
to accept his call. One of the problems we have with Paul’s letters is that they
are sometimes a bit like reading a dialogue but hearing one side of the
discussion. We don’t always know just what he was reacting to, what questions
he was answering, or what problems he was dealing with. However, especially when
Paul feels the need to urge people to do something: “brothers and sisters, the
appointed time has grown short,” (1 Cor. 7:29) we can assume that he was
meeting resistance and that his recommendation was not just a popular one. So,
while the Corinthians were not running away from him, they still needed persuasion.
By contrast Simon,
Andrew, James and John seem to be the very model of the right response. Jesus’
call is so compelling that they need no time to think or to deliberate, and
they don’t have to go home and talk it over with their families. They
immediately leave their nets or father to follow Jesus. How unlike Jonah. One
thing I’ve never noticed or thought of before is that actually the evil people
of Nineveh are much more like the disciples. When Jonah started his long walk
through the city, the people of Nineveh reacted immediately – they believed the
word of God as proclaimed by God’s messenger, and by proclaiming a fast and
putting on sackcloth, “everyone, great and small” gave a visible sign that they
had heard God’s word and were acting on it.
Looking back at my
own life and my specific call, I’m definitely more like Jonah. OK, I didn’t run
away or leave the country and thankfully I did not have to spend any time in
the belly of a large fish. But I certainly did not immediately leave my desk, rather
than nets, and follow Jesus and I did not immediately leave my family. But I
didn’t ignore it either, I asked God for time for preparation, time Simon and
friends neither took nor needed, it appears. And once that period of
preparation was over, I did eventually leave my job and we did move, first to
the USA for seminary, and then eventually here to Wiesbaden.
God is patient, and
if necessary God will keep coming back until you hear the call, and if it takes
longer, God will make sure that the time until you act and react is well spent.
Everyone has a calling from God. As human
beings made in God’s image it is the universal calling to be in relationship
with God and with one another. As Christians
it is to follow Jesus and, as we prayed in today’s Collect, to “proclaim to all
people the Good News of his salvation.” As individuals
it is a specific call that we have to discern. It might mean change, it might be
what we are already doing, and it might be risky. You might hear it in prayer, or
when you hear or read scripture, or in something or someone you experience, or
perhaps even in one of the retreats or conferences this church or the Convocation
offers for that purpose. But you can be sure of one thing. If it is really God’s
call it will be so compelling that you will not be able to ignore it, however
long that may take.
Amen.
