January 21, 2024
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20
Following the Call
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Bob had been ice fishing all morning without any luck. He decided he’d had enough and started to pack up his gear. Just as he was gathering his things, this old guy trudges onto the ice.
The old guy doesn’t say a word, but he nods his head in greeting to Bob. Bob watches as the guy drills a hole not more than a few feet from Bob’s hole. He drops his line in the water, and just like that, he catches a fish!
He took the fish off his line, coughed a bit and then he baited his hook a second time. In goes the hook, and within just a few seconds, another fish grabs his line!
This sequence repeats several more times in as many minutes. Bob can’t believe it. He’s been there all morning and didn’t even get a nibble!
He asks the old guy, “Hey, the fish can’t wait to take your bait. What’s your secret?”
The old man answered, “Woohattakipowrmwm.”
“What?” Bob asked, “What did you say?”
The old man held out his hands, spit a mouthful of worms into them and said, “You have to keep your worms warm.”
Today we hear two fishing stories. In the gospel reading, Jesus invites four fishermen to follow him. “Follow me,” he says, “And I’ll have you fishing for people.”
The other story is from the book of Jonah. And in this story, a fish is the one who goes fishing for a man!
These two stories both involve fish and fishing. But they have something more important in common. Both of them involve God calling someone into action and service. And each story reveals some important dynamics for our own sense of calling in the world.
Let’s look at the Jonah story first. Our reading tunes in after all the dramatic events have occurred. Jonah has been to sea; he was thrown overboard; the fish swallowed him and it’s just spit him up on shore.
Our reading begins, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a SECOND time.” This isn’t the first time God called Jonah. That’s what started the whole crazy cycle. God called Jonah to go speak to the city of Nineveh. But Jonah refused to do it. He went in the opposite direction from that great city. He went as far as he could.
But for some reason, God wouldn’t take no for an answer.
You’d think there would be some other person – just one other individual within the whole kingdom of Judah – that God could have called besides Jonah!
Jonah hated the Ninevites, the capital of the great kingdom of Assyria. The Assyrians had crushed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. They’d completely destroyed them and marched the survivors into slavery and exile. Jonah hated them for what they’d done. That’s why he doesn’t want anything to do with God’s plan.
Nevertheless, God doesn’t give up on Jonah. God is insistent that Jonah be the one who delivers this message.
Why? Why Jonah? Why not somebody else? Was this mission, perhaps, just as much about Jonah as it was the Ninevites? Did Jonah stand to benefit as much as the people of Nineveh?
Jonah was consumed by hatred and raging anger. It’s not any way to live. The Buddha once said, “Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else. You are the one who ends up getting burned.”
The book of Jonah ends with Jonah in a hot rage. He’s sitting on the outskirts of Nineveh waiting for God to smite the city. And when the destruction doesn’t come, Jonah rages against God. God plies Jonah with a question, “Why shouldn’t I have mercy on Nineveh, that great city, with 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left?”
The story ends right there, without a response from Jonah. It ends with the ball in Jonah’s court. And that’s how we know the story is really about Jonah. It ends with him, not the Ninevites. The story is about him and God.
Might God sometimes have a special assignment for you or for me? One that’s meant just as much for our sake as it is for the outward target of our calling?
When the unpleasant call comes our way, and it keeps circling back like an unwanted boomerang, even when we refuse it – could it be inviting us into a deeper calling? Does God have something in mind for us? It’s worth our consideration.
The four fishermen on the shores of Lake Galilee are quite different from Jonah. Without skipping a beat, they leave everything to follow Jesus. Fishing is their means of making a living. These four fellows leave everything. They leave their business equipment, they leave family. Their response to Jesus’ invitation is immediate. There’s no deliberation, no pondering, no mulling it over or discussion with family. They just get up and follow Jesus!
They have no idea how this decision will impact their lives. Following Jesus’ invitation will revolutionize their lives.
• There will be suffering and peril.
• But there will also be joy and fulfillment.
• They’ll face questioning and uncertainty.
• But they’ll also experience renewal and growth
• There will be rejection and loneliness
• But they’ll be blessed by the communion of saints
• They will be encircled by persecution and grief
• But they’ll also receive the peace that passes human understanding
What awaits them is yet to unfold. But for now, they leave everything and follow Jesus.
Our own calling experience likely falls somewhere between Jonah’s response and that of the disciples. But called we are. And we can be informed by the disciples as much as we can from Jonah.
We feel this especially first thing in the morning, before our feet touch the ground, maybe even before we open our eyes. We awaken, and we’re aware that it’s a new day. And right then, we lift up a prayer:
“Thank you for the gift of this new day, Lord. I’m grateful to see this morning. I don’t know what this day will bring, but you do. Whatever it may be, Lord, I dedicate this day to you.
“And I pray that you will use me as you will. Direct my feet, my words, my thoughts. I want to be an instrument of your will! That’s what I want the most.
“This day will likely present challenges and uncertainties, but I trust in you, Lord. I know that you are bigger than any possible foe. And I know that you are with me always, through thick and thin. And you will see me through all that this day will bring. Give me the strength and the courage to walk the steps you have in mind for me this day.”
That prayer is pretty close to the intention of the disciples. They were open to Christ’s leadership, to dedicate their days and their lives to his will.
Following the call. God has a plan for you.
