Bibliography: Culture Shift, lesson 8
I learned something interesting this week. Let me ask you something. Have you seen Miss Cleo on television lately? You know who Miss Cleo is, don’t you? Have you noticed that her commercials haven’t been on television lately?
It seems that Miss Cleo is being sued.
CNN reports:
The Missouri attorney general has filed two lawsuits against a television psychic hotline for false advertising, fraud and other unlawful business practices. The hotline advertises services by Miss Cleo, who speaks with a Caribbean accent and promises psychic and tarot card readings.
“They should’ve seen it coming, whether they were psychic or not,” the Attorney General told CNN.
“The fact that they didn’t see it coming shows they aren’t psychic.”
It seems they offer 3 free minutes of a psychic reading, but then spend those three minutes getting your name, telephone number, and other information, and then place you on hold for the next available psychic until long after your 3 free minutes are up.
They were also accepting calls from children under age, and what I thought was really interesting, they even had some phone calls charged to people who were dead.
Now that’s really being in touch with the spiritual world...
But Missouri isn’t the only state interested in Miss Cleo. It seems she is wanted in Florida too. Only trouble is, no one seems to knows her background or even her full name.
Ah, the mysterious Miss Cleo.
Well finally, on Wednesday February 13, 2002, the Federal Trade Commission filed charges against television’s most famous psychic Miss Cleo, also known as Youree Dell Harris charging that Miss Cleo “cannot substantiate that she had any such national acclaim as a psychic, clairvoyant or tarot reader.”
Now I know you’re not surprised that Miss Cleo is not who she claims to be. But the truth is people flock to psychic hotlines by the thousands.
One gentleman from Tennessee explained how he became a psychic reader. He answered an add in a Tennessee newspaper for telephone counselors with no experience necessary. The job paid twelve dollars an hour. The objective is to keep the caller on the phone for as long as possible because phone call costs $5 a minute. On his first phone call he kept the caller on the line for 53 minutes for a whopping $250.
When he was trained - in the one training session he received, his trainer left him with these words:
“Remember, they’re just looking for something to hang on to, some little bit of hope. If you give that to them, they can turn their lives around.”
Hope. She is exactly right. We are hungry for hope. I think we assume that people who don’t go to church today aren’t interested in church, but the fact of the matter is, people are seeking spirituality today and they - we - are hungry for it.
When people turn to psychics, believe in the healing power of crystals and gemstones, practice the pagan goddess religion known as wicca or witch craft, its what they are searching for. Hope, meaning to life, something to believe in, hope that there is something out there bigger than us that holds the answers to this crazy world we live in.
*****
Just as Simon, Andrew, James, and John, they are fishers too, only they fish for meaning and they do so in a much different way that the 4 gentleman Jesus called to be disciples.
Following the fishing analogy, such spiritual seekers are line fishers. They are looking for a quick fix without a lot of energy. Its more like the effort of recreational fishing. Find a shady spot, cast out a line, and hope you “catch” the answers you are looking for.
But Simon, Andrew, James, and John were commercial fisherman in their day. They fished with nets. It was hard work. If you’ve ever watched the Perfect Storm then you’ve seen the kind of life a commercial fisherman lives, it is a miserable, cold, exhaustive, hard life. I don’t know why anyone would want that kind of job. I’d find any other way to make a living.
But these 4 men were commercial fishermen.
*****
Jesus has just begun his preaching ministry. His message he was spreading is to repent, turn away from your sins, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.
He begins to call people to live a different kind of life from their past. It is not an easy kind of life he is calling people to.
It wasn’t exactly psychic hotlines, but the culture of that day offered simplistic answers. Follow the rules and norms of society and everything will be ok. Only problem is, rules of society said that a few people would live very happy, secure lives, but most people would be miserable and struggle for survival.
Sometimes our society and culture today parallels that one so much it amazes to me.
Just follow the cultural norms. Just strive to get ahead. Thats what we’re suppose to do and everything will be wonderful. Buy this product, take this vacation, follow this diet, teach your kids to read by this program, and you will get ahead in life and everthing will be wonderful. Only problem is, most people can’t get ahead. They can’t follow the commercially prescribed formula. They are miserable and struggle for survival.
Jesus’ call to repent is a call to live differently. It means breaking down a lot of walls that we have created between one another. It means relating to each other differently. It sounds great and an ideal way of life, but I don’t think its all that easy for us to do. Repentance isn’t just about trying not to do the things we shouldn’t do anymore. That’s the easy part. Repentance is about trying to be proactive in doing things we should be doing, and I think that’s where we all struggle and get stuck.
As Jesus begins to preach a message of repentance, he comes to the shore of the sea of Galilee, and there he finds two brothers, Simon and Andrew. As I said, Simon and Andrew are commercial fisherman. Matthew makes a point of telling us they are catching fish with a net. This is not easy work. Jesus says to them, “Follow me, and I will teach you to catch people.” Immediately, Simon and Andrew leave their nets behind, and become students of Jesus.
Then Jesus moves along and here we find James and John, two other commercial fisherman, with their father getting their nets ready. And again, Jesus calls to them and immediately they leave their boat and their father behind and become students of Jesus.
Some remarkable things are happening here. These men are taking a huge leap of faith. They have left their livelihood and their families to become Jesus’ disciples, his students. I am struck with how quickly they left everything in their life for a new way of living. Can you see how radical this is?
You know, I don’t see in Matthew any indication that these 4 guys were looking for Jesus. Matthew doesn’t tell us that they had been listening to Jesus teaching in Galilee. Maybe they had heard of him. Maybe they had heard of the message of repentance he had been preaching, but we have no indication that Simon, Andrew, James, and John were seeking, looking for something. It seems they were just going along, minding their own business, until Jesus finds them on the sea shore.
And once they have an encounter with Jesus, their whole lives change. Everything they were, every way they had of doing things ceases to be. Jesus is very disruptive in their lives. Jesus changes everything about their existence.
And although we don’t have any indication that these 4 gentleman had been listening to Jesus’ teaching, I think we jump to the conclusion that they have been hungry for a new way of life because they immediately leave their old life behind.
Isn’t that amazing? It make us wonder about these 4 guys who seem to abandon their families and their income to follow Jesus. We might think of it today as someone who leaves family and employment behind to join the Branch Davidians. It sounds cultish, but that’s not what’s happening here at all.
There are two questions and two related aspects to the story that jump out at me. Lets take a look at those for just a minute.
The first question that comes to mind is, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?
Related to this question are two aspects of the story. First, we have noted the instantaneous response of these 4 gentleman to Jesus’ call. To leave everything behind meant a whole different way of life. What is really happening here is that these gentlemen have stepped out of the role society and their culture expected them to play. Their life was prescribed for them from the day they were born. They are fishermen because their father is a fisherman. They are breaking with what society expected them to do and how society expected them to behave.
That’s very important to note.
They are breaking with what society expected them to do and how society expected them to behave.
A modern day example is not joining a cult, but rather would be if we decided not to strive to get ahead, not to play the market and media game society thrives on. We are breaking from what society expects us to do and how society expects us to behave.
Notice, also, Jesus doesn’t tell Simon, Andrew, James, and John to stay where they are and become the best commercial fishermen they can be in Jesus’ name. No, Jesus says, “Follow me.” And where is Jesus headed? To Jerusalem to the cross. This is not an easy calling Jesus is giving. Being a Christian is not an easy walk in the park. Jesus does not ask us to sit here and be the best person we can be following the same life-style we’ve always followed, doing things the way we’ve always done. Think of what it means to truly follow Jesus. Folks, he’s headed to the cross.
Just before the calling of these disciples, Matthew shares with us a piece of scripture to show that Jesus is the fulfillment of what the prophets spoke of and wrote about. In the scripture Matthew quotes, “ The people who live in darkness will see a great light. On those who live in the dark land of death the light will shine.”
Brett Blair talks about the darkness. He talks about his fear of the dark as a child. When he was a kid, when he went to bed, he wouldn’t let a toe or a finger, a knee or an elbow hang over the side of the bed, because under the bed is where the monsters live. If you let your foot hang off the edge of the bed, then the monsters can grab you and pull you under into the darkness below to the monsters’ liar where you are devoured and never seen or heard from again.
Yes, its a childish fear. But Brett notes that being adults hasn’t necessarily cure us from our fear of the dark. Often, in the dark of night, in those dark inner hidden recesses of our mind and heart our fears, our own monsters come to life and plague us and torment us.
Are we headed for a divorce? Does my spouse have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Are my children using drugs? Are we going to make our monthly expenses this month? What will the doctor tell me next week? Am I going to be alone? Am I going to go under? Am I going to survive?
This is our culture shift. We live in a society plagued with fear. Its of epidemic proportion. There is mistrust and suspicion of almost everyone we come in contact with.
How do I know they will be responsible with my money? How do I know this doctor is giving me the best advice? How do I know I won’t be harmed or taken advantage of?
And the real question is, how do we hand those fears? Thousands are handling it daily through psychics and crystals, even through forms of Christian Buddhism and Taoism. We are here because of the belief and hope that Christ holds the answers to our fears.
But being a Christian is not always easy. God never promised that being a Christian meant life was going to be a piece of cake. In fact, in our story tonight we see that being a disciple really means just the opposite.
When those fears grow strong, what do we do? You know there’s an Old Testament story of the first king of Israel, Saul. Initially, he was chosen by God to be king, but Saul left God in his heart. Saul turned away God. You see, it wasn’t cost effective for Saul. It cost him a lot of bounty because he didn’t do with the spoils of war what he had been instructed to do. Being a follower of God was too costly for Saul.
From that time on, Saul struggled to maintain his position of power and authority as king. There comes a time when the Philistine army, a neighboring tribe, are gathering on Israel’s borders. Now Saul has been very busy and has invested a lot of energy in defending his kingship and trying to keep from being dethroned.
Now it looks like he’s got this army to contend with and a nation divided in its support of him. Saul is just awash in fear. Do you know what Saul does in his time of great turmoil? First he makes a token effort , asking God for an answer, but when that doesn’t work he tries by several different means, asking his officials and priests for answers. And when that doesn’t work, Saul sends his officials to find a medium - a psychic - to consult with and determine what his future will be.
When our fears grow strong, what do we do? I think we have to ask ourselves what kind of faith do we have? What kind of faith are we looking for? Faith is a growing thing. Jesus is calling, “Follow me. Take the next step. Read the Bible. Find out about me. Pray to me, talk with me. Come to my house. Spend time with me. Help others in my name.”
Rough times are ahead. Jesus is headed to the cross. Jesus continually calls us, asks us to take that next step in our spiritual journey. I think we have to ask ourselves what is that next step Jesus is calling us to and be proactive in pursuing it as the disciples were proactive when they left their nets behind and followed Jesus.
The other question that came to my mind is, what does it mean to fish for people? I think its more than just the evangelistic idea we have in our head. Remember the kind of fishermen these 4 gentleman were. Jesus doesn’t invite them to become recreational evangelist. Fishing for people is very labor intensive. It requires persistence and dedication.
Fishing for people is challenging work. What does it mean to fish for people?
Take a look at the empty seat near you. Think of the person you know who needs to be sitting there, who should be here this evening. It can be awkward and challenging for us to invite someone we know who is not a church going person to come with us. But that’s what it means to fish for people.
It is awkward, isn’t it? You know why? Because it breaks with what we are expected to do and how we are expected to behave in our society.
Our religious practices have become private affairs. We break with the cultural norm when we talk about our faith. But remember, people are hungry for spirituality today. One way to fish for people is to invite people sit with you in church next week.
Another way to fish for people is to become a Christian mentor to someone else. Not long ago, I spoke with a group of individuals and invited them to take the faith they had discovered and developed and use it to mentor to others. Now the thing is, if we mentor to other people who are just like us, we haven’t done much. Fishing for people, means reaching out to people who are very different than we are. It means reaching out to those at risk of falling through the cracks in society.
It is very labor intensive. It requires persistence and dedication.
It means opening ourselves up to being changed by the experience.
What would it mean for us to find individuals to mentor to? What would it mean to reach out to another person who is very different from us and show them the love and compassion offered to us in Christ? What would it mean to have a real relationship with someone and through us they might learn of the love Christ has for them? How might we be changed by the relationship?
Society would have us believe that our Christianity is just a spiritual fad equal with all other forms of spiritual seeking. But what we are called to as Christians is very different from what those other forms of spirituality are offering.
Discipleship is real. Its a light in the darkness of our fears. Its a rock to cling to during difficult times. True discipleship is also challenging and life changing. It calls us to break with what society expects us to do and follow Jesus.
This evening, Jesus calls each of us to be his disciples. Will you go?
Jesus calls, “Follow me.”
In Jesus name, Amen.
