Mark 1: 14-20
January 26, 2000
Paonia United Methodist Church
How many of you watch the news?
Have you seen the case being brought against McDonalds
That eating their food makes you fat?
Duh!
Of course it does… that’s what makes it taste good.
Thankfully, that case was dismissed this week,
But still has the possibility of being retried in a federal court.
Its staggering even to my imagination…
And I have a pretty good imagination.
People can sue one another over just about anything.
This also carries over to what we say when we open our mouths.
Say the wrong thing, at the wrong time, to the wrong person,
and chances are, you can be sued.
Now, interestingly enough, because of this threat
Employers are very careful about what they put on a recommendation
When an employee leaves.
Therefore, a new tactic has been employed.
This new tactic is to assign mediocre and ambiguous praise
Leaving the reader the responsibility to read in between the lines
And decipher what is actually being said.
Someone has compiled a list of "intentionally ambiguous job recommendations."
First the recommendation and then the translation:
Recommendation: While he worked with us, he was given numerous citations.
Translation: He was arrested several times.
Recommendation: I most enthusiastically recommend this person with no
qualifications whatsoever.
Translation: "This person HAS no qualifications whatsoever."
Recommendation: "I’m sorry we let him get away."
Translation: "We should have had him prosecuted."
Recommendation: Given the opportunity, I am certain that he will quickly
forge a name for himself within your company.
Translation: "Don’t leave any blank checks lying around."
Recommendation: All in all, I cannot recommend her too highly.
Translation: "In fact, I cannot recommend her at all."
With all the litigation in this day and age,
And people afraid to write the truth for fear of being sued,
It makes for a difficult time finding good help.
And that is what I want to talk about today.
What does it take to find good help these days.
Now last week, we heard about the calling of Samuel, Phillip, and Nathaniel.
We saw two very different extremes in God’s hiring process.
If you remember the calling of Samuel,
Samuel literally stood in the presence of God and heard him speak to him…
Very dramatic to say the least.
The came the call of Philip and Nathaniel.
Again, if you remember the story,
You will recall that the most memorable part of the story is its
Total lack of drama.
It was very low keyed and ordinary.
And, if you remember,
We learned that both calls were just as real and valid
Even if they were so completely and totally different.
Well today, we reenter God’s hiring process as we see two very different examples
Of God’s call.
1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."
3 But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD .
4 Then the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish."
7 Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
8 So they asked him, "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?"
9 He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD , the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land."
10 This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from the LORD , because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, "What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?"
12 "Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you."
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried to the LORD , "O LORD , please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O LORD , have done as you pleased." 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the LORD , and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.
17 But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Now, as the story goes,
Jonah is not a big fish fan, and he has a sudden conversion experience
Inside the fish.
Once this happens,
The fish “vomits” Jonah up on shore…
We finish the story with a few verses from Chapter 3.
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city-a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Like I said, finding good help is hard to do.
And Jonah, is anything but good help…
At least in the beginning.
I have to tell you…
This is a fun story.
Jonah running…
The big fish swallowing him…
Getting vomited up on shore.
That’s great…
The stink and stench of it…
Reminds me of seminary.
These are wonderful Old Testament images of the lengths God goes to
In order that the one He calls fulfills that call.
Let’s take a closer look.
We will begin with a quick history lesson.
Why is Jonah so resistant to go to Nineveh?
Well, Nineveh was the capital of Assyria from and
That was where the Emperor of the Assyrian Empire lived.
One of the things that Assyria or Nineveh did was conquer Israel, Jonah’s home.
Repeatedly Assyria attacked Israel killing its people and destroying its cities.
In 721 BC Assyria carried off the best and the brightest of the Northern
Kingdom of Israel into captivity.
It was Nineveh who planned those military campaigns and ordered that killing
and enslaving of the Israelites, God’s chosen people.
Jonah and his fellow Israelites saw Nineveh as an enemy to God
and God’s people.
With that in mind, is it any wonder he didn’t want to go there?
Jonah was told by God to go and preach against the wickedness
of Ninevah and to warn the people there that the city would be
destroyed forty days after he arrived.
But, instead of answering God’s call to him to go to Ninevah,
Jonah tries to flee in the opposite direction.
Why? Because he doesn’t want to give them that warning.
Let them burn!
Well, we know how the story goes.
Jonah gets swallowed by a great fish,
some say it was a whale,
and for three days and three nights he was in the belly of that fish,
where, as you can well imagine, he became rather penitent.
He decides he is going to be decent help after all.
And God hears the plea of Jonah,
and as the ancient ones tell the story,
the Lord commands the fish,
and it vomits (Blahhhhhhhhhhh) Jonah onto the dry land.
Vivid picture isn’t it?
God’s great prophet covered in fish vomit?
So, what’s the point?
I think that wrestling with this story trying to determine if this is a historical event
Misses the meaning every bit as much as if one were to do the same
With Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.
Instead, I think the struggle of Jonah is an invitational one.
It invites you and I into the conflict between God’s call and our response.
In the quietness and isolation of the belly of the fish, Jonah learns his lesson,
he answers his call and - he goes to Ninevah,
to that great and wicked city,
a city so big that it requires three days to see it,
and he proclaims the message of God.
The rest of the story you know.
The people of Ninevah,
from the least who lived in slums and stole for a living,
to the greatest who lived in luxury & grew fat on injustice,
every single one of the Ninevites repented,
they gave up their evil ways
and they put on sackcloth and ashes and fasted and
prayed to God for mercy.
The people were so desperate that they even dressed their animals in
sackcloth and caused them to observe the citywide fast.
And God saw the repentance of Ninevah
and he had compassion,
and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Because of one man’s obedience,
An entire nation is spared.
Imagine it if you can.
Imagine having the salvation and damnation of an entire nation,
On your shoulders, and on your willingness to follow your call.
Would you go?
Or would you jump on the next ship heading the opposite direction?
Folks, I hate to tell you this,
But the world around you does depend on your willingness to follow the
call of God on your life and to share your faith with others.
I’m talking about the power of a simple invitation.
You have heard this message from me several times now, and I want to
ask you a question…
How many of you have made an honest effort to carry it out? Anyone?
You see, this message is not just here for us to think about on Sunday
Morning and say, yeah, that’s a great idea.
Somebody should get right on that.
Sure, someone should go to Nineveh.
It’s a great idea.
Just not me.
This is about responding to God’s plan for your life.
Your faith, your religion has to extend beyond the walls of this building
If it is to truly mean anything.
Am I talking about knocking on doors and being a general nuisance to others?
Like I said last week.
No way!
I am talking about simply being invitational.
Take a look at the NT lesson and see how Jesus goes about
Hiring good help.
Mark
14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18At once they left their nets and followed him.
19When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
This is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here, we find Jesus walking along the shores of the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and his brother Andrew fishing with nets,
for they were commercial fishermen.
Jesus called out to them, "Come, follow me!
And I will make you fishermen for the souls of men!"
At once they left their nets and went along with him.
A little farther up the beach, he saw Zebedee’s sons, James and John,
in a boat mending their nets.
He called them too, and immediately they left their father Zebedee
in the boat with the hired men and went with him.
Do you notice what happens here… or more importantly what doesn’t?
No big sermons.
No doves from heaven.
No vomiting fish.
Just a simple call…
An invitation…
And a response.
That’s it.
Regular people doing their everyday jobs
Respond to call of God in their lives
And change the world forever.
That’s the Gospel.
God hires ordinary people to build his kingdom.
Why on earth would God call someone so ordinary as a fisherman
Rather than going to the synagogue and finding a “professional?”
You will remember that I began this morning by giving you
Some funny anecdotes about reading between the lines
On a resume.
I think that we have some reading between the lines to do here.
What am I talking about?
Well, if you were looking to hire someone to work for you, where would you begin?
Well, God looked down from heaven
And saw that his creation was taking on a stink of its own.
The Israelites were treating one another worse
Than their Egyptian captures while they were in exile.
His religious leaders…
His chosen people were out of control.
They cared only about themselves and their own power.
Who better to deal with the stink than fisherman.
These were hard working men willing to get dirty and in the stink of real life…
And, that’s what it takes when you live in a stinky world.
And, as I said before…
They responded to the call of God on their lives and they changed
the world forever.
Now, if you are wondering where I am going with this,
Let me be as clear as I can possibly be…
God has been calling new fishermen and fisherwomen ever since.
We are the modern day apostles.
Yet somehow,
Somewhere along the way,
That simple message of invitation has gotten lost.
Now it came to pass that a group existed who called themselves fishermen.
And lo, there were many fish in the waters all around.
In fact, the whole area was surrounded by streams and
lakes filled with fish.
And the fish were hungry.
Week after week, month after month, and year after year,
these who called themselves fishermen met in meetings and talked about their
call to fish, the abundance of fish, and how they might go about fishing.
Year after year they carefully defined what fishing means,
defended fishing as an occupation, and declared that fishing is
always to be a primary task of fishermen.
Continually, they searched for new and better methods of fishing
and for new and better definitions of fishing.
Further they said,
"The fishing industry exists by fishing as fire exists by burning."
They loved slogans such as "Fishing is the task of every fisherman."
They sponsored special meetings called "Fishermen’s Campaigns"
and "The Month for Fishermen to Fish."
They sponsored costly nationwide and world-wide congresses
to discuss fishing and to promote fishing and hear about all the ways
of fishing such as the new fishing equipment, fish calls,
and whether any new bait had been discovered.
These fishermen built large, beautiful buildings called "Fishing Headquarters."
The plea was that everyone should be a fisherman and every fisherman
should fish.
However, there was one thing they didn’t do,:
They didn’t fish.
In addition to meeting regularly, they organized a board to send
out fishermen to other places where there were many fish.
The board hired staffs and appointed committees and held many
meetings to define fishing, to defend fishing,
and to decide what new streams should be thought about.
But the staff and committee members did not fish.
Large, elaborate, and expensive training centers were built whose
original and primary purpose was to teach fishermen how to fish.
Over the years courses were offered on the needs of fish, the
nature of fish, where to find fish, the psychological reactions of
fish, and how to approach and feed fish.
Those who taught had doctorates in fishology,
but the teachers did not fish.
They only taught fishing.
Year after year, after tedious training,
many were graduated and were given fishing licenses.
They were sent to do full-time fishing,
some to distant waters which were filled with fish.
Many who felt the call to be fishermen responded.
They were commissioned and sent to fish.
But like the fishermen back home,
they never fished.
Like the fishermen back home,
they engaged in all kinds of other occupations.
They built power plants to pump water for fish and tractors to plow
new waterways.
They made all kinds of equipment to travel here and there to look at fish hatcheries.
Some also said that they wanted to be part of the
fishing party, but they felt called to furnish fishing equipment.
Others felt their job was to relate to the fish in a good way so
the fish would know the difference between good and bad fishermen.
Others felt that simply letting the fish know they were nice, land-
loving neighbors and how loving and kind they were was
enough.
After one stirring meeting on "The Necessity for Fishing,"
one young fellow left the meeting and went fishing.
The next day he reported that he had caught two outstanding fish.
He was honored for his excellent catch and scheduled
to visit all the big meetings possible to tell how he did it.
So he quit his fishing in order to have time to tell about the
experience to the other fishermen.
He was also placed on the Fishermen’s General Board
as a person having considerable experience.
Now it’s true that many of the fishermen sacrificed
and put up with all kinds of difficulties.
Some lived near the water and bore the
smell of dead fish every day.
They received the ridicule of some
who made fun of their fishermen’s clubs and the fact that they
claimed to be fishermen yet never fished.
They wondered about those who felt it was of little use
to attend the weekly meetings to talk about fishing.
After all, were they not following the Master who
said, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?"
Imagine how hurt some were when the day came that a judge suggested that
Those who don’t catch fish were really not fishermen,
no matter how much they claimed to be.
Yet it did sound correct.
Is a person a fisherman if, year after year, he never catches a fish?
Is one following if he isn’t fishing?
Hmmm.
Life is messy, isn’t it?
Messy people, messy world, messy circumstances.
What people are better equipped to deal with the mess and stink
Than people who are willing to get their hands dirty…
The fisherman.
What beautiful buildings we have built,
Committees we have served on,
Denominations we have formed all for the purpose of fishing.
That is, responding to the call of God to become fishers of men and women.
Yet, when is the last time you went fishing?
Are you willing to get your hands dirty?
Are you willing to respond to the call of God on your life?
People of God,
This is not a message for you to sit and think about…
This is an invitation for you to respond to.
You are called to fish.
How will you respond?
