What could be so strong a force and so compelling that would make us drop everything and leave home? Sure, many of us have left our homes as part of a plan to pursue our dreams. Maybe we went away to college, leaving our family and old friends behind; maybe we moved to advance our careers or change our lives elsewhere, or maybe we were summoned or inspired to serve our country in the military. This really is not uncommon in today’s world of in which greater opportunity and career development are linked to mobility.
These are choices we make in our lives. But what if an unknown itinerant preacher and former carpenter talking about the kingdom of God asks us to drop everything and follow him? That's essentially the scene that Mark 1:14-21 describes; let’s face it, most of us would have a hard time imagining doing what the future disciples do. Unfortunately the details in Mark’s Gospel are few and there’s obviously a lot more we don't know than we do. But what we do know is that there was something compelling enough about Jesus and his message that prompted these four, Simon, Andrew, James and John, and later many others, to follow him, to become his disciples, students of this teacher and servants of his mission.
What could be so powerful a message in what Jesus said that would compel us to change our lives so drastically? Could this happen in our time? Mark writes “And immediately they left their nets and followed him.” His use of the word immediately suggests that something happened to them, in them. They experienced an epiphany that suddenly prompted them and called them to follow Jesus. Maybe a life of faith can only happen in the sudden profound epiphany of God at work in us?
We are called,
perhaps not so much to follow, but to take Mark’s immediately seriously. This
is not, “wait a few minutes. Let me pack my bag. I have a few more arrangements
to make.” No -- epiphanies just happen. No preparation. No packing list. No
recommendations of what to take, what to do. Karoline Lewis writes, “Jesus just happens. We have no time to think.
Epiphanies are untamable, unpredictable. There is nothing comfortable about
epiphanies. They rock your world. “Epiphanies, especially of the divine nature,
demand an immediate response. There’s no invitation for contemplation or reflection
but instantaneous commitment and risk. Or, to put it another way, no real
choice... If the heavens are ripped apart, well then, get ready for a wild
ride. This can be simultaneously freeing and terrifying. Free to respond in the
moment. Terrified of what beyond the moment will unfold. (Working
Preacher, January 18, 2015).
So, back to the
question, could this happen in our time? Naming those moments, describing those
times when your response is out of your control, might be getting close to describing
what happened with the disciples in Mark. But, what about us in the here and
now? Can we name those moments? Are we listening?
"Immediately" does indeed have a prominent place in Mark's Gospel. In this reading it is linked with "the Kingdom of God has come near," or in our language, "is just around the corner." It is also linked with "repent"-- think differently and act differently. How had they been thinking and acting? Like defeated, demoralized people? Like people with no hope? Jesus brought hope for something better, but like the ice cream truck that makes its rounds on a hot summer day, if you hesitate, you might miss it. The challenge for our generation, I think, is to get in touch with the reality of life that we live in a very privileged society. We have it good, so we hesitate to risk change. Not so long ago there was a great deal of preaching about hell, and back a bit more, images of hell abounded in paintings, stained glass and stone. People could identify their lives with those images as war and famine and disease and inequality and oppression were their everyday experience. So pinning their hopes on Jesus' promise of something better wasn't so hard. At first it was the belief in a reward in heaven after you die. But there gradually evolved the notion that God's kingdom could somehow really be near and achievable in this life. This was approached in many different ways, through revolutionary changes in government and in utopian communities. Usually there was some degree of success until the human factor of inequality began to emerge. Then the direction of God's will as Jesus revealed it was shoved aside and something else became the object of adoration. This Gospel reminds us that we are not God, we are invited to be disciples, and all of life is filled with lessons punctuated by miracles. So when do we begin?
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