A Reflection on the Call of the First Disciples

Mark 1: 14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news[a] of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[c] repent, and believe in the good news.” 

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 

As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets.  Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

REFLECTION

Today’s gospel reading tells us of the call of Simon and Andrew and then James and John.  Jesus comes up to them as they are going about their everyday business and says, “Come, follow me.”  This is important.  Jesus doesn’t say, “Listen to what I say and do it.”  Jesus doesn’t say, “Come and listen to me and learn from me.”  Jesus says, “Come, follow me.”  That me is very, very important.  Jesus isn’t just inviting these simple fishermen to learn from him and find out more about him: Jesus is inviting them to get to know him as a person; he is inviting them into a personal relationship with him.

It is very easy to know a lot about a person without really knowing that person personally.  I’ve recently finished a very good biography of John Wesley.  I know something of his early life in Epworth, how he was rescued from a fire at an early age and that his father often had problems with debt.  I know he was a dedicated student in Oxford and about his unfruitful time in America.  I know of his experience in Alders gate when his “heart was strangely warmed”.  I know he prayed daily for four hours, travelled many thousands of miles during his itinerant preaching ministry.  I know of his concerns for the poor and needy.  I could go on but I think you get the idea.  I know lots and lots of things about John Wesley but in no way could I say I know him as a person, that I have a personal relationship with him.  I know a lot about John Wesley, but I don’t have a personal relationship with him.

Sadly this is the kind of relationship some people in the church have with Jesus.  They know about Jesus, they have read the gospels, been impressed by his words, wondered at his miracles and even humbled by his death on the cross.  They know all the facts about Jesus life, but they don’t know Jesus; they don’t have that personal relationship with him.

I was brought up in the church.  I attended Sunday school from age three and was confirmed age thirteen.  I knew a lot about Jesus, but I didn’t know Jesus personally: I didn’t know that I could.

When I was 20 I had the opportunity to attend a Christian youth camp at Hollybush Farm in North Yorkshire.  I went to the evening worship service on Saturday, which was taken by a very gifted young evangelist.  His name was Roy Crowne and he’s now the Director of Youth For Christ.  He spoke to us about something I’d never heard before, about the need for confession and repentance; about the fact that nothing I could do would earn me salvation, no matter how good I was but that salvation was a gift from God given to all who accepted Jesus as Saviour and Lord: about the possibility of a personal relationship with Jesus.  When I heard Roy Crowne preach about salvation and having a personal relationship with Jesus I suddenly knew I wanted that salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus more than anything else in the world.  Just as Jesus called his disciples from their fishing boats to enter into a personal relationship with him and follow him, so he was using the mouth of Roy Crowne to call me into a personal relationship with him and follow him.

It wasn’t enough to hear that call though; I had to do something about it.  Jesus had called me personally and that hit me right in the heart, but that wasn’t enough.  Jesus said to those disciples on the shore of Galilee, “Come, follow me.”  Now if they’d heard that call but stayed in their boats not much would have happened, other than Jesus going away disappointed.   When Jesus calls us into a personal relationship with him we need to do something, but what?  How do we enter into this personal relationship with him?  How do we go from knowing about him to knowing him personally?

The answer to this question is given in our passage.  Jesus said, “Repent and believe the good news.”  This is what we have to do, not just once but continually throughout our lives.  We have to repent and believe the good news and ask Jesus into our hearts.  Repentance doesn’t just mean we feel a bit guilty about out sin and say sorry, it means changing direction in our lives.  Many people think they have repented when they’ve confessed their sins to God and asked for his forgiveness.  No, that is not repentance at all.  When we repent, when we truly repent we turn our lives away from all that is sinful, all that is unloving and against the will of God.    Repentance is turning our lives around and going off in another direction, in the direction Jesus leads us..    At Hollybush farm all those years ago I determined to turn my back on the wrong things in my life, make Jesus the Lord of my life and heart and obey him.  At Hollybush farm I really believed and understood for the first time the good news, that Jesus died on the cross in my place; that his resurrection proved everything he said was true and gives me the hope of eternal life.  At Hollybush farm I prayed and told Jesus I didn’t just want to know about him, I wanted to know him personally and follow him.

That prayer changed everything.  It’s hard to explain exactly what changed, but when I read the gospels I was no longer just absorbing facts, I was hearing Jesus speaking to my heart.  I truly felt I was getting to know the Jesus who is alive today, and not just a historical figure from long ago.  Simon and Andrew heard that invitation long ago from Jesus and accepted his call to follow.  Many men and women for the last two thousand years have heard Jesus call and experienced that personal relationship with him.  That personal relationship is available to any human being who is prepared to repent, believe the good news and follow Jesus.

But having repented and believed the good news and asked Jesus to our friend, what comes next?  What do we do as a result of our personal relationship with Jesus.  What does it mean?

Deciding to follow Jesus means that we decide to make him Lord of our lives and hearts.  It means that we obey him and try to live lives that are pleasing to God, lives that are full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

But there is more to following Jesus than just repentance and living as he would have us live.  There is more to the Christian life than worship and prayer, than reading the Bible and fellowship with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ, though all these things are important.  The clue to this is in our passage.  Jesus calls Andrew and Simon to, “Come, follow me”.  Following Jesus means entering into that personal relationship, it means praying and worship and all the rest.  But Jesus doesn’t just call those men to follow him, he adds, “and I will make you fishers of men”.  He doesn’t just call them to follow him; he calls them to perform a specific task for him, to become “fishers of men”.

Jesus has a specific thing, or things, which he wants each of us to do for him.  Sometimes he gives us a lifelong task.  Other times he gives us something he wants us to do for a short time before moving on to something else.  To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, “Some of us are called to be ordained as ministers, others to the office of local preacher; some are appointed to be Church Stewards whilst others are called to join the church choir or music group.  Still others are called to prepare food and drinks, to wash up or to set the chairs out for the service.  Others still are made to be pastoral visitors or to help in the church office or to be property stewards.”

When God created us he gave us each unique gifts and qualities that he wants us to use in his service.  The things we are good at give us a clue as to the specific task Jesus wants us to do for him.  Unless we are either very new Christians or unable to serve God through ill health or age, God has a very specific task he wants each and every Christian to do for him.  We cannot earn our salvation by working for God, of course, we must never forget that as salvation is a free gift from God to us; but we can show our gratitude to God by undertaking the task that Jesus gives to us.

What is God calling you to do?  God does not want any of us to just come to church on a Sunday, worship him, pray and listen to his word.  Yes he does want us to do that because he takes real joy and delight in our worship, but he also wants us to undertake the specific task he has for each of us.  Is God calling you to become a local preacher?  Is God calling you to offer your services as a worship leader?  Is God calling you to join the choir, or become a Church Steward, or join the catering team?  God calls each and every one of us to a specific task and If we are willing to undertake that specific task for him and ask him in prayer what it is he wants us to do, then he will make it clear to us.

Jesus said to the disciples, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”  We are told that “At once they left their nets and followed him.”  It seems such a little thing to do to leave their nets and go with Jesus.  But what that passage is telling us is that they gave up being fishermen and followed Jesus.  They closed down their business and went and followed Jesus.  They gave up their livelihoods and went and followed Jesus.  Discipleship isn’t free; there is a cost to following Jesus.

Later in Mark’s gospel Jesus tells us, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”  Jesus is totally honest with those who will follow him.  Our salvation a gift of God, there is nothing at all that we can do to earn it; but there is a cost to accepting that salvation by repenting and believing the good news and accepting Jesus invitation to “Come, follow me.”

The initial cost to Simon and Andrew was that they lost their fishing business, a guaranteed source of regular income.  Later they incurred a much greater cost as the result of following Jesus; according to Christian tradition it cost them their very lives.  The Apostle Paul paid a heavy price for deciding to heed Jesus’ call.  He suffered beatings and imprisonment, he was attacked by mobs and he too gave his life for Jesus.  History is full of examples of people who have paid the ultimate price for their faith in Jesus.  It is a fact that there were more Christian martyrs in the twentieth century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined.

We are relatively lucky in Great Britain at the moment.  It is highly unlikely that anybody here in this church today will have to give our lives for Jesus.  But being a Christian in 21st Britain isn’t always easy and we may have to make sacrifices or suffer for our faith in Jesus.  Some of us will have non-Christian friends and colleagues who will criticise us for taking a stand on certain issues that runs contrary to the dreaded politically correct attitude.  Those of us who believe in keeping Sunday special and think that only essential jobs should be done may suffer loss of earnings or pressure at work to conform and ‘do our share’ of Sunday working.  Christians are called to be holy, to stand apart from society and conform to what God wants, not to what society demands and society hates those who are different.  Even in this country it takes courage to be a Christian and can involves suffering as a result.

There is a price to pay for being Christian, but it is more than outweighed by the reward, the reward of being reconciled with God, the reward of a personal relationship with Jesus, the reward of eternal life.

Two thousand years ago Jesus called Simon and Andrew to repent and believe the good news.  He said to them, “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Jesus calls us to repent and believe the good news, he calls us to follow him and enter into a personal relationship with him and he calls us to perform a specific task for him.  We must be ever ready to respond to his call and serve him, no matter what the cost to ourselves.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, Lord God Almighty.  Just as Jesus called to Simon and Andrew on the shore of Galilee to “Come, follow me”; so he has called each of us to come and follow him.  Just as Jesus gave Simon and Andrew the special task of becoming ‘fishers of men’ so he has called each of us to do a special task for you.    Please help us to know Jesus personally as our Saviour, Lord and friend.  Please strengthen us to serve you in our daily lives and to be faithful to Jesus calling, no matter what the cost to ourselves.  We pray in the name and for the sake of Jesus, our Lord.

Amen

A Reflection on St Mark’s Account of the Baptism of Jesus

Read: Mark 1: 4-11

 If you think back to Advent you may remember that we spent a week or two looking at the ministry of John the Baptiser.  We return to John again today, but this time to look at his baptism of Jesus. 

There are some things we don’t know about the baptism of Jesus’  We don’t know when he was baptised and we don’t know exactly where.  It was in the river Jordan, but the Jordan is 156 miles long, so we can’t be sure where.  To be honest when and where don’t matter, it’s what and why that matter. 

One thing we can be certain about is that it’s a historical event that actually happened.  Jesus was baptised by John the Baptiser in the river Jordan.  Even the most sceptical Biblical scholars agreed it as a genuine historical event. 

The reason for this is simple.  John’s baptism was all about the forgiveness of sins.  Put simply, if you heard and accepted John’s message of repentance followed by baptism for the forgiveness of your sins then you were baptised.  As one scholar, R. Alan Cole explains it, “Johns baptism was not Christian baptism and was not associated with gifts of the Holy Spirit.  It was an outward sign of agreement with John’s message and repentance of sins.” 

Because Jesus was understood to be without sin and perfect from the earliest days of the church the story of Jesus receiving the sinner’s baptism from John was at the very least an embarrassment.  Donald English expresses it this way, “it is a shock that the story of the baptism of Jesus by John is included at all.  That the one who came to be understood as sinless should submit to a rite directly related to repentance and cleansing is a sure sign of the authenticity of the event.” 

So, if Jesus was definitely baptised by John the Baptiser in the Jordan the big question is why.  Why did Jesus submit to the baptism of John? 

At this point in his life Jesus had, so far as we can tell, been running the family business in Nazareth, a combination of building and carpentry.  Then he felt God’s call; it was time, time to move from the relative obscurity of life in a tiny rural village to undertake the ministry he’d been born for. 

The emergence and preaching of John the Baptiser acted as a sign to Jesus that it was time for him to begin his ministry.  It was time to answer the summons and challenge of God his Father.  He did this very publicly by submitting to John’s baptism.  It was a sign of his obedience to God. 

Jesus baptism was a moment of identification for him.  Jesus did not need forgiveness of his sins because he lived a sinless perfect life; but John was leading a movement of ordinary people back to God and by being baptised he identified himself closely with that movement 

As leading Methodist Biblical scholar, Professor Morna Hooker writes, “The acceptance by Jesus of baptism at the hands of John is a necessary link between them and an acknowledgement of John’s preparatory role.  Moreover, the Messiah stands with his people, as well as over against them, and it is therefore essential that he join this movement which is concerned to break with Israel’s past disobedience and which looks for the Kingdom of God.” 

There is also a sense in which by submitting to John’s baptism, Jesus was identifying himself with the very sinners he came to save.  Jesus had no need to undergo a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, no need whatsoever, but he did so to show them that he too was human, subject to the same needs, desires and fears, but without sin.  This sharing in the lives of sinners is characteristic of Jesus’ ministry – he frequently shared meals with sinners and helped the woman caught in adultery.  Jesus never condoned anybody’s sin but neither did he reject anybody because of their sin. 

As Donald English wrote, “In baptism Jesus shares the circumstances in which people became aware of their needs, precisely in order to meet those needs.  He was to do that again and again in his ministry and supremely in his death and resurrection.” 

Jesus’ baptism was also a moment of approval.  Jesus felt called by God, he had decided on a course of action and was looking for his Heavenly Father’s seal of approval.  At his baptism Jesus submitted his decision to God and that decision was affirmed with those wonderful words, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” 

Nick Page, reflecting on this in his book The Wrong Messiah, writes, “At his baptism Jesus understood, as he had not done before, who he was and what he was here to do.” 

Finally, Jesus baptism was a moment of equipment.  We are told that “just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” 

Jesus needed the empowering of the Holy Spirit to undertake the Ministry his Father God had entrusted him with, just as we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our own lives to live as Jesus’ disciples. 

The fact that the Spirit came in the form of a dove shows us the kind of ministry Jesus had come to do and the kind of ministry we should be doing in is name.  The form of a dove suggests gentleness and love.  Jesus would win his final victory through love on the cross as he stretched out his arms and died for us. 

There was more than one good reason for Jesus to submit to the baptism of John and I’m sure that we have only covered some of them this morning. 

But how does any of this apply to our lives as Christian disciples?  As well as giving us greater insight into the mind of our Lord, what else can we learn? 

The baptism of Jesus was and is a unique event, but it can teach us something: obedience to the call of God on our own lives.  Just as Jesus journeyed from Nazareth to his place of baptism in answer to God’s call, so we can accept the call God places on our own lives. 

Those of us who were online last Sunday rededicated ourselves to the call of God on our lives as we made our Covenant promise together.  We dedicated everything we have and everything we are to the service of God.  We agree to hold nothing back from God. 

As dedicated followers of Jesus we must follow his example.  When God calls we must answer that call, not matter how difficult that call may make our lives, no matter how life changing it might be.  We must remember that part of the calling of all Christians is involvement in our community on behalf of Jesus, involvement in the messy, challenging and complicated things that are the lives of others.  We are not called to be Christians just to sit in our churches worshipping and enjoying the warmth of fellowship together, but to get out into the world and to make a difference for Jesus.  Finally, we are to do this with the gentleness and love so characteristic of Jesus’ own earthly ministry. 

Let us pray, 

Eternal Father,
at the Baptism of Jesus
you revealed him to be your Son
and anointed him with the Holy Spirit.
Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit
faithful to their calling as your people:
through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.