January 24, 2021 – Mark 1:14-20
Mark 1:14-20
Catching the Big One!
Lectionary 3B – 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany – January 24, 2021
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Mark starts his Gospel in such a fascinating way.
No angels, no Mary and Joseph, no shepherds, no wise guys:
just a breathless hitting the road running.
Which sounds pretty straightforward – but it all happens very fast!
We are only 14 verses in, and already we have been introduced to John the Baptist,
Jesus has been baptized by John in the Jordan River and right after is
driven into the wilderness to be tested.
Whew!
A whirlwind!
But that is par for the course in a gospel in which the writer’s favourite word is “immediately.”
But hang on a mo.
It is not at all straightforward.
I mean, Mark is pretty direct, and that is why I love this Gospel.
But what is it all about?
There are these words in our reading today that come fast and furious.
Words like, “proclaiming,” “good news of God,” “kingdom of God,” “repent,” “believe.”
But what do they really mean?
And then he tells a story that also seems straightforward about Jesus calling the first disciples
and telling them he will make them “fishers of people.”
But what does that mean? Well, let’s try and sort it all out.
I think a problem with this Gospel is that it all happens so breathlessly
we are tempted to read it that way as well – but that would be a mistake.
If pandemic living has taught me anything, it is that we need to slow down.
The first thing Jesus does in his ministry, we learn, is he proclaims.
He preaches. I wish the translators had just said that: he comes preaching.
Makes me feel close to Jesus.
Everything flows from his preaching – everything comes after that.
When I am really down about the impact of preaching sermon after sermon,
of proclaiming the same good news that Jesus does, I just remember Jesus:
everything starts with preaching. Nothing happens without it.
It’s important – it’s super important,
even if it is not high on the list of valued skills in our society.
So I keep doing it, because it was important in the ministry of Jesus,
and everything came from it.
But what is he preaching?
Well, the same thing I preach in season and out of season,
whether the time is favourable or unfavourable: the “good news (the gospel) of God.”
A “gospel” usually announced the good news of a sovereign’s imminent arrival to a city.
So Jesus is announcing the good news that God is coming as sovereign.
And God is coming to reign – in our translation, it says God’s “kingdom” is coming,
but really a better translation is God’s reign or maybe best of all, “God’s reigning”:
The time is fulfilled, God’s reigning has come near.
God is coming to reign with peace and love and justice.
And that reign is breaking into the world through Jesus and his ministry.
Where the sick are healed, where the hungry are fed, and where the different are welcomed
God is already reigning on earth in those places.
So, Jesus says, “repent!”
That is, “turn around!” Or “Change what you care about” in light of this coming reign of God!
Have now as your priorities God’s priorities: the sick, the hungry, and the different!
See, Mark is very much wanting us to understand that a great showdown is about to occur.
And the showdown is between the reign of God and the reign of Caesar.
Their reigns are incompatible with one another.
There can only be one sovereign.
Which is why, in the end, Jesus will be executed by crucifixion as a traitor to Rome.
Jesus is calling us to repent, to turn around, to change what we care about.
For when we do, we are aligning our priorities with God’s priorities,
and we are participating with God in bringing in God’s reign of love.
So now you have gotten this far, and you are wondering:
Preacher, can we please get to the fishing story now?
Okay, says the preacher, here you go.
I used to sometimes tell a cute story when preaching on this text about me and my brother-in-law
fishing at Mary Gregg lake in Alberta and not catching a single thing and
freezing our butts off and having to eat our canned beans because
the locals told us the best thing to use for bait was corn and
marshmallows and
I’m sure they had a good laugh when we left the shop.
I will make you fish for people, says Jesus.
It was so interesting reading commentaries on what this actually means this time round.
It is a perplexing thing to say.
Catching people? Like fish? In order to consume them?
Not really a great metaphor.
I will tell you that all the commentators I respect most did not venture to interpret
what it means to “fish for people.”
They talked about the “proclaiming” and the “repenting” and “God’s kingdom.”
But not fishing for people – because it is so unclear what Jesus means by it.
I know it is almost universally interpreted to mean “evangelizing” or
“making Christians” of people, or “getting people into church” or
“making disciples.”
But in the context of what Jesus says about God’s reign – and the showdown that is coming –
it is much more likely that Jesus means something quite different.
Example: in the Old Testament, the “hooking of fish” meant judgment on the rich and powerful.
For instance, here’s Amos:
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria,
Who oppress the poor and who crush the needy. . .
The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness:
The time is surely coming upon you,
When they shall take you away with hooks,
Even the last of you with fishhooks. (Amos 4:1-2)
Yikes!
So what Jesus likely means when he tells his disciples he will make them “fish for people”
is that he is enlisting their help to overturn the existing social order – i.e. Caesar’s reign –
that privileges a few while neglecting the needs of all.
In the words of Ched Meyers from his book, Binding the Strong Man:
Jesus is inviting common folk to join him in his struggle to overturn the existing order of power and privilege.
They will do this not through violence – as we will see –
but through lifting up the poor and needy, by including the excluded,
by welcoming and seeing the gifts in all,
and . . . by forgiving the Romans when they are put to death.
For that is how society is really overturned and how hearts of stone are melted.
Forgiving, and lifting up. That is the program.
Our whole ministry at First Lutheran Church is mostly about just such a lifting up.
It is about hearing Jesus’ invitation and participating with him in the coming in of God’s reign.
At Sargent and Victor, you have a vision for a different sort of community.
A community where all who feel themselves different are welcomed,
A community where the gifts of all are valued.
A community where the hungry are fed and
the healing of body, mind, and spirit for all are prioritized.
A community where racism has absolutely no place,
where are all truly sisters and brothers to one another.
I know in this time of pandemic and the restrictions on our worship
it is difficult to feel the importance of this.
But to Jesus it is so so important!
God is actively reigning!
God’s work is happening!
Your preacher is preaching and preaching and preaching!
Jesus is working through you and our beloved community!
So take heart.
The work begun on that strand long ago is continuing.
Change is possible.
Jesus has called us and we have responded.
God is with us.
And a new day is coming. Amen
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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