It's Worth It

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 3, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Mark 1:16-20.

One of the things you notice when you read the Bible is that, most of the time, the people who wrote it took a “just the facts” approach to things.  They did not tell us a lot about what people thought or how they felt.  They just told us what people did. 

            And one of the books that makes that obvious is the book of Mark.  Mark is the shortest of the gospels, and the reason for that is that Mark gets right to the point.  Mark gets in, gets it, and gets out.  Mark does not give us Jesus’ birth story, for example.  Mark disposes of Jesus’ baptism in three sentences.  He gets Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness out of the way in two sentences.  Mark is in a hurry to get to what he sees as the most important thing--Jesus’ ministry on earth, and of course his death on the cross.

            You see that in our reading for today, too.  Jesus calls his first four disciples.  Simon (who’d later be known as Peter), Andrew, James, and John.  You’d think this would be a pretty big deal, right?  Jesus choosing the first four people who were going to be the closest to him, who’d travel with him, who’d learn from him, who’d ultimately carry on his work after he was gone.  You’d think that’d be worth spending some time on.  And yet, Mark takes care of it in four sentences.

            It seems to me that there’s so much about Jesus choosing the disciples that we take for granted.  Why did Jesus choose the people that he chose?  Specifically, why did he choose the four we met today:  Simon, Andrew, James, and John?

            Well, who were they?  They were fishermen.  We know that, probably, but we don’t think about it often enough.  Why would Jesus choose fishermen to be his disciples?

            Well, let’s think about what a fisherman was at that time.  Fishing was not just a hobby, the way it is now.  It’s not something people did for fun.  Well, maybe a few did, but for most people who were fishermen, this was a business.  This was how they made a living.  They’d catch the fish and sell them to merchants, store owners, who would then sell them to the public.  These fishermen were what today we’d call entrepreneurs.  Small business owners.  James and John, at least, had employees--we’re told that they left their father “with the hired men” when they went to follow Jesus.

            So what does that tell us about them?  Well, it tells us a few things.  For one thing, it tells us that they were willing to work hard.  Running a fishing business was hard work.  You worked long hours.  You were out in all kinds of weather.  You did a lot of physical work.  Sort of like running a farming business now, I suppose.  Jesus knew the road they were traveling was not going to be an easy one, and he needed people who could handle that.  He chose some people who were tough and who could work hard.

            It also tells us they knew how to handle people.  They had to deal with employees.  They had to deal with shopkeepers.  They had to know what to do when people did not like them, wanted to argue with them, treated them badly, did not want to do what they wanted them to do, all kinds of things.  Jesus knew that anyone who was close to him was going to have to deal with all kinds of people, and he needed people who would know how to do that. 

            He also needed people who knew how the world works, and nobody knows that better than a small businessman.  If a small businessman does not know how the world works, he’s not going to be a businessman for very long.  He’s got to know how to get the bills paid.  He’s got to know how to meet a payroll.  He’s got to know how to keep customers satisfied.  He’s got to know how to keep employees motivated.  Jesus chose these fishermen because he needed people who know how the world works.

            He also needed people who were willing to take risks, and that’s a small businessman, too.  Just starting a business is a risky proposition.  Every time you try something new you’re taking a risk, and yet you know if you don’t try something new, your business is going to stagnate.  Jesus knew following him was going to be a risky thing.  The only people who’d be willing to do it, who’d be willing to stand by him when the going got tough, were people who were willing to take risks.

            And that’s why these four fishermen were willing to follow Jesus--because they were willing to take risks.  Think about it.  At least as Mark tells the story, Jesus sees Simon and Andrew and says one sentence to them.  “Come, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.”  And they immediately followed.  And when it comes to James and John, we’re not even told what Jesus said.  We’re just told that “he called them”, and they immediately followed.

            And to me, that raises even more questions.  For instance, did these four people--Simon, Andrew, James, and John--did they know who Jesus was?  Did they understand who they were going to be following?  Did they have any clue whatsoever what they were getting into when they left their boats and their nets to follow Jesus?

            Now, it’s certainly possible, and I suspect it’s likely, that they knew something about him.  Just before what we read today, Mark says, “Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  “‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’”

            When Jesus did that, it seems likely that people started talking about him.  And if people were talking, then Simon, Andrew, James, and John sure could’ve heard what they were saying.  It’s even possible that they’d heard Jesus say this himself, that they’d been in the crowd where Jesus was talking.  In fact, it’s even possible that Jesus had seen them there, that they’d caught his eye, and that there was something about them that made him want to choose them to join him in his ministry.

            But even if that’s true, they were still taking a big risk.  They were leaving behind their businesses, businesses they’d probably worked very hard to build.  And they were leaving it for--what? 

            Well, by Jesus’ words, they were leaving it for the kingdom of God.  That’s what Jesus had said in Galilee.  And that’s what they wanted.  These four people knew that it did not matter what they had on earth.  They knew there is nothing we can ever gain on earth that’s worth more than the kingdom of God.  And so, for them, what they were leaving behind did not matter.  What they were going to gain by following Jesus would be more than worth it.

            We say that salvation and eternal life are available to everyone, and that’s true.  We say that Jesus calls everyone to follow him, and that’s true, too.  But not everyone will follow Jesus.  Not everyone will accept the salvation and eternal life that are available to us.

            In order to follow Jesus, we need to have those qualities the first disciples had.  For one thing, we need to be willing to work hard.  If we’re going to truly follow Jesus, Jesus is going to require some things of us.  Jesus does not call us to just be along for the ride.  There are things Jesus wants us to do, and they’re not always going to be simple and easy.  Truly following Jesus sometimes means doing some hard work.

            We need to know how to handle people.  More than that, we need to love people.  We all know that Jesus tells us to do that, love our neighbor as ourselves.  But how seriously do we take that?  How seriously do I take that?  I don’t know about you, but I know I can be really good at making excuses not to love certain people at certain times.  A lot of times I don’t admit that to myself.  I say I love them, but I make excuses not to put that love into action.  And when you think about it, love that’s not put into action is really not worth much, is it?  Truly following Jesus means loving people, and it means putting that love into action.

            And we need to be willing to take risks.  Because, just like those first disciples, we really don’t know what we’re getting into when we decide to follow Jesus.  We don’t know where Jesus is going to lead us.  We know what we have.  And sometimes, we really like what we have.  Sometimes we’re very proud of what we have, just like those first disciples were probably proud of the fishing businesses they’d built up.  And we leave that for--what?

            We leave it for the kingdom of God.  That’s what the disciples wanted.  Is that what we want?  We say we do.  We say, as the disciples knew, that there’s nothing we can ever gain on earth that’s worth more than the kingdom of God.  But do we really believe that?  And do our actions show we believe it?

            Those first disciples did.  They knew that it did not matter what they were leaving behind.  They knew that what they would gain by following Jesus would be more than worth it.  Because what they would gain, again, would be the kingdom of God.

            We can gain that, too.  May we have the courage to do what those first disciples did.  May we be willing to do the work, to put our love into action, and to take the risk of following Jesus.  Doing that will mean that we leave something behind.  But the kingdom of God is worth it.