Engaging the world (Mark 1: 14-20)

The week before last, I had to go to Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia, as a member of the Maritime Conference Education & Students Committee’s annual series of ordination interviews. In other words, I was part of a select delegation whose job it was to determine whether or not a number of divinity students were suited to become ordained ministers, and to also affirm other students and recommend how they might grow as their faith journey continued. It was a very mentally and spiritually intense three days, as well as being emotionally exhausting for all concerned. I mean, it’s one thing to have to sit in front of strangers and persuade them of your readiness for ordered ministry – I know, I’ve had to do it myself – but it’s quite another thing to know that within you rests the power to affirm or deny a good person’s career calling from God.

That’s what we must remember right there: that ministry is a calling, not a career choice. We don’t get into ordained ministry for the glory, the prestige or the money; I recall a co-worker on the factory assembly line congratulating me on getting into divinity school, expressing admiration as to how much money I’d soon be making. I laughed and replied, “Man, I won’t get rich from this. If I want money, I’ll stay on the assembly line with you!” No, this is a response to being called by God to go out and engage the world and tell them of the revealed love of Christ for all humanity.

But this sort of response is far from an easy one to make. My theory is that it’s because over the years, we’ve all gotten used to how our lives are going, and in what direction they’re heading. And sometimes it might not be where we’d dreamed it was going, but we accept that and continue on anyway. Well, the same sort of idea holds true for churches. I’ve been to a number of ones that merely accept the way things are, the way things have always been done, and who refuse to move forward. The people have gotten so complacent that they no longer know how to engage the world, much less one another, with the revealed love of Christ. Their faith had become a dull, Sunday-only routine, and that’s sad.

But it happens, doesn’t it? In church or in life, we get caught up in routines and slowly, we lose the vim and vigour we once had. I have to wonder if that was the case with the disciples in today’s Markan Gospel story. Simon, Andrew, James and John were all fishing or mending their nets when this man Jesus calls out to them and tells them to follow Him, that He will make them fishers of men. I wonder what sorts of looks these two sets of brothers gave each other, because Mark says they immediately left their work to follow Jesus. Did they inwardly recognize Him as the Messiah and make a move to Him right away? Perhaps they were that fed up with their lives that they automatically jumped at the chance for a little action. Did they misinterpret Jesus’ meaning and left their jobs, thinking He was talking about something else? Or were they just tired of lives that were passive in nature, and when offered the chance to take an active part in the Messiah’s ministry, they responded right away?

We’ll never know for sure but given the social circumstances of that era, it’s safe to surmise that whatever lives Simon, Andrew, James and John were leading then, that would be as good as it would ever get for the rest of their lives. Their future would be the same tomorrow as it was today. Could we blame them for wanting to break away and do something else when given the opportunity?

By looking at their response in this way, as well as at Jesus’ calling them, we see these four men beginning to take active roles in the lives of others and leaving their own passive existences behind. Through our reading this passage, we begin to see in our own lives whatever sorts of ruts we’ve gotten ourselves into.

We don’t like to admit that, but we must. When things get staid and predictable, then passivity has crept into our lives. There is much comfort in what’s predictable and that can be so nice, do not get me wrong, but there comes a time when being comfortable actually goes against what we as Christians are called to do and be. We – like Jonah, like the disciples – have been called into ministry. We have been called to spread the Word of God to a secular world that is largely unconcerned with hearing, much less abiding by, the Word of God. But if we start to give up being active and getting engaged with and by the world, preferring instead to let things unfold as they may without bothering to lift a finger, then we have become passive, ineffectual as Christians, and our comfort zones become muddy bogs of complacency. And I’m sorry, but being complacent is not what God requires of us in this world.

If we want to see what we should do, then all we need is to read that Markan passage again and focus on one single word: “immediately”. That’s the amount of time it took for Simon, Andrew, James and John to make up their minds and leave behind their jobs in order to follow Jesus. They didn’t say, “OK Jesus, we’ll come along but first, we have to put all our affairs in order, complete this day’s work, ensure the nets and boats are ready for whomever takes them tomorrow, and say our farewells.” No, they left whatever they were doing and went with Jesus immediately. Was this irresponsible of them, to just up and go like that? Well, if it had been for any other reason, then yes, it would have been very irresponsible. But this was no ordinary reason: this was the Son of God calling to them! Why wouldn’t they react with such urgency?

That’s because the disciples, however many times they made mistakes while following Jesus (and there were plenty), began their own ministries on exactly the right foot: they wasted no time in following Him. Perhaps they knew deep down inside that if they were to ask Jesus to wait for them, they’d be attempting to control God, to make God wait on us humans rather than the other way around. Maybe these four instinctively knew that following Jesus meant putting aside passivity, of allowing things to happen, and instead wanted to actively engage the world. Maybe they were tired of their lives and jobs, maybe not, but one thing is certain: when Jesus called to them, they didn’t hesitate, not one second. They followed Him immediately and thus took their first steps into an active ministry.

Now some of you might be thinking, well I’m active in the church, but I’m not a minister like Rev. Bob or those theological students he helped interview last week. That would be where I beg to differ. Whenever we go out into the world with that bold, that daring, that tender love of God within our hearts and souls, then we are ministers. To minister means, by definition, “to render aid to a person or cause”. Therefore, if we speak the name of God to someone or become active in a campaign for social justice, then we are indeed ministering. That is why the phrase, Ministers: All who worship here, adorns the front of every bulletin, as a reminder.

We come here to be refreshed, to be re-energized so that we can go out after the service and do the work not only of the church, but of God. We come here to hear our Holy Scriptures again and make parallels between our spiritual ancestors and ourselves and see God working in all of us. We come here to greet our friends and fellow travellers on the road of life that is also a faith journey. We come here to know and understand more about Jesus Christ who lived, worked, died and was resurrected on our behalf. We come here to be ministered to so we may in turn minister to others.

That is what it means to be called and to get engaged. We are not all called into ordained ministry like those students I met at Tatamagouche, but we are all called to take active roles in the wider world. It can be a daunting task, like Jonah discovered, but it is never without its rewards. With God on our side, we need not fear the battle or the outcome: success is assured, but only when we take active roles in putting God first and foremost in the world. May God bless this holy mission of ours, now and always. Amen.