The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017 - 23

sermon
dream and pursue justice through protest and advocacy now,
for now is the time-and, on the other hand, trying to figure
out what exactly we stand to lose, as people always do during
transitions of power.
We must leave our fear.
I wonder how Simon and Andrew and James and John felt
when they were approached by a strange man on the shore of
the Sea of galilee. Maybe they stood there in the boats as the
man who was Jesus gestured at them and uttered some nonsense about being a "fisher of people." Maybe they thought,
"I'm not really sure what that means, but somehow, I know I
want to be a part of that work."
Living in Roman-occupied galilee as poor fishermen, how
much do we really believe that Simon and Andrew dropped
their nets immediately, asking no questions? That James and
John left their father in the boat and never looked back? I
often wonder at what really happened-if it were me, or you,
wouldn't you want to know who was this guy that's asking you
to follow him?
What does "fishing for people" mean? I'd ask questions
and want to see a résumé and a travel plan and a documentation of hotel stays and wonder who's driving and have a list
of restaurants to visit, and...you get the idea.
Or-did it really happen as the author of Matthew's
gospel writes it? Simon and Andrew and James and John all
recognized at least some of what was at stake with Jesus' offer.
Did they know their lives would change? Did they know they'd
possibly never return to their families? Did they know they'd
maybe never be the same again? Perhaps they realized that, on
some level, this was a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-blue-moon
invitation they could not refuse.
What made it such an offer?
When I think of receiving invitations that I can't refuse, I
think they fall into the following categories: (1) often these invitations are rare and include people we love working with or we
don't see regularly; (2) they concern issues about which we are
passionate and are important to making our world a better place.
Something else comes to mind. Listen to
this familiar passage and see what jumps out
at you. These words are a benediction that we
hear often at my church, originally penned by
William Sloane Coffin and having undergone
several iterations and updates to the language
before landing on our ears here at glendale:

So may God take your minds and think through them.
May God take your lips and speak through them.
May God take your hands and work through them.
May God take your heart(s) and set them on fire.
Did you find it? The part that caught my ear? "To risk
something big for something good."
For the brothers at the Sea of galilee, it would have been a
huge risk to give up what little security they had as blue-collar
laborers, a huge risk to leave their nets and their boats and all
vestiges of their livelihood and follow Jesus. Why these people,
those who have so little to lose that it seems a monstrous amount
to risk? And yet, they heed Jesus' invitation?
It is just this huge risk that makes the story powerful: Jesus
does not follow societal lines of class stratification to decide
whom to call to be his disciples. Perhaps Jesus knew that kings
and princes and priests and those of high standing would not
give up the promise of their wealth and security and status in
order to bring about the kin-dom of god, in order to follow
Jesus as he preached "change your hearts and lives! Here comes
the kin-dom of heaven!" That would be too much of a risk
for them, and surely, they would not give up a predictable and
stable life for the "something good" in Coffin's benediction.
Audrey West writes on the Working Preacher blog,
As Jesus walks beside the water, the soon-to-be-disciples are
engaged in their everyday jobs: earning a living for themselves and
their families by fishing in the Sea of Galilee. They are probably
at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder; their work is dirty
and physically challenging, and it demands their attention from
sunup to sundown. Jesus does not seem to be bothered by their
grimy fingernails, their wet and dirty clothing, not even by their
low social status or lack of political power. The One with the
kingly pedigree (see Jesus' birth narrative) does not demand that
they shower up before joining his mission, nor does he ask questions
about their education, their abilities, nor their availability for an
extended time away from home.
Please see "Something Big" on page 24

art by Rebecca S. Ward

May the Holy One bless you and keep you.
May God's face shine upon you and be gracious
unto you.
May God give you the grace never to sell yourselves
short;
Grace to risk something big for something good;
Grace to remember that the world is now too
small for anything but truth, and too dangerous
for anything but love.

Baptist Peacemaker

jul-sep 2017 23

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America July-September 2017