"They left their nets"-Sermon for Epiphany 3, Matthew 4:12-23:
In our Gospel reading today, we find Jesus along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, at the very beginning of his 3-year public ministry. Perhaps it’s a familiar story to some of Jesus calling his first disciples from among a group of fishermen. He begins with two brothers, Peter and Andrew, and then approaches a second pair of brothers, James and John. We, also, hear in this story, Jesus’, again, perhaps familiar words of invitation to these first disciples and really to each of us, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” And, in honor of this fisher-folk oriented story and as fellow angler myself, I thought I would share one of my poems on the subject of fishing that I wrote some 9 years ago while on a fishing trip to Colorado on my last sabbatical. The poem is called “Spawning”, and it reads:
Don’t cast over there
My thoughtful friend
Gently suggests
But why
For I can see the big ones over there
Because they are making babies
Is his reply
It’s early summer and the cut throats are spawning
Securing their future at the places where the small waters become big
Ah…the miracle of life in my presence
A microcosm of our shared future
Will we give one another the peace to make babies
Or not
Or maybe more simply
Just future fish to be caught and enjoyed
But what evil is in me
Why is it so hard to keep from just one last fly cast in that direction
Why is the hunt
The catch
The picture
The victory
The big fish
The story I can tell
My own satisfaction
An ego stroked by competence on the water
So powerful
So uncontrollable
So utterly corrupted
I did not make the cast
Probably most to avoid feeling ashamed before my friend
Than anything more noble
Maybe there is hope
Or maybe the end for us all has already been written
On my own heart
Now, admittedly, the poem makes a sort of dark twist at the end. But, what I think I was trying to describe is that the line between good and evil doesn’t run through states or cultures or tribes or political parties…but right through each and every human heart. It is on the inside in the unseen places of the head and heart where we determine who we will choose to be…in and for the world. Will we follow the way of love to which Jesus both calls and bids us to follow…or not…to instead…choose self…self-interest…self-service…our own safety…our own protection…our own advancement…the adulation and praise that the ego, indeed, desires. And, of course, this is a false choice. For, as the far more gifted poet and priest than I, John Dunne, reminds us…no person is an Island unto themselves. Therefore, our own salvation…our hope for a life full of purpose and meaning…our ability thrive and flourish, to spawn beauty and hope...is all tied up in each other. Love is what makes the world go round…love is what sets our hearts on fire…love is what makes meaning in the midst of the worlds madness…and love is by definition shared…something given and received…between people. Though we should indeed love ourselves well…practice much self-compassion and positive self-talk…I believe we do so to a particular end…to have within us the power and possibility to love others…to love all…well…most especially those suffering at the hands of a rampant self-interest in our world that seeks to diminish and destroy…to continually crucify love on the crosses that are continually erected…in the very places, on the very streets, where we live, move and have our being.
And, despite the fact that the choice to choose self is ultimately to choose isolation, fear and the self’s own destruction…to, instead, choose the good…to choose to follow Jesus and his way of love is, simply said, often a hard choice…for real risk is involved. When we open our hearts to others, their suffering often becomes our own…and our hearts can and will be broken. When we open our hearts to others, their suffering often asks us to stand up and speak up on their behalf, which can strain relationships…cause distance and deep disagreement…even make us feel and, at times, actually be unsafe. But the way of love to which Jesus calls and leads…that he incarnates…is resurrection and life…the very salvation of the world…and all who it contains.
But, the very good news is that we are not alone in this spiritual work of discernment…this deeply spiritual work of choosing, much like Jesus’ first disciples, choosing to follow…to follow Jesus and his way of love. Now, my best guess is that if Jesus had approached these two pairs of siblings, Peter and Andrew and then James and John, individually, rather than in pairs, that the result would have been the same. That is they each would have made the personal choice to lay down their nets and follow Jesus. But, still, I wonder if there might have been divine wisdom in approaching these people in pairs. For, I wonder if there might have been a moment when brother looked to brother, exchanging the thought, whether spoken or not, if you go, I will go…where you go, I will go. If you lay down your nets and follow, I will follow along your side wherever this path…this way of love Jesus has set before us…might lead. And, when you falter and fall, when you want to turn back and return to your nets, when that feels like an easier and safer life, I will help pick you back up. I will help you take the very next step in a good and Godly direction. I will help you renounce the evil and choose the good. And, I know you will do the very same for me. Friends, there is strength in numbers. We are each other’s keepers and encouragers. Together…only together, always together…we can and will find our way through this present darkness. We can and will find the courage to stand up and speak up when it is hard and uncomfortable…and always with the light of God’s love beckoning us on…providing illumination and hope…that the darkness of sin and death can never, not ever, overcome…for the way that Jesus leads is resurrection and life.
And, I think this is what we do one for another at each and every baptism, which like those first disciples laying down their nets to follow Jesus, is a beginning…the beginning of a whole new life of following Jesus and his way of love. We were to have a baptism today that the weather derailed…but very soon…we will, in a sense, say to Owen, the child to be baptized…we will go with you into the future that Jesus has set before you and each of us. We will walk with you, as you grow more and more into the person God has created you to be. We will help you find your footing when the world causes you to stumble. You are never alone on this wondrous adventure. For, we do the life of faith always together…and Jesus is always with us leading the way. And, I think this is, in a sense, what we do at our Parish Meeting, which was also to happen today…but now in two weeks. At the annual Parish Meeting each year, we recommit to walk together into the life God has set before us…to become more and more the people and place that God has created us to be…to pick each other up when we fall…to share in each other’s struggles…to listen to each other and pray for each other and care for each other. For the way of love that Jesus bids us to follow is risky and sometimes really hard and, indeed, often requires much of us…but it is the only way…and we are in it together…with Jesus and one another.
Despite the dark tone in my poem’s ending, I don’t really believe the end is already written on our hearts. Instead, I believe we will make peaceful places for life in all of its fullness to spawn and flourish…that we are always becoming more and more who God created us to be. For we have friends, like mine in the poem, we have each other to remind us of who we really are and to whom we really belong. For we are breathtakingly beautiful, capable of choosing so much good, and created in the very image of love. And, we belong to God, who is love, and to each other. We have friends, we have each other, who go where we go. Friends who help us find our footing when the world causes us to stumble…friends who help us see the lighted path along the way of love…the power and possibility to choose good over evil. For the end for each and for all has already been written…but on the walls of an empty tomb…and those words read…Resurrection and Life…discovered together, never alone, always together. Amen.