Follow Me
Matthew 4:12-24
When our sons were little boys, I often read Bible stories to them. They liked it best when I read from The Illustrated Children's Bible
because it had full-page colored depictions of the Bible stories.
Miles and Matthew strongly preferred the stories that had a lot of
exciting action like David and Goliath, and Daniel in the Lion’s
Den. Their favorite stories in the New Testament were those
involving huge waves and raging storms on the Sea of Galilee.
From the pictures in The Illustrated Children’s Bible, the Sea of
Galilee seems comparable to Lake Michigan—the large great lake I lived
near as a child. In reality Lake Michigan is roughly 387 miles long and
118 miles wide while The Sea of Galilee is only about thirteen miles
long and eight miles wide. I always thought the illustrations were
exaggerated to add drama to the stories. Then I read something
about the Sea of Gallilee:
“Like many inland lakes, the Sea of Galilee is subject to ferocious
storms of wind which sweep down the mountain ravines from the
north. Without warning, the calm waters are churned into
mountainous waves within minutes and small ships sink before their
sails can be lowered.”
We often see what we expect to see, and nothing else. Sometimes we see
waves that aren’t really there; sometimes we don’t see the waves that
are crashing around us. Or maybe we see those waves and panic.
The gospel we just heard is set on the edge of the Sea of Galilee near
a fishing community called Capernaum where fisherman still cast their
nets today. Although Jesus had taught and been accepted in many
synagogues, he had been rejected in his own home town of Nazareth and
had walked the approximately twenty miles to the area of the Sea of
Galilee to begin his ministry there. Listen again to the words of
the gospel:
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw
two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother,
casting a net into the sea—for they were fisherman. And he said
to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’
Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went
from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his
brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their
nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their
father, and followed him.
This is an amazing story. The four men—Simon Peter, Andrew,
James and John are not just some guys hanging around the docks looking
for something to do. They are fisherman probably descended from a long
line of fishermen. As The New Interpreter’s Bible says, “These
fishermen are already at work, already doing something useful and
important, thus they are not looking for a new life.” Fish was a
much more important food source than meat in this area. The fishermen
on the Sea of Galilee supplied fresh fish for the surrounding area but
also to industries in Capernaum and other towns where fresh fish was
salted and dried for shipment throughout the Roman Empire.
So Peter and Andrew and James and John were busy, hardworking men. If
there was an empty place in their hearts and in their lives, they were
perhaps too busy to recognize it. Sometimes when we are working so hard
to make a living, raise our children, survive in this troubled world,
we don’t recognize or acknowledge the empty places in our hearts and
lives either. We are so busy we think we don’t have time to do anything
but get through each day. Then we retire and continue to live by the
habits that we’ve formed over the years!
Isn’t it amazing that those busy fishermen listened to Jesus and
immediately responded to his call? Isn’t it equally amazing when there
is a little window that opens for us? Where we are given the
opportunity to turn away from our old lives and to follow him?
In our lives, as in the lives of the four fishermen, Jesus walks in
sometimes at the most disruptive times. We think we are doing
just fine and wham! He says to us “Follow Me!” “He doesn’t say
“Admire me or accept my principles.” He doesn’t tell the fishermen or
us where we are going. He doesn’t offer any promises or
guarantees except, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
It’s easy to miss the call if our lives are so full of “stuff”.
That still small voice within us can be muffled and the tiny light
within us almost snuffed out. The good news is that the still
small voice is never completely silenced; the tiny light never
completely goes out.
I would like to share the story of one person’s call to follow our
Lord. It isn’t a fishing story. It is the story of a poor
young black man who came to Denver,Colorado from the deep south many
years ago. All he had in the world was a deep faith in Jesus and
his family’s prized recipe for bar-b-que sauce. Randolph Bruce
somehow opened a small restaurant called “Daddy Bruce’s
Bar-b-que”.
Perhaps you think I am going to tell you that Daddy Bruce by faith and
hard work became extremely successful in the measures of our
world. That didn’t happen. He didn’t bottle his recipe and
make millions. He didn’t franchise his little restaurant.
He was a simple man. His call was simply “to feed the
hungry”. He did that for many years—probably giving away more
than he sold! His largest project was to feed anyone who was
hungry on Thanksgiving. It didn’t matter if they were rich or
poor. If they were hungry, he fed them.
Daddy Bruce loved the Denver Broncos. Each year he traveled to
Greeley, Colorado to Bronco training camp. He fed the players,
the coaches and the staff.
When he died, he was still living in the one small room above his
restaurant. He left a lot of debts—all incurred because he was
much more concerned with feeding the hungry than making a lot of
money.
Two things happened after Daddy Bruce’s death. Pat Bowlin, owner
of the Broncos quietly paid off all the debts. And the people of Denver
decided the Thanksgiving dinners must continue. In 2007, over
8000 families were provided with the ingredients for Thanksgiving
dinner. A simple man responded to a “call” to feed the hungry. A
community continues to respond to that call.
Sometimes, if you are like me, you do hear the call to follow Jesus but
you think of a million reasons to say, “Not now, Lord. Call me when I’m
not so busy. Call me when my problems are taken care of.
Please call someone else who is smarter, better educated, more
confident, and more capable of succeeding. Please give me a different
way to follow you—something that I am comfortable with, something that
won’t stress me out—something that I’m positive I can do. Call me
again in six months when my life is in order.”
And sometimes when we are out in our little boats on our Seas of
Galilee, we feel like we are on Lake Michigan in the middle of a raging
storm. We feel like we are being battered, our boats are about to sink
and we are about to drown. Too often the last thing on our minds is
following Jesus. I love the Irish blessing that Edie sometimes
sends us off with:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
Wherever he may send you.
May he guide you through the wilderness,
Protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
At the wonders he has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
Once again into our doors!
When we step out in faith to follow him, we are saying,
“Here I am, Lord. I trust you to guide me through the wilderness
and protect me through the storms.” Every journey starts with a single
step; every day provides new opportunities to follow Him. Our
part is to look for those opportunities each day. It may be only
a smile to a person who looks unhappy; it may be providing a meal as
those faithful people do each week at The Open Door; it may be
accepting a job that stretches us beyond our comfort level. It
may mean that we must look at our Seas of Galilee, not as Lake Michigan
and not as the Sea of Galilee on a rough day, but as a place we will be
led to and then guided through as we follow Him.
“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
Amen
The Rev. Betsy Porter
St. James’ Episcopal Church
3rd Sunday after The Epiphany, Year A
January 27, 2008
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