Mark 1: 14- 20
After John was arrested, Jesus went to Galilee preaching the Message of God: "Time's up! God's kingdom is here. Change your life and believe the Message." Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed. A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.
In the 1990s, amongst all the angst-ridden music of my troubled generation, was a song I came across that left an indelible mark on me. Back then, I didn’t care about the song or even like the song for that matter. But the lyrics stuck in my soul. They bothered me, kept me up at night, and ultimately, years later, helped lead me to Christ. The song was inspired by the reading today. My memory is a bit foggy but at its most poignant moment, the song goes something like: “Empty nets lying there by the water’s side, Told a story that few could believe, And none could explain, How some crazy fishermen, Agreed to go where Jesus led, He said come follow me and they came, With reckless abandon they came.”
Allow the lyrics to puncture our heart a moment. These guys were average stiffs. They worked hard, talked trash, loved their families, drank wine, cursed the government, got by. But then one day this dude comes walking up to them on their job, in their life, on the ground. And all He says is “Follow me.” Whether or not they had known anything about Jesus already is not related by Mark’s Gospel. But what is written is, “They didn’t ask any questions. They dropped their nets and followed.” (The Message). They essentially placed their lives (families and all) into the hands of Jesus. That’s faith.
Do we have the same faith? Have we followed Christ with “reckless abandon”? Have we given him everything? Our hopes? Our dreams? Our families? Our addictions?
Twelve changed the world. If we as a church do so the same, imagine the result.
