B Epiphany 3 - Mark 1:14-20 "Come, Follow Me"

Mark 1:14-20

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.  15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!” 16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”  18 At once they left their nets and followed him. 19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets.  20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Sermon

Follow me!  Come, follow me!  Following! 

What do you like to follow?  Are you a follower of Aussie cricket successes?  Are you a follower of sport? 

We Australians love to follow things.  Followers of fashion and trends, cattle prices, the housing market, followers of the latest weather predictions.   We love to follow the latest fads, we pursue our peers—we like to follow the Joneses.  Every parent and child knows toy stores make accommodation for kids caught up in the latest crazes.  Adults are followers too.  Have you noticed that when someone decides to put up Christmas lights, plant something different, or do something to their property, others around them follow along too?  Maybe, so they’re not left behind! 

Australia is the lucky country, so we’re told.  We have freedom to follow what ever we like.  The Australian way of life is a life worth following.  The Aussie barby, meat pies, lamingtons, dodging mossies, going to the beach and having ice-cream afterwards, are all worth following.  Australian icons are applauded, like the Aussie battler in the face of adversity, sticking together with others when the chips are down.  Think of the Bali bombings, the fires that ravage our country, floods and devastating drought.  These events bring us together as one, following the Australian ideal.  We work hard so that we can follow our dreams, for our personal security and for the wellbeing of Australia.

Come follow me.

There was a group of Galilean fishermen, who worked hard tending their nets, preparing their boats, and fished the lake.  Simon and Andrew, and the sons of Zebedee, James and John, were fishermen, doing what knew – respecting and giving themselves to the practices and traditions of their fathers.  They worked hard following the winds in pursuit of fish, to feed their families and find security.  They were followers of the Galilean lifestyle, it was what they did, and it was what they understood.

Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

These men, these seekers of fish, sellers of fish, smellers of fish, busy attending to their fishy business were turned by three little words.  ‘Come follow me.’  Jesus came to them and turned their following from fish to faith.  Ironically, those who were fishermen had become the targeted fish, the sought after species.  ‘Come follow me’ was the net that captured them for life. 

Jesus, just an ordinary man unknown to these fishermen, stood on the Sea of Galilee’s bank, spoke these human words from human lips, ‘Come follow me’.  But beneath his humanity, buried in the bait of his body lay the razor sharp hook of his divinity.  ‘Come follow me’ cast from the mouth of God into the ears of Simon and Andrew, James and John stuck its barb into the hearts of these men.  The ease, with which Jesus made the catch, was so effortless that it was hardly sport.  Mark tells us in the text that immediately Simon and Andrew left their nets, and James and John left their father, Zebedee, and followed Jesus.   They cast aside what they knew—their work, their security, and their families; all the things that they had formerly followed—to come after Jesus. 

It is the same with us.  At our baptism Jesus said ‘Come follow me, let the little children come to me’; the divine hook cast into our ears jagging our hearts; the Holy Spirit winding in the line and bringing us to our Saviour.  God calls our attention away from the things we like to catch in our sinfulness, and calls us to follow Jesus’ rod, real, and line, being fished closer and closer to him.  Just as he came into the lives of his future disciples, and stood on the bank of their existence, he stands in our Australian existence as well and said, ‘Come follow me.’ 

‘Come follow me!’ These are words that continue to call us to repent and believe in the good news, the good news that the kingdom of God is near, is with us.  The kingdom present in the man, Jesus, in the Australian context.  Just as Jesus called the fishermen in fishermen language, he said, ‘Come follow me’ calling you and me, Australians, in the Australian way.  Just as he calls all people in all cultures to the waters of Baptism.

Come follow me.

When Jesus came to Galilee he proclaimed that the time has come.  That time has ‘not’ come and gone, the call, ‘Come follow me’ was not a once off for the disciples, nor is it a once off for us.  In the text Jesus said to the fishermen ‘Come follow me’, and he repeated this call over and over again.  Just like fish hooked on a line, the disciples fought against the call to follow.  Time and time again they turned from Jesus and tried to break the line of faith.  But time and time again Jesus called them back to him.

A quick skim through the gospels gives us a portrait of the disciples, showing their lack of ability in hanging onto the line of faith, Jesus first cast into them through his words, ‘Come follow me.’

  In Mark’s gospel the disciples failed to recognise Jesus in the storm on the lake, and lost faith that he would protect them.  Three times they failed to see how a little bread would feed 5000, 4000, and the 12 of them in the boat.  And their continual efforts to be the greatest, self sufficient, and narrow minded, pulled hard on the line of faith.  Their failure to keep watch at Gethsemane, as well as Peter’s threefold denial, makes it plain to us that they weren’t capable of holding onto the divine hook Jesus set in their hearts through his words ‘Come follow me’.  But Jesus knew what they were like when he first called them, he knew they were weak, but over and over again he taught them, he reset the hook, he removed the lack of faith with words in the spirit of his original call, ‘Come follow me’. 

So often we also try to pull from the line, but like the disciples Jesus says to us, ‘Come follow me, the time has come, the kingdom is near!’   He opens the way for us to have our faith restored and the lack of faith forgiven.  ‘Come follow me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.’  Jesus knows you are sinful, that is why he became obedient to death on the cross. 

‘Come follow me!’ If these three words, give you sickly feelings of guilt or shame, now is the time to follow Jesus.  Don’t be like Judas, who held back forgivable sins from the one who is greater than all sin.  ‘Come’, he wants to take your burden.

‘Come follow me’, Jesus says, ‘Let me lift you out of the depths of sin with my rod and reel. Let me land you with my holy Word, with my holy body and blood, through the unbreakable strength of the Holy Spirit. Come follow me.’

Come follow Jesus, be Australians, be Christian Australians.  You can follow your cricket, enjoy your meat pies, your lamingtons, study the markets, follow the weather, and all things Australian.     But as Christians, people who follow Jesus, we know these things aren’t the be all and end all of our existence as people called by God.  Many things come and go, but the one who says, ‘Come follow me’ is always here.  The kingdom of God, the good news, our Saviour, has come and is near.

Jesus says to you, ‘Come follow me’.

Amen.