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Jonah 3:1-5,10 Mark 1:14-20
Both our OT & Gospel lessons today are dealing with the call of God. This fits well with the season of Epiphany where we are challenged to see and recognize God in new ways. And what I mean by call is not really like a phone call or text message from God, but rather, the call of God is similar to asking God, “What plans do you have for me? What do you want me to be doing?” Whenever you hear or answer the call of God, you’re really answering that basic question, “Lord, what do you want me to be doing?” Most people I talk to want to know the answer to this. They want to know what God wants. Now, whether or not they want to do what God wants them to do is another questions, but I think most genuine Christians would like to know God’s hopes, desires, and plans for them so they can at least attempt to follow them. But I think there are two basic roadblocks that most folks face when struggling with figuring out what God wants them to be doing. Some people might call these excuses, but I won’t go that far, I’ll just call them complaints or roadblocks. The first complaint I hear all the time is this, “I can’t hear God’s call. I jut can’t hear him speaking in my life.” And the second complaint that people have when dealing with God’s call is simply, “I can’t.” They seem to think that they can’t do whatever it is that God wants them to do. I don’t hear this roadblock actually voiced nearly as much as the other one. No one ever says to me, “PC, I know God wants me to do that, but I just can’t.” But this is what I do hear from a lot of folks, “I’m too busy for that. I can’t sign-up for that because I can’t make that big of a commitment. That takes too much time. Or even, I don’t think I’m the right person for that job.” Well, today’s scripture passages do a good job addressing both of these complaints, so let’s just jump right in. Complaint #1: I can’t hear God’s call in my life. We all think it’d be a lot easier if Jesus just walked by with a couple other disciples, and just said, “Follow me.” We all have this grand fantasy in our head that if it were only that simple, we’d be better followers too. It is just never that clear…or so we think. Think of a busy airport terminal. Hundreds of people scurrying in dozens of different directions. About the steady buzz of noise, a voice booms through a loud speaker, “Flight 362 is now ready for departure. Will all ticketed passengers please begin boarding.” Some people, of course, never hear the announcement and continue on their way. Others hear the voice, but not having reservations on that flight, pay no attention. Some, however, who want to board that plane and have been anxiously awaiting such an announcement, look up expectantly, check their ticket for the flight number, gather their baggage, turn around, and set out with some urgency for that gate. The point is this: if you are listening for God, God will make his desires known. Maybe not in a voice from heaven or over a loudspeaker, but if you are studying the word of God, praying about it, and talking with other Christians about it, then God’s hopes, desires, and plans will become known to you. Luther said that when we read the Bible, we should read it expectantly, hoping to hear something. I think too often, our problem is that we don’t really expect to hear something from God. I doubt that when Jesus came by and said, “Follow me,” that it was just that simple. Those first disciples had to be prepared in some way, expecting something different in their lives, and when Jesus gave them the word, they were ready. God is always speaking, the question for us is, “Are we listening?” So, the second roadblock with God’s call has to do with how we think about ourselves. Can we do what God is actually calling us to do? Too often we don’t think we can, so we simply say “no” to the offer and go about our business. To help us in this department, we have the story of Jonah. Our assigned lesson this today simply says, “God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. And he went.” What the lesson leaves out is all that other stuff that I told the kids about, all that work by Jonah to get out of the call of God – getting on a boat to Tarshish, getting thrown overboard, getting swallowed by a fish, becoming fish vomit. Don’t you think it would’ve been a lot easier for him, if he had just done it God’s way in the first place? Here’s what I like about this story, though. God still wanted to use Jonah. Jonah, despite his flaws, his disobedience, despite his history, and his baggage, God still wanted to use him, still had a special plan for him, still had hopes, dreams, and desires for him. God wasn’t about to give up on him and that means that God won’t give up on us either. I recently heard a story about a kid who had lost his left arm in a farming accident. He was miserable for the longest time and went through a severe bout of depression. He just didn’t feel like he could accomplish anything in life anymore. But one day, he caught a judo competition on tv and thought he might like to try that out. So his mom, eager to get him out of his depression took him down to the dojo or whatever they called it. She took him to see the sensai, which is like the teacher, and they asked if he could maybe try judo. The sensai looked at him, and took a long look at where his left arm used to hang. Finally, the sensai said, “Okay, I’ll take you on as a student, but you have to trust me. You have to do everything I say and don’t ask questions. Can you live with that?” The boy felt the challenge and said, “Okay, I’ll do it.” So for first week of class, the sensai worked with the boy and taught him one move. And the second week, he told the boy to just keep practicing the same move. Over and over, the same move, again and again. And the boy was starting to get good at it. The third week, the sensai told him to keep practicing the same move. The boy was starting to get a little aggravated at this point because he thought he should be learning more, but he remembered his promise. Trust the sensai. Well, this pattern continued for three whole months…nothing but the same move over and over again. Finally, the sensai said, “There’s a big judo tournament this weekend and I think you’re ready for it. I already signed you up.” “What?” the boy said, “but I only know the one move.” “Trust me,” said the sensai. So the boy went to the tournament that weekend…lots of judo folks from all over and here he was, having only done it for 3 months, only knowing one single move, and missing his left arm. Well, his first match comes up and he gets a fellow novice. They go at it for just a few second and the boy whips out his move and BAM the guy goes down and he wins his first match. Wow! That wasn’t so bad, he thought. So the next match gets a little bit more difficult. They start going at it and after a minute or so he does his move BAM and the guy goes down. Match over. Now at this point he’s starting to feel pretty good about himself. The next few matches end in pretty much the same way. As soon as he does his move, the guys go down and he wins. Finally, he finds himself in the championship match. Wow! In my first tournament, this is great, he says. But he also really worried. The guy he’s going against is actually the defending champion from last year. And he’s really good. So the boy is really nervous. Trust me, says the sensai. Do your move and you’ll be fine. So the match starts and sure enough the other guy is beating the snot out of him. Its not even close. He’s taking quite a beating, but he’s hanging in there. Finally, a chance opens up for him to do his move and BAM, he does his move, the guy goes down and the match is over. He wins the whole tournament. They do all this celebrating and hooting and hollering and it’s a really good thing. He feels great. That night, on the way home with the sensai, he’s kind of analyzing how everything went down and trying to really figure out what happened. He asked his teacher, “How could this happen? How could I have won the whole thing?” Well, there’s two things you don’t know, my student. First of all, that move that you’ve been practicing these past three months – it is one of the hardest, most complex moves in judo. And through your discipline and hard work, you’ve become an expert at it. And the second thing you don’t know is that there is only one way to defend that move. You have to grab the person’s left arm. There’s two points I want to make with this story. First, God can use you no matter what. If fact, if you have weaknesses or broken places, God can actually turn those into strengths. No left arm…the sensai turned that into an advantage. Have you had cancer, maybe God can use you to support someone who’s going through it right now. Have you been divorced? Maybe God can use you to counsel others who are going through divorce. Have you felt left out or lonely? Maybe God is calling you to help welcome others into the group. God takes us as we are, no questions asked, just like he took on Jonah. No matter the past, you are still valuable to God. And the second point of that story is
trust. Sometimes we simply have to trust that God has in mind what is
best for us. Jonah didn’t think God could actually use him, but with
God, all things are possible. The boy couldn’t believe he could
compete, but the sensai knew something he didn’t know. Our God is a
good God. He wants to save people. He wants people to be with him in
heaven. He wants to heal people. He wants to be in relationship with
us. He wants us to know him, to grow to love him, to know the story of
Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. Its amazing what God can do
with just a little bit of trust, faith and commitment on our part. I’m
not sure what all is going on in your life right now, what fears you
have, what left arms that you’ve lost, what pains you’re experiencing,
or what struggles you are going through. This is what I do know. God
wanted to save Nineveh – the worst city in the world – and he did. God
wanted to us to be with him forever – so he sent Jesus to die on the
cross. God wants to know and love you more – and so he is calling to
you: “Listen. Trust me. Walk with me. Get to know me better. Hey,
even bring your baggage with you, you never know what I might find in
there to use.” Amen |
