In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Last week we heard the account from the Old Testament of the Lord calling the first of Israel’s great prophets, the prophet Samuel. He was in the temple of the Lord as a child; he “did not yet know the Lord”; and “the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him” (1 Sam. 3.7). But the Lord called to him in the night, and Samuel learned to discern the Lord’s voice, and he answered: “Speak Lord, for your servant hears” (1 Sam. 3.10).
Today the Gospel lesson sets before us the account of the Lord calling Simon and Andrew, James and John. “Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1.15).
Our lectionary has us hearing this text today, on the heals of our commemoration of the Lord’s Baptism, because the Lord’s baptism marked the beginning of his public life. It meant the end of the era of the Old Testament, and the beginning of the New, the dawning of the Kingdom of God. I have said many times that Jesus is himself the Kingdom of God, because his life, every moment of his life, and every ounce of his being, was given, 100%, to the carrying-out of God’s will. He was the instantiation, the INCARNATION, of the divine will. And so he is not only the King, but he is the Kingdom, the place where God reigns.
We can see, therefore, why he should come onto the scene of history saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand…” Because HE HIMSELF is at hand. He has arrived. The world can see him – can see the Kingdom. It – and HE – are THERE. You can lay eyes on him; you can listen to his voice; you can lay hands on him; he can be touched; he can even be killed.
This supreme and preeminent fact of the history of the cosmos demands a response from those who encounter it. The Incarnation of the eternal Word is the axis around which human history now turns – we measure our years by it – it confronts us. God’s presence in the ambit of history is not an object of curiosity. The Lord did not come among us to be studied and scrutinized, he came to CALL US to himself. His presence is an invitation to be accepted or declined, but it cannot be ignored.
And so we return to the voice of the Lord: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; REPENT, AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL.” That is the substance of the Lord’s invitation. He calls us to be his disciples. He calls us to repentance: to stop whatever else it was we were doing, or whatever it is we are inclined to do, and to follow him. The manifestation of the kingdom means that we can no longer find fulfillment, we can no longer earn a living, we can no longer find ourselves, in ANYTHING or ANYONE other than Jesus Christ.
“And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea… And Jesus said to them, ‘FOLLOW ME…’ And IMMEDIATELY they left their nets and followed him. And going a little farther, he saw James… and John…. And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.”
Notice how Saint Mark repeats the word “immediately”. This word draws out attention to the fact that an encounter with the Kingdom, with the incarnate Word, is an encounter with a PERSON. Jesus Christ calls to us. Do discern the will of God, to listen for his voice in our lives, does not mean to consider a set of abstract propositions; much less does it mean to follow a set of rules. Rather it means to answer the call of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, and Son of Mary. He is many things, but perhaps before anything else, he is a person… a person who loves us, who has come to us, right into the middle of our circumstances, our isolation or our confusion… who calls us by name.
This is the call we will recognize. And throughout the Gospels we see the personal nature of the call of Jesus. Just last Sunday we heard the Lord call Nathaniel, and the personal nature of the Lord’s call – the fact that the Lord KNEW him (Jn. 1.48) – so moved Nathaniel that he confessed Jesus, then and there, to be “the Son of God, the King of Israel” (John 1.49). And perhaps the most moving instance of this in the Gospels is Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Lord at dawn on Easter morning. Mistaking Jesus for the gardener, the anguished Magdalene says “they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him” (Jn. 20.13). And Jesus simply said to her “Mary”, and with joy, she recognizes him.
The Lord calls us each by name. And he calls us anew each day. To each of us he says “Follow me.” And immediately we are faced with a decision. To follow him means that we must trust him. Ultimately to trust him means to trust that he will lead us home, that we will be enfolded in his mercy, in the quiet, unyielding sweep of eternity through the arc of history; that we will be enfolded in his holy incarnation at Bethlehem, and carried on the ebb his passion and death, over history’s visible horizon to the shores of heavenly Zion.
But as it was for Mary Magdalene, for Nathaniel, for Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John, it begins by our listening for his voice. It begins with vigilance and daily prayer. Peter and Andrew had their nets, James and John had their father Zebedee, and so too we have a thousand preoccupations and commitments, and a part of repentance means the reordering of our priorities, and a reconstruction of the hierarchies of our lives in the light of our confession of faith in the Gospel.
Jesus Christ alone is our salvation, our only hope, our light and our peace. Apart from him there is only confusion, disorder, and ultimately death. But he is the way, the truth and the life. And to each of us he says “Follow me.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Last week we heard the account from the Old Testament of the Lord calling the first of Israel’s great prophets, the prophet Samuel. He was in the temple of the Lord as a child; he “did not yet know the Lord”; and “the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him” (1 Sam. 3.7). But the Lord called to him in the night, and Samuel learned to discern the Lord’s voice, and he answered: “Speak Lord, for your servant hears” (1 Sam. 3.10).
Today the Gospel lesson sets before us the account of the Lord calling Simon and Andrew, James and John. “Now after John [the Baptist] was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel’” (Mark 1.15).
Our lectionary has us hearing this text today, on the heals of our commemoration of the Lord’s Baptism, because the Lord’s baptism marked the beginning of his public life. It meant the end of the era of the Old Testament, and the beginning of the New, the dawning of the Kingdom of God. I have said many times that Jesus is himself the Kingdom of God, because his life, every moment of his life, and every ounce of his being, was given, 100%, to the carrying-out of God’s will. He was the instantiation, the INCARNATION, of the divine will. And so he is not only the King, but he is the Kingdom, the place where God reigns.
We can see, therefore, why he should come onto the scene of history saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand…” Because HE HIMSELF is at hand. He has arrived. The world can see him – can see the Kingdom. It – and HE – are THERE. You can lay eyes on him; you can listen to his voice; you can lay hands on him; he can be touched; he can even be killed.
This supreme and preeminent fact of the history of the cosmos demands a response from those who encounter it. The Incarnation of the eternal Word is the axis around which human history now turns – we measure our years by it – it confronts us. God’s presence in the ambit of history is not an object of curiosity. The Lord did not come among us to be studied and scrutinized, he came to CALL US to himself. His presence is an invitation to be accepted or declined, but it cannot be ignored.
And so we return to the voice of the Lord: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; REPENT, AND BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL.” That is the substance of the Lord’s invitation. He calls us to be his disciples. He calls us to repentance: to stop whatever else it was we were doing, or whatever it is we are inclined to do, and to follow him. The manifestation of the kingdom means that we can no longer find fulfillment, we can no longer earn a living, we can no longer find ourselves, in ANYTHING or ANYONE other than Jesus Christ.
“And passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea… And Jesus said to them, ‘FOLLOW ME…’ And IMMEDIATELY they left their nets and followed him. And going a little farther, he saw James… and John…. And immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and followed him.”
Notice how Saint Mark repeats the word “immediately”. This word draws out attention to the fact that an encounter with the Kingdom, with the incarnate Word, is an encounter with a PERSON. Jesus Christ calls to us. Do discern the will of God, to listen for his voice in our lives, does not mean to consider a set of abstract propositions; much less does it mean to follow a set of rules. Rather it means to answer the call of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, and Son of Mary. He is many things, but perhaps before anything else, he is a person… a person who loves us, who has come to us, right into the middle of our circumstances, our isolation or our confusion… who calls us by name.
This is the call we will recognize. And throughout the Gospels we see the personal nature of the call of Jesus. Just last Sunday we heard the Lord call Nathaniel, and the personal nature of the Lord’s call – the fact that the Lord KNEW him (Jn. 1.48) – so moved Nathaniel that he confessed Jesus, then and there, to be “the Son of God, the King of Israel” (John 1.49). And perhaps the most moving instance of this in the Gospels is Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the risen Lord at dawn on Easter morning. Mistaking Jesus for the gardener, the anguished Magdalene says “they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him” (Jn. 20.13). And Jesus simply said to her “Mary”, and with joy, she recognizes him.
The Lord calls us each by name. And he calls us anew each day. To each of us he says “Follow me.” And immediately we are faced with a decision. To follow him means that we must trust him. Ultimately to trust him means to trust that he will lead us home, that we will be enfolded in his mercy, in the quiet, unyielding sweep of eternity through the arc of history; that we will be enfolded in his holy incarnation at Bethlehem, and carried on the ebb his passion and death, over history’s visible horizon to the shores of heavenly Zion.
But as it was for Mary Magdalene, for Nathaniel, for Simon Peter and Andrew and James and John, it begins by our listening for his voice. It begins with vigilance and daily prayer. Peter and Andrew had their nets, James and John had their father Zebedee, and so too we have a thousand preoccupations and commitments, and a part of repentance means the reordering of our priorities, and a reconstruction of the hierarchies of our lives in the light of our confession of faith in the Gospel.
Jesus Christ alone is our salvation, our only hope, our light and our peace. Apart from him there is only confusion, disorder, and ultimately death. But he is the way, the truth and the life. And to each of us he says “Follow me.”
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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