Christ Is Calling

Rev. James Harris

Epiphany 3 • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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Goal: That the hearers rejoice in the fact that Christ has called them, regardless of their sinfulness, to be His disciples and witness

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I bet you all remember the call of your Mom or Dad when it was time for you to be in the house when you were a kid. For my sister and I, when the street lights came on, we better be getting our behind into the house or else we would hear “the call” and we knew we were in trouble. Sometimes that trouble was real, and we’d meet the razor strap when we got home. One would think that it would only take once for us to straighten up…guess we were just a little stuck on stupid.

Our text that confronts us today is our Gospel reading from Mark 1. Our Lord Jesus begins His ministry after John the Baptizer was arrested by Herod. Unfortunately, John would not ever see the light of day again, as later he would be beheaded by Herod to appease the daughter and wife that John told Herod it was not a lawful nor good thing since she was another man’s wife.

So, Jesus begins His ministry proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying, “the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel”.

Jesus who had previously been baptized by John in the Jordan was immediately driven out the desert to face forty days of fasting and temptation by Satan. So, now He steps into the spotlight proclaiming that the kingdom of God has come…indeed, it is at hand.

The kingdom of God is an interesting topic. It is ushered in as Jesus fulfills God’s will proclaiming the Gospel and leading God’s children back into a right relationship with Him. His Kingdom is firmly established when He uttered those last words from the cross, “It is finished” and He breathed His last. At that point, all authority in heaven and on earth was given to Him, He is now the reigning King of all Israel, spiritual Israel that is.

But in order to have a kingdom, one needs subjects in a kingdom. Therefore, as Jesus begins His ministry of proclaiming the Gospel and healing the sick and raising the dead, He proclaims the Law and the Gospel and begins to fill His kingdom with those who would believe in Him.

Interestingly enough, though, Jesus begins by calling four men, Simon and Andrew, his brother, and then James and John. What makes this interesting is that in that day, disciples chose their rabbi, and not the other way around. Another thing that is interesting here is that Jesus wasn’t calling the self-righteous and upper crust of morality. His first four disciples were common Joe's like you and me. Jesus is so far removed from the ways of this world, even the ways of the broken religious world, that He does things His way. He calls His disciples.

Debbie was typing up an old sermon from Rev. Bob Hoffman, my pastor who married Eunice and I and baptized Joshua, and found this letter I would like to share with you.

the letter is addressed to: Jesus, Son of Joseph, from Jordan Management Consultants. The letter reads:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have chosen for management positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests, and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant. The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service and for your guidance, we make some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation and comes without any additional fees.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are completely lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no leadership qualities. He prefers to remain in the background and repel people people to the boss. The sons of Zebedee, James and John, are highly influenced by their mother, and place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine moral. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been black-listed by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus definitely have radical leanings, which will give your organization a bad public image, plus both registered a high score on the bipolar scale.

One of your candidates, however, does show great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and profit oriented. We recommend Judas Iscariot to be your comptroller and right hand man. All the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Jordan Management Consultants

Scripture does not tell us why Jesus called these particular four, nor any of His disciples for that matter. But one thing that God’s Word does show us is that all throughout history, God chooses some very interesting characters to be loved by Him and chosen by Him to do His will. Abraham was nothing special. Was not only married to Sarah, but had an affair with her maid, and as we discover was married to 8 women and had several other children. Jacob was a deceiver, along with his mom, Rebekah, who stole her father’s household idols and brought them into the marriage with Isaac. Joseph was a bit stuck on himself, it seems, as a lad. Moses was a murderer. Rahab was a prostitute. Ruth was a Moabite. David an adulterous, lying murderer. Solomon had 300 wives and over 600 concubines. Isaiah was a man of unclean lips…etc. I think you get the point.

Jesus called these men first through Law and Gospel...”the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (v 15). And that’s what they did, they left everything behind, careers as commercial fishermen, families, friends, possessions. They left their pre-conceived notions, their religious ideology (corrupted Judaism) and they followed.

They were not only following a rabbi, but the Rabbi, the very Word of God incarnate in the God/man Jesus. They weren’t the brightest crayons in the box, but they trusted, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” (v 17). They simply trusted in something they had, in reality, very little knowledge about. They heard the Word speak and they trusted.

Same thing with us, isn’t it. We may not be the cream of the crop. I mean, take a good look at yourselves, you know your sinfulness, your failings, your “should’ve; would’ve and could’ves”. And regardless of that, He chose you!

Through His Word, Jesus has called each and every one of us. Through His Law that condemns and kills us and His beautiful rich Gospel, that justifies us and brings us back to life. And that Gospel, that Word made flesh, was applied to you in your baptism. The blood and water that flows from Jesus’ pierced side that floods every baptismal font, was applied to you, you were given a new name, and you became a sister or brother in Christ, a co-heir of the riches of eternity.

The fact is, as we see through the New Testament, as well as the Old, is that God chooses sinners like you and me to become His children. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” We follow Jesus out of gratitude for what He has done for us, and continues to do for us. “…but God shows His love for rus in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8) Through the innocent life, suffering and death on the cross, Christ has paid for all our sins. He has purchased us not with silver or gold but with His innocent suffering and death on the cross. We are His, held in His Father’s hand. Such are Jesus’ own words in John 10, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (vv 27-30).

Just as Jesus would later take His disciples, breathe on them and give them the Holy Spirit, and sends them out as Apostles to be His witnesses in all the earth, He does that for us as well. As Jesus promised Peter and Andrew, He has made us fishers of men. Jesus sends us out into His creation to encourage our families, our neighbors, all who will hear and listen to “…repent and believe in the gospel for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Christ is calling others, just as He has called us through His Word and keeps us in the true Christian faith through His Holy Spirit and the Sacraments.

The report from the Jordan Management Consultants was fairly wrong about these men. Jesus chooses His disciples based upon what He sees in their heart. Not one of them was perfect, as the letter shows, but they were faithful in their calling and Jesus worked out the rest.

Jesus does the same thing for us. He chose us from before the very foundations of creation to be His. He calls us through His Word, baptizes and cleanses us, and makes us His disciples. When He has taught us what we need to know, He sends us out into His creation, just as He did His 11 disciples after His resurrection. We are not perfect. We have some ugly warts from our past, and even some in our present. However, “…I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). That is God’s promise to you and me and to all of God’s children, regardless of how old you are.