Third Sunday After the Epiphany
Sermon starts at 15:30 in the recording
Gospel: Mark 1:14-20
14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’
16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake—for they were fishermen.17And Jesus said to them,
‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’
18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Afterthoughts
After thinking about last Sunday’s sermon,
a song from my “baby Christian years” came to mind.
I remember I was new to the whole faith thing
and I was interested in what this would mean for me.
I was introduced to a singer/songwriter named Michael Card and
his music was always full of deep theology and hope.
One of my favorites is a song called “God’s Own Fool.”
You can listen to it if you press the button below.
(Warning: mid 80’s Christian music sensibilities on full display)
Here are the words:
It seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to man
He must have seemed out of His mind
For even His family said He was mad
And the priest said a demon's to blame
But, God in the form of this angry young man
Could not have seemed perfectly sane
When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well
So come lose your life for a carpenter's son
For a madman who died for a dream
And You'll have the faith His first followers had
And you'll feel the weight of the beam
So surrender the hunger to say you must know
Have the courage to say I believe
For the power of paradox opens your eyes
And blinds those who say they can see
When we in our foolishness thought we were wise
He played the fool and He opened our eyes
When we in our weakness believed we were strong
He became helpless to show we were wrong
And so we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well
So we follow God's own Fool
For only the foolish can tell
Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well
So, why did this song come to mind?
I didn’t want to leave everyone with a sense of “Now what?” after all that talk of dying.
If you remember,
I said this about what Jesus was actually calling His disciples to:
“So when Jesus calls His disciples to be fishers of people,
He is asking His disciples to lead others to their own death.”
This is true.
But what is also true is that He then calls us to a new life after the death of self.
Many times when we talk about or think about death,
we see it as the end.
Period.
Nothing else left.
Not true in the journey of faith.
John 10:10
Death is the beginning of a journey based on Jesus’ offer of abundant life
So, again, why this song?
Because death is meant to be the start of something else.
Following.
And the life of faithfully following Jesus can, at times, seem odd.
Certainly, if you are like me, you have had people wonder why you would ever be a Christian or read the Bible or go to church?
Michael Card based his song off of this passage of Scripture:
“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 1:18
Salvation, faith, and dying to self will all seem very odd to those who have not stepped into a life of faith.
Before I started following Jesus,
I thought Christianity was odd.
Now, I see things from the perspective of faith.
And, having walked some 33 years in this journey of faith,
I can attest to the goodness of God along the way.
And I happily follow “God’s own Fool.”
And my life’s goal is to lead others in the way of fools as well.
To, as Michael Card writes,
“Believe the unbelievable
Come be a fool as well”
So, this is my invitation to you.
To fully engage life on God’s terms.
To trust that
“Greater is He that is in you, than he who is in the world.”
(1 John 4:4)
To lose yourself and gain everything at the same time.
To walk with others who are committed to doing the same.
Blessings,
brad+