Mark1,14-20

Prayer of Dedication

Lord Jesus, you called ordinary men and women to follow you and join in the work of God’s reign on earth. We offer you our gifts to share in the work you began through them. So bless our gifts and continue to work through us, that the world may know your love and grace is still active among us all. Amen.

Our gospel lesson today tells of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and of his calling of the first four of his disciples to follow him

All of the scriptures that we read this week look at an aspect of being called by God

The psalm we read tells us why we would respond to God

The psalmist says God is “my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.”

We know from this psalm that when we hear from God, we may trust that God has good intentions for us

The lesson we read in the book of Jonah tells a part of the story of this prophet.

God had a plan for Jonah

God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach a message of repentance

At first Jonah held out against God

But in the passage we read today we see that Jonah did heed the call of God and did go and preach

The people of Nineveh responded to the message and they repented

The story of Jonah is one of a reluctant prophet

He is called by God to preach to people that he, Jonah, does not want to address

He is not fond of the people of Nineveh

They are enemies, and he really does not think that they deserve the opportunity to repent

Jonah seems to be of the opinion that God is for the people of Israel where he lives

Jonah knows that God is forgiving, and he wants to keep that forgiveness all for himself and his people

Jonah and God keep having a back and forth relationship.

God has something bigger in mind than Jonah does

God’s grace is for the world, and Jonah wants to keep it for himself and the people like him

We see from the story of Jonah that God calls us to be concerned for all people

In the gospel lesson we hear that well known invitation Jesus gave to fish for people

Often, we have understood Jesus invitation to fish for people to be an invitation to remove people from the influences of the world, so that they can be a part of the kingdom of God

When we look at the things Jesus taught, we see he was inviting us to something different than that

Jesus begins his ministry by saying that the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is near; repent and believe in the good news

These words of Jesus “that the time is near”, are interesting

They have a deeper meaning than the English translation would allow

The word translated as time is kairos

Kairos is a word meaning the right, critical, or opportune moment. 

The ancient Greeks had two words for time: chronos and Kairos

Chronos refers to chronological or sequential time

Kairos signifies a proper or opportune time for action, in the Bible it is the opportune time when God acts to bring about the kingdom of God

And this kingdom kingdom, (or basileia) is not a particular place

When Jesus talked about God’s kingdom, he did not mean that the Messiah would rule an earthly kingdom like King David and his successors

The kingdom of God should be interpreted as God’s reign, for the word basileia refers more to a dominion, the power to reign, than to a specific place.

Jesus is inviting people to be part of the making real of the kingdom of God

With Jesus, the ways of the kingdom are brought to earth and Jesus is inviting people of all walks of life to be a part of establishing God’s reign on earth.

Jesus in not inviting those first disciples, or inviting us to become removed from a hostile world

Rather Jesus is inviting us to change the world in such a way that God’s dominion will be lived out

Jesus is inviting us to work with him to bring about fairness and justice for all

The lesson in 1Corinthians seems to be going on these same lines

It tells us that the present form of this world is passing away

Paul is urging the Christians in Corinth to put less stock in the things that the world tells us are important

Some have taken this quite literally and have chosen to live in separate communities

Groups like the Mennonites come to mind, or those who practise Christianity by not participating in the usual social activities of the community

As believers we are not called to shun those around us, but to remind people that this is God’s world

One way we sum this up is by saying that we are in the world but not of the world

God calls us to be reminders of what is important

In this lesson in 1 Corinthians Paul reminds us to come away from the way of the world

The way of the world is the way of competition and worry,

the way of being afraid there will not be enough to go around

and the way of belief in the value of accumulation of things

We who follow Jesus are those who have heard the good news of God

We know that there is no limit to the things that we need

We know that joy comes in the morning

We know that to quote St Augustine “that a people are a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.”

We know that things that we love last for a day, but the word of the Lord endures forevermore

There was a time that I thought that people who lived in Bible times had it good

They heard from God directly

Jonah we are told got a direct message from God

And when he disobeyed that message he was given another one

I used to think it would be wonderful to hear from God in such a clear and direct way

Paul, who wrote the letter to the Corinthians that we read today was given a vision in which he was directed to become a missionary

The early church people believed that Jesus was going to return to earth very soon and I used to think they must be acting as if Jesus was just around the corner all the time

And those first disciples

They got to walk with Jesus everyday

They heard the parables first hand

When they had a question, they could ask Jesus what they wanted to know

In spite of what seemed to me to be a place of privilege, those people who lived so long ago seemed to have the same challenges in their belief as we do

Jonah thought he knew better than God what should be done

Now Jonah lived in the kingdom of Israel and he was a prophet who brought a message of hope to his people

Jonah’s prophetic career, outside of the book that bears his name, is based entirely upon prophesying national greatness for an unrepentant country.

As a prophet, Jonah was an unconditional Israelite nationalist. (Cory Driver. Working Preacher)

God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach a message of repentance

The city of Nineveh was in Assyria, a country that would eventually do battle with and obliterate Israel

They were not the people Jonah chose to be with

For Jonah to preach to the Ninevites would be like asking the street gangs depicted in the musical West Side story to try to bring each other to repentance

You probably have seen this story either in movie or play form

It is based on the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet there are two warring family the Montagues and the Capulets

In West side story there are two gangs the Jets and the Sharks

The animosity between the two gangs is so great that when a couple, with one member from each gang fall in love, there is tension and hate and finally death instead of the celebration of young love

Deep bad feelings against those who are different from us have been around ever since people have walked the face of the earth

Jonah was as biased against the Ninevites as any racist group we could point to now or throughout history

Jonah was convinced that God should be was interested only in the people like Jonah

Jonah ran from God rather than obey the call to ministry

But

The good news of God meant that Jonah was given a second chance

Jonah got to preach the message of repentance, and the people heeded what he had to say

Those first disciples of Jesus did have a direct call to follow Jesus

Jesus was very clear

And on that day Simon, Andrew, James and John left their fishing gear and followed Jesus

Their way was not always so clear cut and direct as that

These men would have to ask Jesus the same thing time and time again

They would hear parables and then they would not get the point

The disciples would need another teaching session after the crowd left, so that the disciples would know what Jesus was teaching

The message Jesus taught the disciples never changed

He continued to preach the good news of God, telling them that the kingdom of God has come near and that they are to repent

Today we have looked at what Jesus meant by kingdom of God

And we see that even though Jesus was teaching about a kingdom that would be defined by God’s intent and not geography and power

His disciples kept wanting to know who would be great in the kingdom and who would be able to sit in places of power in the kingdom

Even though the disciples lived with Jesus, and saw him love his neighbour as himself

They still asked about power

And even though the disciples lived with Jesus and heard his parables they needed to be reminded that they needed to be like children in the way they approached the kingdom

We can feel for the disciples

They wanted to get it right

They brought the best of their experience and talent to helping to establish the Kingdom of God on earth

And they made mistakes

They were doing what believers continue to do

They began with what they knew and made plans and asked God to bless those plans

The first thing Jesus said as he began his ministry was to “repent and believe the good news”

The word repent has gotten a lot of bad press

We use it with the image of a large-scale tent evangelism meeting where those who have done bad deeds are invited to come forward and make a clean breast of things

There is a long and emotionally laden invitation to come forward and people are urged to make a public declaration of their intent

Repentance may be acted out in such a public venue

But we know that real repentance begins in the heart

Repentance is a turning away from what is known to be wrong or selfish and turning to the way of God

Repentance has us make our choices and plans from the place of God’s will rather than beginning with our own wisdom

While we may think that the disciples had it better than we, we can see that even with their advantage of living daily with Jesus, they still made mistakes

Because of their mistakes we have some of the best teaching stories from Jesus that have been passed down

We also see that when the disciples made a mistake, they were given the chance to try again

Jesus does not give up on those who are called to be disciples

Each day we have the opportunity to repent and live the good news of God

Lead me Jesus I will follow

Down the dusty pathways all along the sea

Teach me Jesus to be loving

Your disciple I will be

Invitation to the Offering

Jesus asked his first disciples to answer his call with their lives. Our offering is one way we answer his call and carry forward his ministry in the world. Consider what Christ can accomplish through the gifts you offer today.

Prayer of Dedication

Lord Jesus, you called ordinary men and women to follow you and join in the work of God’s reign on earth. We offer you our gifts to share in the work you began through them. So bless our gifts and continue to work through us, that the world may know your love and grace is still active among us all. Amen.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

God of fishers and farmers and factory workers,

God of those serving in health care, hospitality and at home,

God of our offices and businesses, our stores and our streets,

our schools and recreation centres, of emergency services and entertainers,

we thank you for the many ways we can serve your purposes.

You called Jesus’ first followers to change their livelihoods

and so they did.

Today we pray for all those whose work has changed without their choice

because of COVID-19;

for those struggling with little or no work, whose businesses are in jeopardy,

who fear for what this year may hold.

Assure them of their value to you and to us all.

Give them courage and perseverance as the future unfolds.

God, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

God of the churches who bear your Son’s name,

whatever denomination or perspective or tradition that shapes us,

we thank you for the fellowship we share and the gifts of the Spirit we receive.

We pray that the differences between us which seem so important to us

will not blunt our witness to Jesus and the healing and hope he offers.

Teach us to value diversity in our discipleship

and honour what unites us more than what divides us,

so that the world may see Jesus reflected in all our lives.

God, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

God of our cities and towns, of our villages and reserves,

God of all nations and neighbourhoods,

of all clans and tribes, cultures and families that shape our identities,

you created us for community,

to find enjoyment and support, collaboration and productivity together.

We pray for all those who suffer because others judge their identities,

their language or religion, their orientation or ethnicity,

their social standing or lack of resources.

Guide us all to appreciate our common humanity

and find ways to learn from each other through our differences.

Help us to recognize the face of Christ in those who challenge our assumptions.

God, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer.

God of all times and situations,

We bear on our hearts concerns for many around us,

people we know and situations we care about,

where suffering exerts its power and challenges seem overwhelming.

Hear us in this time of silence as we open our hearts and their needs to you:

(Keep silence for a count of 30 seconds.)

Bind up the broken hearted, O God.

Bring justice for the vulnerable.

Send your Spirit of healing and hope to embrace those who need you.

We dare to ask all this because we trust in the name of Jesus, your Son,

who taught all his followers to pray: The Lord’s Prayer