Follow and Fish

Matthew 4:12-23

Throughout Jesus’ journey in ministry the beckoning call of “follow me” happens frequently.  Today in our text the disciples are called to follow.  You would think that the disciples would have had some trepidation about following Jesus, but in this text the disciples are portrayed as willingly following Jesus.  In fact it isn’t just a willingness to follow Jesus, there is a sense of urgency to their following.  The gospel writer goes as far as using the word “immediately.”  That kind of following doesn’t allow for any sense of hesitation or doubt.

As I first read this text I couldn’t help but think of a story I read online a few years ago about Wes Michaels, a man that was killed in a tornado that struck a small Minnesota town.  He'd taken a rare day off, actually his birthday, from working at the Cenex station, which he had bought four years earlier when the tree nursery he had worked at for nearly 40 years closed.  But Michaels was not the kind of guy who liked to waste time, so he'd started to fix an old lawnmower while he kept an eye on the Weather Channel.  So when he saw on the television that tornadoes were forming in the area, Wes Michaels jumped in his pickup truck and drove down to the Cenex station to check on Heidi, his daughter, who was managing the station.  When he got there, a customer joked that he should be out having fun on his birthday.  A few minutes later, a twister took aim on the station.  Michaels ordered Heidi and customers into the cooler as it hit.  Michaels was a big man, about 6 feet tall with a broad chest, "a strong man who wasn't afraid to use his strength," according to his former boss.  Instinctively, he positioned his body above that of his daughter, and took the brunt of the force from debris as the building crumbled around them.  Heidi escaped with a few cuts and bruises, but Wes Michaels died.  Wes Michaels made one of the greatest sacrifices a father can make, when he died while saving his daughter from the tornado that demolished his gas station that day.

I can’t help but think that Wes was following God that day.  He was not looking back as he followed God to fish for people and more specifically that day to save his daughter’s life.  He was following God out of love, love for his daughter.  There were no conditions or any time for doubt, but rather a great sense of urgency for Wes.  Now, I don’t tell this story of Wes Michaels to make you feel like your way of following Jesus is insignificant.  I tell it to show to you that following Jesus happens in everyday life.

As Jesus walked on the shore that day and called out to Peter, Andrew, James and John he was calling out to ordinary people.  He was pulling these everyday fishermen from their daily lives and showing them an extraordinary calling.  He was beckoning them to their call as disciples, their call as followers of Jesus, their call to be fishers of people.

Today Jesus bids us to come and follow him, to come and fish for people.  Like Wes, as we follow Jesus this day we will be changed.  Our lives, our relationships, our priorities will be altered.  Change means losing what we had before, but in the process of changing there is a considerable amount of gain to be had.  In that process of following Jesus we can discover our call as Christians in this place. 

            And then there is a second step.  It is not just about following Jesus, it is also about fishing—fishing for people.  This task is not an easy one, but it is vital and necessary to the central message of the gospel, a message that we are called and commanded to not only to embody, but also to share with others.  Most of this call to follow and fish is relational.  It is relational because we are being called to follow Jesus, to have a relationship with Jesus.  But it is also relational in the sense that we are called to fish for others, to have a Christ-like relationship with our families, our friends, our co-workers, our classmates, our enemies, and even with the people we do not know.  How do we do that?  How exactly do we fish for people? 

To start with let’s deal with our hesitancy.  Hear me when I say that “it’s okay.”  These words “follow me” are the same words we heard as children as we played the game follow the leader.  But following Jesus isn’t as simple as playing follow the leader was when we were six.  I am not sure, at this point in my life, if some random person called out “follow me” I would be too eager to jump on the bandwagon.  Of course if Jesus’ message was (as I just read in Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber’s book) “Follow me and all your dreams of cash and prizes will come true; follow me and you’ll have free liposuction and winning lotto tickets for life” we might be more eager to follow with no strings attached.  But, it can be easy to let doubt speak stronger than faith.  It can also be easy to want to place conditions on our following. "I will follow you, but first...."  All of that is true because we are human, hesitant humans that live in a broken world.

But here me when I say this, too, “You can do this.”  Not only can you do this, but you already are!  I would venture to say almost all of you are already following Jesus and fishing for people.  So rather than tell you what you need to do, I am going to highlight what you are already doing.  You are feeding the hungry.  You are praying for the sick.  You are making music to the Lord.  You are raising your children in faith.  You are praying before meals.  You are reading and studying Scripture.  You are attending worship.  You are being a friend and mentor to others.  You are holding the door open for a stranger.  You are saying “bless you” when someone sneezes.  You are using your gifts and resources to further the kingdom of God.  I would consider all of those things to be ways that we follow Jesus and ways that we fish for people.  This way of living, both what you do inside and outside of the church, is worthy of God’s attention and interest.  Because in all that we do and say, if it is rooted in our faith, we are doing relational work which has the possibility and potential of drawing people to Jesus. 

With that said, I don’t want to lull all of us into a mentality of complacency.  Yes, we are following Jesus and fishing for people in a variety of ways.  However, we can be even better followers and we can do even more.  So, this week I want you to consider how you are already following Jesus and fishing for people.  Then, I want to encourage you to find one additional way to follow Jesus and fish for people.  I am not asking you to give up your job, sell your possessions, and become a street evangelist.  I am encouraging you to talk to your co-worker or classmate about your church, to offer to pray for or with your friend who is going through a joy or sorrow.  I am encouraging you to let your faith move you to action, actions that show the world what your faith means to you.  It doesn’t have to be earth shattering.  It doesn’t have to take time out of your other plans.  Incorporate your faith into your whole life.  Let your words and actions speak out of love, the love that Jesus has for us – a love that caught us in the deep blue sea with the bait of salvation.  So, followers of Jesus and fishers of people, keep following and keep fishing!  Amen.

Remember and Celebrate

Matthew 3:13-17

September 28, 1986 was a very important day in my life.  That was the day I was baptized, the day I became a child of God.  That was the day, when I was just over two months old, that the waters of grace were poured on my head.  At that age I had no idea what baptism would mean for my life or why it was even happening.  In the act of baptism I was given the gift of God’s grace and God’s unconditional love.  In baptism I was given faith!  When I decided to go to seminary I had to put the date of my baptism on all the forms I submitted.  I never quite knew what the date was, so I had to research it a bit.  After writing it on all of those forms I finally can remember the date I was baptized and I now try to take a moment or two each year on that day to remember the gift of baptism I was given by God. 

I am sure there are a few of you who can recall the date of your baptism, but I would imagine there are plenty of others that don’t have the slightest idea.  If you can’t remember that important date, I would encourage you to do a little research and see if you can find it.  Look for your baptismal certificate, talk to your relatives, or call the church you were baptized at.  Do whatever you need to do to find out the date of your baptism. 

Why? Because it really was an important day in your life.  It is a day that should be remembered and celebrated.  I know each time we do a baptism here as we light the baptismal candle we suggest to parents that they light their child’s baptismal candle each year on the date of their child’s baptism and remember this important day.  We don’t just say that…we mean it.  Baptismal anniversaries are dates worth celebrating.  If you think your life will be too crazy to remember your baptismal anniversary or the baptismal anniversary of your children or godchildren start writing in on your calendar or set a reminder on your cell phone for that day and then celebrate the day that the waters of grace were poured on your head.

You would never think of forgetting your birthday or the birthday of your child.  It was a very important day in their life, in fact it was the beginning of life.  But baptisms are also the beginning of life, the beginning of our lives as children of God.  It is an important day where God promises to make us a child of God, to wash us clean of sin, to give us the Holy Spirit, which will enable us to call upon Jesus as Lord, to make us a member of the body of Christ, the Church and to grant us eternal life.  It is also a day where parents and sponsors make promises to live with us among God's faithful people, bring us to the word of God and the holy supper, teach us the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, and the Ten Commandments,  place in our hands the holy scriptures, nurture us in faith and prayer so that we may learn to trust God, proclaim Christ through word and deed, care for others and the world God made, and work for justice and peace.  This congregation also makes promises at baptisms to look upon the baptized person as an important member of our Christian community, support parents in making God’s promises known to their child, and support them in keeping the promises that they made to their child at Baptism.

The day of baptism was also important in Jesus’ life.  His baptism established God’s favor and his identity as Jesus, the son of God.  It also inaugurated his mission and ministry.  It was his commissioning, the day he was sent forth into the world.  This act of baptism emphasizes Jesus’ humanity.  Even though he was the Son of God, he too needed to be baptized.  With that in mind, that day of Jesus’ baptism is really not very much different from the day of our baptisms.  Baptism really is an event that we share with Jesus.  It is a day where God’s favor is established and we receive our identity as children of God.  It is a day that we are sent forth into the world.  It is our day of commissioning.

Sure, baptism isn’t something we talk about all the time, but it is something we often witness in worship.  In 2013 we had 32 baptisms at South Canyon.  They were all joyous occasions, whether the baptized person was happy or sad, because they marked the moment where God said to those 32 people “You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  They were moments in time where 32 newly baptized people were sent forth into the world to show God’s love and grace to those around them.

There are other times during our life together as a congregation where baptism plays a role, too.  Confession and forgiveness is a reminder of the ultimate forgiveness of sins we were given in baptism.  Communion is an extension of the baptismal promise and a promise of God’s love and care.  The dismissal is a time of commissioning, when we are sent forth to live out our baptism through various vocations in daily life.  In the rite of confirmation our students affirm the promises that were made at their baptisms.  When people are near death I often will make the sign of the cross on their forehead reminding them of the promise God made to them in baptism.  Then in funerals we cover the casket with a white pall, which is a reminder of the baptismal garment. 

In all of those moments, and as we worship together today we recall our own baptisms.  Today I have filled the font and placed it up front with the hope that you will dip your hand in it and make the sign of the cross on your forehead as a reminder of your baptism.  In doing so, we remember that God has made it clear that we are accepted just as we are.  We remember that God loves us.  We remember that God has plans to do many wonderful things through us.  We remember that we are God’s children, deserving of love and respect, and God will use us to change the world.  Yes, you are God’ child, deserving of love and respect, and God will use you to change the world.  Amen.