Sermon for January 21, 2024 – The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

As I sat in prayer and contemplation with today’s gospel, Mark’s rather short account of Jesus calling the disciples, just seven short verses, I spent some time reflecting on how it was that these men could immediately, as the scripture says, drop everything and follow Jesus. I wondered if it could be that easy; to literally drop everything, leave their families and friends behind, and for James and John leave their father Zebedee in his boat, and as far as we know from the text, follow this complete stranger off on some fool’s idealistic crusade. I wondered if perhaps this wasn’t their first-time meeting, if perhaps their decision to follow Jesus was built upon numerous meetings and conversations in the synagogue and in and around Capernaum.

And therein lies both the beauty and the rub of Mark’s Gospel. Because of its style and the historical context out which the gospel grew, Mark’s Gospel is well-known for what it says, but also for what it doesn’t say, which then leaves the door open for our imaginations to run wild as we try to fill in the rather large gaps in Mark’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus.

As we begin our yearlong dive into the shortest gospel of the four, there are few things that we should keep in mind as we read, what could be called the “Cliff Notes” version of Jesus’ life and ministry. This was the first gospel written, with scholars dating its composition somewhere in the 80’s; so still first century Roman Palestine, but some fifty years or so after the life and death of Jesus. This means that the stories of teachings, healings, and parables, were all passed down orally from person to person, family to family, and from one generation to another. So, we might expect that these stories from Mark to be short and to the point, so that they might be more easily remembered and shared with others. The brevity of Mark’s stories also left room for details to be added later by the other gospel writers who fleshed out their stories to address specific concerns in their specific communities. And with the utter destruction of the Temple and most of Jerusalem in 70 CE at the hands of Rome, this was a dangerous time for the nascent Jesus movement, so it might not be good to be caught with volumes of written texts that prove you are a follower of Jesus.

And yet, sometime in the 80’s Mark decided to write down these stories to help preserve the stories of Jesus so that they could spread further beyond the small Christian communities of Roman Palestine. As we walk through Mark’s gospel we will encounter these short stories, these pearls on a string, and we will only be given the bare bones, the necessary details, so we will be left to struggle and wrestle and wonder about what Mark wants us to know about Jesus.

It shouldn’t surprise us then that there are some major voices missing from our story today. Where are the voices of the women, the wives, the mothers? When Jesus called the men to follow, were they not invited? What about the children? When Simon and Andrew didn’t come home that night after work, what did their families say about their choice to drop everything and immediately follow Jesus? Or poor Zebedee, who was literally left in a boat by his kids? The text does say he had some hired hands, which means the family operation was at least large enough to support hired help, but still, off went the future business owners to follow some guy from Nazareth. We hear none of their voices. 

We also don’t hear about the disciples’ struggle to choose to follow Jesus or not? We hear nothing about the consequences of their choice. We hear nothing about who loses out and is left bearing the responsibility of their absence. Though it is not in the text, each of the disciples must have struggled with a decision of this magnitude. Surely, they discussed it, in some part, with their family and friends. Surely, they have met Jesus more than once in the synagogue and around town after Jesus left Nazareth for Capernaum, a small village on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Their encounters with Jesus must have convinced them, what they saw or heard or felt in his presence convinced them that this was the right choice for them.

That is why I don’t think the process of call and response for the disciples was as easy as Mark makes it sound. In fact, I know it is not that easy. Three times in my life I dropped everything, left my family and friends behind, to follow a call on my heart. Out of those three, only one worked out. When I left for Sewanee to pursue my undergraduate degree, I had other closer, perhaps “safer” options, but I was trying to be ambitious…and I failed. When I left home the second time for Columbus, Ohio to follow my heart, that relationship eventually fell apart…and I failed. When I left the third time for Berkeley, CA to begin my seminary education, I was finally following God, and I succeeded beyond my imagination.

Each time I left it was hard, as I had to say goodbye to my family and friends because I was heading in such a radically different direction than my peers. I knew that the trajectory of my call to ministry would take me beyond home and childhood, take me beyond the safety of my Galilee. I was excited to leave the first time for Sewanee because it was college and would be the first time away from home for more than a summer. This was the first step on my grand plan for my life ahead. Saying goodbye was hard, but we all knew I would be back in four years with a degree. I do not exactly remember how hard it was to leave the second time because my head was clouded by my heart. It wasn’t until I left for Berkeley that it dawned upon me what I was actually leaving behind because I knew that after seminary, I could end up serving a church anywhere in the worldwide Anglican Communion. My return to home was no longer guaranteed. It was the hardest of all my goodbyes, and in the midst of letting go I was also comforted by the fact that I was following God’s call on my heart.

These are the kinds of details that are omitted from Mark’s story. And so, what we are left with are just the relevant details, which means Mark’s story provides us with a model for how we might readily answer the call of God on our hearts. With just the verses in front of us the disciples’ response to Jesus’ call to follow him carries elements of faith, trust and sacrifice; a faith and trust in something bigger than themselves and the willingness to sacrifice just about everything to follow Jesus. We all know that the reality of making decisions of this magnitude is not as simple as our story from Mark. We are enmeshed in families, communities of work, communities of faith, and communities of friends. We have a community in which we can discern that call; others with whom we can consult before we take that first step. I imagine each disciple did as well and did not make their decision in a vacuum.

Each of us must weigh the cost of discipleship; what is it we need to sacrifice in order to journey deeper into the knowledge and love of God. What are you willing to let go of to follow Jesus more closely? Even our anthem today by Tchaikovsky weighs the cost of discipleship for Jesus as his carefully cultivated bushes are raided of its roses, leaving only behind the thorns that are then woven into a crown and placed on his head until it bleeds…foreshadowing the ultimate sacrifice. Ash Wednesday and Lent are around the corner where we will once again spend some time in deep reflection on our attachments that create separation between us and God. The cost of discipleship is different for each of us, but at some point in our spiritual journeys we are confronted with that simple question, will you come and follow me? Are you ready to answer the call? Let’s go and see together. Amen.