Sermon on Mark 1:14-20, for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany 2020 (B), "Out of the Water"

 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Looking around I see that you are all land-dwellers…no fish here…but in the Gospel Jesus invites us to imagine catching fish out of the water. Jesus called His disciples “fishers of men.” Enter Jesus’ metaphor for a minute; imagine ourselves as fish happily swimming in our familiar home, an ocean or lake, like the Sea of Galilee. If we put the Sea of Galilee here on Maui, I estimate it would stretch roughly from the base of West Maui mountains up to Makawao, and from Kahului Harbor to Maalaea Harbor—13 miles by 8 miles. Small, but big enough to get caught in a storm.

Imagine happily swimming in your watery home when a net encircles you and pulls you out of the water. Panic fills your gills as you gasp and gawk at the frightening fisherman looming over you! I’m dead meat! This guy’s gonna make poke outta me! Peter tasted this fear once or twice in his fishing boat on the Sea of Galilee, looking up at Jesus. Know the feeling? Disoriented, frightened or just trapped when we’re “caught” by Jesus’ net? Caught in a net is death for a fish. Even in OT imagery, caught in the net or by fishhooks is an image of God’s judgment. Doesn’t generally sound like good news. Of course, “fish” don’t want to leave the sea.

But Jesus doesn’t aim to throw us back in the sea, but to transport us into His kingdom, where we learn to live a whole new way. After all, we’re men, not fish, and our true environment is up in the air, freedom, and life in Christ. Jesus calls all people to “come, follow me.” In Biblical imagery, the “sea” represents chaos, storms, uncertainty, and evil. So being pulled out of the sea—“netted by Jesus”—pictures rescue from the evil and chaos of sin. So even if we’re “used to” that life of chaos, and it feels like home, Jesus calls us out of the water. He catches us, not for dinner, but to live!

If all you’ve known is life in the water, new life is disorienting. The pull of sin and worldliness, back into the “sea” is strong. There’s no one-size-fits-all recipe of following Jesus. He just calls: “Follow me” and we follow His lead. There are “left and right limits” of God’s good commands: “Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”. We know that crossing those boundaries back into sin is not His will, but inside those boundaries it’s wide open for you to serve God in a multitude of ways. The disciples had more personal instruction than us on the one hand, but they didn’t have the whole New Testament written out for them either. But no one knows the details of our future. We just follow Jesus into the open air, trusting and following His lead. He is our orientation when we are disoriented.

Let’s reflect a little more on Jesus’ thematic announcement: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” A good theme verse for His whole ministry. Let’s break it down: “The time is fulfilled.” Perhaps you’ve heard before, the NT has two ways of speaking about time. Chronos is ordinary time, the kind measured by watches and clocks, calendars, spinning planets and moons. Kairos is “due time” or the decisive, God-ordained, prophetically-announced season—the season of the Messiah, of the kingdom of God working itself out through the Gospel, the good news of Jesus. “Due time” is momentous, significant. The disciples seem to have sensed something momentous when Jesus came, and they dropped everything to follow Him. How could they know what they were in for, or what it would all mean? But that too would be revealed in “due time.” It’s not every day that you up and leave your job and family behind and start down an entirely new path. They didn’t argue, delay, or question, they just followed Jesus. They stepped into the new life Jesus prepared.

So is this “Kairos”, “due time” over? Remember, it’s not measured by how the clock is ticking. There are different moments in God’s “due time”—chapters and events unfolding in salvation, and our present “due time” is waiting for Christ’s return. We watch for signs of the end times. But Jesus’ call and invitation is the same: “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.” Be ready.  

Next: you don’t have a kingdom without a king, and Jesus is the King of God’s kingdom. He came announcing His reign advancing among the people of Israel—the kingdom of God is at hand—that caught the disciples’ attention. They joined Jesus’ mission immediately. When King Jesus arrives, His kingdom arrives…still today when we gather in the name of King Jesus, His kingdom is among us. Talking with my friend, an Anglican pastor, he talked about bowing in worship. We’re bowing to King Jesus, present among us, saying we’re here at His service and in His service. We come and follow Jesus with the disciples. King Jesus calls and we answer: “Here I am, send me!” Disciples of Jesus are at His disposal, as Mary prayed: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your word” (Luke 1:38). We listen, King Jesus! Send us where You will! How can I serve You today? And when He leads, we follow.

Repent and believe the Gospel. Repent is a turn-around. Caught in Jesus’ nets is the start of our breakaway from the old sinful past. The word here for repent literally means “change your mind.” While sin used to occupy your way of thinking, adopt God’s new way of thinking. All sinful paths lead away from God, but only the 180 turn around leads back toward Him. This too, God has done for you. The Holy Spirit convicts our hearts, stirs a holy dissatisfaction with sin and old broken ways of living and doing things, and old broken ways of treating one another, and inspires the holy desire to be something new. Not our remanufactured life, but the life He’s captured us for and cast us into.

The fish in the net imagery reminds me that we always want to escape back into the water. Sin has a powerful pull, and sometimes we dread where Jesus’ call might lead us. But Christ has caught us live, for His own purposes. He’s captured us, not for harm, but to receive His gifts and serve others. That’s the other half of Jesus’ thematic announcement: “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.” Jesus is a Good-News Savior, who rescued us out of the turbulent and watery chaos of sin and sets our feet on solid ground. His Good News is a lifetime and eternity beyond, full of hope and promise for every struggle in your life. So instead of looking longingly back to the sea, look forward to King Jesus, who holds your new life in His hands.

Believe the Gospel…the Good News. We live in a “bad news world.” The entire media, left, right and middle, thrives on multiplying bad news, fear, and divisiveness. And don’t get me wrong, truth must be pursued, even when it leads to bad news. But spend less time “tuning in” to the bad news, and more time believing the Good News. And tune in daily for the Good News report from Jesus. There’s no shortage of “Good News outlets”. We’re here three services every Sunday, and Bible class in between. We have weekly Encouragements, Portals of Prayer, you have your Bible to read daily. The whole Bible is available on your phone, in almost any translation, in over 1,000 languages, audio or written. Try listening to Good News while you are driving or cleaning, instead of bad news. There are Christian podcasts and Bible studies that can bring you 10 minutes of daily devotions, or a deeper walk in God’s grace for your life’s challenges. Abundant grace and Good News is right at your feet, at your doorstep. Jesus’ forgiveness is ready and available to all who repent and believe the Gospel.

You may know that the internet and news media operate by how many “hits and clicks” their news stories get, so they thrive by stirring outrage and anger. And we bite the rotten bait that yanks us back into murky waters with a hook in our mouth. But how often are we “hitting and clicking” on the Good News of Jesus Christ? Does the “Good News Channel” get anywhere near the amount of time, traffic, and attention that the “bad news” world gets? Once again, Christ captures us in His net alive for a new purpose. Godly living, serving our neighbors with love. Face to face with King Jesus by faith, walking in His love, God will trace out His image on us. Lovingly, faithfully; sometimes with stings and ouches on our wounds and scrapes, Jesus is mending our broken lives into His image. When we repent and believe the Good News, He’s forgiving our sins and making broken lives new again.

As I said, the Good News of Jesus is a lifetime and eternity of hope and promise for every struggle in your life. Following Jesus is not a quick fix recipe to untangle all the problems in your life, but a lifetime of patiently pursuing His Good News, one step at a time, one day at a time. Believing His Good News opens a life of joy and peace in Jesus. His kingdom is advancing in the world, His peace works in hearts that love Him. His forgiveness melts our hearts of stone and gives us hearts of flesh. Captured to live for Him and others, is not the place for fear, but to trust, to believe the Good News. Good News for us. Good News for our neighbor. Good News that makes us “fishers of men” who toss the Gospel net into the sea and watch it bring up others, gasping, frightened, perhaps disoriented. You’ve known the feeling. But sinners invited into life with Christ, out of the chaos of sin, and into the fresh air and freedom of a new life out of the realm of sin and darkness. And in the church, we’re not alone. Together we fix our eyes on Jesus. Together we orient ourselves to life lived in His grace, in His kingdom. Together we learn the joy of this new life.

That’s reason for holding out hope for this world. That’s reason for holding out hope for our neighbors and community, and all those who are hung up on the bad news of our world. Because we hold out hope—not hoping in us, but the Good News of Jesus. King Jesus, whose kingdom is near, whose power and glory is great, and who still calls, “Come, follow me!” In His Name we pray, Amen.