The Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Free Spirits
Psalm 62:6-14
Mark 1:14-20

Last week the Old Testament reading included a call story—the story of God’s call to Samuel. God called Samuel my name to a life of prophetic proclamation. Today, particularly in the Gospel reading, we hear some more call stories. Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John to follow him. And they do.

These are familiar stories. Simon and Andrew, James and John, fishing on the Sea of Gallilee. Familiar as these stories are, they have always gnawed at me. There had to have been more going on, of course, than Mark’s bare-boned telling of the story. But it seems so incredible that they would respond so quickly and radically. Some stranger walks by and says, “follow me.” And immediately they do without any apparent reservation.

Jesus was a stranger to them!

Remember we’re still in the first chapter of Mark. Years before Peter would recognize and confess Jesus as the Messiah. We have no evidence that Simon, Andrew, James or John had any idea who called to them. I’ve often imagined that there had to be something irresistibly compelling about Jesus. But the Gospel writers don’t mention anything special. Mark tells us only that he was preaching repentance. A stranger strolls passed preaching a call to repentance. I would find that pretty easy to resist.

Or maybe word had spread throughout Galilee… Maybe Jesus’ reputation had preceded him and they had heard of his grace a power. Maybe. Although again we have no evidence. All we know is that out of the blue Jesus said “follow me” and they did. It’s incredible.

They left everything behind… family, the social network of the village, their place in the community, their only means of supporting themselves, their whole identities, really. It’s hard to believe. In that context how could Jesus possibly have presented an attractive option? How could following Jesus have appeared as the preferred path?

Now I can imagine some other settings where following Jesus would definitely seem like an attractive choice. It would be one thing if Jesus showed up in the middle of a difficult history test and said, “Oh, let’s blow off the test. Follow me.” That would be tempting. Or if Jesus showed up when you were in the middle of working on your income taxes and said “Put those aside and follow me.” Or if he showed up in the midst of a deadly office Christmas party and said, “Let’s skip this joint and go have some fun.”

If Jesus came offering a means of escape, an opportunity to flee life’s unpleasant burdens. Then the call to follow might sound pretty good.

In a way, that’s exactly what Jesus offers. Freedom.

Jesus calls us to be free spirits. Literally. He does offer us freedom. Escape.

One way to think of Jesus’ call to us is as an invitation to become free spirits. Come, be free spirits. Literally.

Writing about this passage in Mark, William Loader writes “the calling of James and John and Simon and Andrew…function as a protest… against societal structures which simply perpetuate the past and trap people into the service of the status quo and its gods.” False gods imposed by society, or family, or peer groups trap us. We are trapped in the service of false gods.

Jesus says, let’s run away and be free spirits.

Ask yourself: Do you let society or even family determine which gods you worship? False gods like social standing or conformity. Material success. The false god of family reputation or even tradition. The false gods of physical strength or beauty. Do you feel forced to give yourself to the worship of these gods? Or maybe others?

Jesus offers an escape. Freedom. Lose yourself in love and worship of the one true God. For God alone my soul waits, as the psalmist sings.

Come, be a free spirit, Jesus says.

Maybe there’s a small voice in the back of your head saying, “I can’t become a free spirit. That would be irresponsible!” We can’t just abandon the people who depend upon us. It is our responsibility to maintain an ordered society. Surely Jesus doesn’t intend for us to thumb our noses at all responsibility and run off to be free spirited hippies.

I could point out that actually that is pretty much what the disciples did. But I would agree that following Jesus does not imply a selfish indifference to the care of others. Free spirited does not mean self-centered or indifferent to God’s children or God’s creation.

But becoming a free spirit does offer us freedom from the imposed worship of false gods. There is a difference, for example, between a parent who cherishes a child as a gift from God and would do absolutely anything to help that child flourish in the love and wonder of God. In contrast to the parent who worships the competitive gods of family reputation or financial success and maybe even with good intentions forces a child to worship those gods, too.

Remember, Zebedee let his sons go.

Ask yourselves which gods you worship, which gods you really give yourself to. And do you feel bound, or trapped? If you feel bound or trapped, look deeply within and ask why-- false gods bind and trap. False gods bind and trap us in their service. Jesus does not.

Jesus says, hey! I can set your spirit free. That’s a pretty attractive offer any time and place. I will set your spirit free. Come, follow me.

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany

The Call of Samuel

1 Samuel 3:1-20

Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17

John1:43-51

The lesson we heard today from the Hebrew Scriptures is usually referred to as “The Call of Samuel.” It’s a wonderful story that almost preaches itself.

Just to review: The young boy Samuel and his mentor Eli are working in the Temple. It is their job to ensure that the rituals and worship of the Lord in the Temple are maintained. It’s night. Both have gone to bed. Samuel hears someone call his name and he runs to Eli, but Eli says it wasn’t him. Samuel definitely heard someone call his name. They both go back to bed. The same thing happens two more times before Eli begins to wonder at what might be going on. Following Eli’s advice, the next time Samuel hears his name he recognizes that it is God who is calling, and he stops to listen.

There are a number of points to note in this story.

First, even people in the professional religion business did not immediately recognize God’s voice. They heard it, but thought it was someone else. And that’s something to highlight. They heard God’s voice… they clearly heard it, but thought it was someone else.

We should also note that God persisted. God called again and again and again and again, until Samuel recognized him and stopped to listen.

And, finally, God called Samuel by name. God did not post a general notice on Craig’s list: Prophet Wanted. God called Samuel name. God wanted to talk to Samuel, about Samuel’s vocation.

In Samuel’s case, the vocation God called him to was not an easy one. Samuel was called to a lifelong vocation as a prophet, and his first task was to condemn the iniquity of his mentor Eli.

The adult Christian Education class this week asks the question: What is the purpose of your life? In the class, the context is a study of God as creator. God doesn’t create casually or capriciously. God creates for a purpose. What purpose were you, as an individual, created for?

The general answer is to fulfill God’s call for you. Your personal call.

God knows us individually. We are baptized by name. We do not baptize Christian number 4 trillion thirty seven. You are sealed and marked as Christ’s own forever, by name. The psalm appointed for today speaks of how God knows us. Lord you have searched me out and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. Lord, you know me. This psalm is a source of great strength and comfort to many people. In times of need or longing, it is nice to know that God knows and cares for us individually, that God responds to our personal, individual needs.

The Gospel also highlights how God knows us. Jesus knew Nathanael, even though they had not yet met in the flesh.

God knows us individually. This is a comfort when we think of God responding to our individual needs. But it also means that God calls each of us to our own individual vocations.

God called Samuel by name.

And God calls us individually by name. Sometimes to grand life vocations. Samuel’s call was to a lifelong vocation of prophetic witness. Here in the U.S., we remember the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend. He, too, was called to an all-consuming life of prophetic witness on behalf of civil rights. Jesus called the disciples call to leave behind everything else to fulfill their calls to discipleship.

God’s calls are often not easy to follow—witness Samuel and Dr. King. Scripture is full of stories of people who answered reluctantly when God called them by name, feeling unwilling or unable to respond to God’s call.

But when God calls us by name, it is not always to a grand and challenging life vocation. Sometimes God calls us to smaller tasks of everyday life or life within the church. Think about the stories in the Gospels. On several occasions a particular individual was called to host a dinner or offer hospitality. There’s the young lad who shared his lunch. Just one day, one lunch, a loaf and a few fish. Someone was called to offer his colt when Jesus needed it to ride into Jerusalem. We are called, as individuals, to everyday tasks like these, too.

We hear this particular Old Testament story and this Gospel story during Epiphany because Samuel and Nathanael had epiphanies. Within the context of these stories, they recognized that it was God who was speaking to them. The voice Samuel heard in the night calling him by name was God’s voice. The person Nathanael saw across the way was Jesus, Son of the living God. Voices, people that were there, a part of their lives. Samuel and Nathanael came to recognize God’s presence, God’s voice with them.

Similar Epiphanies await us all.

God knows you personally and calls you by name. You have a roll to fulfill, a call to respond to as part of God’s action in the world. Maybe it’s a grand vocation or maybe it’s an occasional task in the midst of daily life.

Remember Samuel’s story. God will call you by name… persistently until you stop to listen. God may call while you’re trying to sleep, or while you’re just standing under a fig tree, or while you’re at soccer practice with your kids, or this Sunday at coffee hour. Sometimes God speaks directly; sometimes through other people.

So consider…. Everytime you hear your name… Every time you are directly spoken to… Consider the possibility that God is speaking to you. Consider that this might be an epiphany moment for you. A time for you to recognize that it is God’s voice, God’s presence, with you in your life. It’s not always easy to tell at first—remember Samuel and Eli—but God will persist until you have your epiphany.

And when that epiphany comes and you say with awe: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. It is you. When you have that epiphany of recognition, remember Samuel and follow his example. Stop whatever else you’re doing and say: Speak to me, Lord, for your servant is listening.