February 7, 2010

EPIPHANY 5 C

Carl Knapp, Deacon

“’Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.”

We, baptized Christians, are called to follow him. It is not an easy decision to make and it is a decision not made just once but made over and over again. Peter followed that call that day on the lake, but Peter also failed to heed the call that bitter night in Jerusalem. So also we are continually answering that summons. We are always being called upon to make that choice. And chose we must. For we humans will follow someone or some ideal, and we had best be very aware of who it is we are following. Christians are called upon to leave everything and follow him. But how do we leave everything? We support ourselves; we support families. Peter, John, and James followed him. What did they leave? We know that they returned constantly to fishing for it is repeatedly mentioned. Paul was likewise called, but he also remained a tent maker while he preached the Good News throughout the Roman world. What then did they leave?

In order to follow him and become fishers of men they changed their priorities. Fishing became the means to support themselves while they preached the Word of the Risen Lord. Throwing their nets out for fish, the former center of their existence became second in importance to the throwing out of nets for the souls of humans. And this is what we are also called to do. As functioning Christians our livelihood is not the meaning of our existence; it is rather the means to the ultimate end; the bringing of ourselves and others to the Christ. Thus, like Peter, James, John and Paul we should be the very best fishermen, businessmen, bus drivers, nurses, teachers, and mechanics that we can possibly be. We can say, ‘Yes, I need this job to live, but the job will not be my life. We can relinquish control over our lives and say: “Lord, my talents are yours. You gave them to me; I return them to you. I leave everything in your hands and I will follow you.” That is how the apostles followed him. They didn’t give up working; but they did change their priorities so that they left everything in His hands and followed Him. They admitted, as we must, that everything comes from God. All that we have is only lent to us for a short time, and it will return to the Father. Christ bids; “Come, follow me.” He bids us to open ourselves to his love. In accepting the love of Christ we become capable of accepting and giving love to our fellow creatures.

That is the paradox. It is only in giving up all that we can obtain all. For it is in the love of God toward us that we find the true meaning of existence. It is in the love of God toward us -expressed in that greatest of gifts, His own Son that we can dare to love. It is in the grace of the love of God that we can dare to let down the innate hostility, the fear that surrounds each of us. It is in the love of God that we can dare to risk being loved by others. The invitation, ‘Come follow Me.’ is so simple and yet so complicated. It leads us to a change in our being. It liberates us both as individuals in our dealings with other individuals and as a parish dealing with the world. Christ opens the universe for us. He arranges the circumstances that permit miracles to take place, but we must answer that love with faith and be ready to act. Miracles don’t just occur. They are the result of God acting and man responding. Remember those words from Mark, “And he could do no mighty work there… And he marveled because of their unbelief.” [6:6]

There was a miracle on the lake because Peter risked making of fool of himself in the front of the other fishermen. Peter could have said, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. And now we’re tired.’ There would have been no miracle, but Peter did say: ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’

Miracles are still open to us if we open ourselves to them. The possibilities of furthering the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ, are present if we but reach out and grasp the moment. If we wait for the perfect set of circumstances, if we wait for all conditions to be perfect we will never ever begin. What then is preventing us as the People of God from responding to the invitation: ‘Come, follow me.’? Is it a question of confused priorities? Some believe that they can fulfill the obligation to love and serve Him by spending an hour or so on Sundays. There are no such bargains. There is no cheap grace available. No indulgences can be purchased. The call to ‘Come, follow me’ is a full time call. We must give up our self centered interests, if we would love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole mind. We have been told that we can help to achieve that goal if we remember to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Almost 70 years ago Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. He promised: ’Come, follow me; and I will make you the greatest nation on earth. The churches of Germany were packed with good people worshipping God while carefully ignoring their neighbors. The churches in the towns surrounding the concentrations camps were filled with the guards who, after worshipping on Sunday, returned to the camps to relight the ovens.

Saying yes to the call of the Lord requires a commitment to our fellow beings. A German theologian wrote after his rescue from an SS prison about his own failure to speak out on behalf of his fellow men.

When they came for the gypsies I said nothing ;

For I was not a gypsy.

When they came for the Jews, I said nothing

For I was not a Jew

When they came for the evangelicals; I said

Nothing for I was not an evangelical.

When they came for the Catholics; I said

Nothing for I was not a Catholic.

When they came for me there was no one left

To plead my cause.

Those 67 years ago this spring a nation forgot that to worship God requires a lot more than church attendance. This church is not the only place we come to worship God. This building is the place we gather as the People of God to refresh our souls, to gather our strength, and to commune with our Lord and Savior in the sacraments. This church is the first aid station, a MASH unit on the front lines of the conflict between the forces of Jesus Christ and the forces of evil. We are here to be renewed, and strengthened to go forth to rejoin the battle. We gather here not as individuals, but as the Community of God. We pray as a community. We pray for each other’s needs. We rejoice together and we grieve together. We are all attempting a most difficult journey and we need all the support we can give and receive. Jesus is with us. In love He holds out His hands to support us in our troubles. He asks that we love one another as he loves us.

This parish has frequently dared to throw out nets into an unpromising sea. The hospital across the street was risk but the people of another generation supported it. The original St. Timothy chalice is a continuing reminder of our outreach. When the 1890 chalice was given this chalice was sent to the Indian missions. Sixty years later it returned to us. It remains a symbol of what we have done and what we are doing and what we can do. Individuals and this parish carry on the mission activity of Paul and Timothy even today at Interact, Pensdale, FISH and in the hills of Appalachia. As individuals and as a parish we are laboring in the service of the Lord. We all fulfill the words from Matthew’s Gospel [25:40] “I tell you this: anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did for me.”

Jesus says to us: “Do not be afraid.” As we move forward to receive the Body and Blood of the Savior let us reflect on those beautiful words: “The Gifts of God for the People of God.” We love and serve God when we love and serve our fellow man both inside and outside these walls. We are the People of God. We show our faith by being a loving, caring, serving community. And once again the invitation is given: Come, Follow Me.