Labor

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
January 22, 2023

3 Epiphany A 

          For many years, I spent a week in the summer as a chaplain to 4^th and 5^th graders at the Episcopal church camp in the Diocese of Southern Ohio.  The mornings were filled with worship, Bible study, and swimming.  The afternoons were filled with a variety of camp activities from various games, to arts and crafts, swimming, and canoes.  One of the favorite activities was fishing.  Fishing at Procter Camp is a catch and release activity, with the counselors baiting the hooks with wriggling worms and removing the fish from the hooks for the campers and throwing them back in the pond.  In the evening, we would sit around the campfire and talk about our day.  Inevitably there were fish stories.  Who caught a fish today?  Lots of hands went up.  Who caught the most fish?  The answer to that question was often a number larger than the number of fish that would fit in the pond.  Who caught the biggest fish?  Who knew that there was a fish in that small pond half the size of the average 4^th grader?  What the kids lacked in fishing skill, they could definitely make up in fishing imagination!

          Somehow, I don’t think 4^th and 5^th grade catch and release is the kind of fishing Jesus is talking about this morning when he calls Peter and Andrew and tells them he will make them fish for people.  Then Jesus calls James and John, the sons of Zebedee who immediately leave their father in the boat mending their nets and follow Jesus without even a glance back or a quick good-bye.  And where did Jesus take the four fishermen who followed him?  He led them throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

          Peter and Andrew were fishermen.  We are not told that James and John were fishermen, and Jesus does not offer to make them fish for people.  But we are told that the brothers were in the boat with their father mending their nets when Jesus calls them so we can make a fair assumption that they were fishermen as well.  The four made their living from the fish economy, which involved catching fish with a net, hauling the net ashore, and selling the fish to people who would use a first century method of preparing them so that the fish could be eaten.  This was not a catch and release program.  This was an economy that provided income for those who fished and physical nourishment for those who bought the fish.  But fishing involves catching fish against their will with a net or a hook, killing them, perhaps filleting them then cooking or smoking them in order to eat them.  Somehow I don’t think this is what Jesus has in mind either when he tells Peter and Andrew that he will make them fish for people.

          So, what does Jesus have in mind?  The gospel lesson begins with the quote from Isaiah that we heard in the first reading this morning.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness--on them light has shined.”  And then Jesus says “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.”  When Jesus calls Peter and Andrew, James and John, they immediately drop everything they are doing and follow Jesus.  Then Jesus leads them through Galilee, teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and sickness among people. 

          I would suggest two things.  First, when the first four disciples drop everything immediately and follow Jesus without a single look back, they are offering their whole selves.  The fact that they do not pack a bag, get some cash, bring a lunch, or say goodbye to their families, tells us that they are going all in with Jesus and moving forward.  They are willing to risk everything and trust Jesus for everything in a new future.  I think this story tells us that Jesus calls us to be all in and focus on moving forward.

          Secondly, Jesus is going to use what they understand and who they are to teach them how to live as people on whom light has shined.  To Peter and Andrew, Jesus says “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  We are not told what Jesus says to James and John, but in my imagination, when Jesus calls James and John from their work mending nets, Jesus says to them “Follow me, and I will make you mend lives.”  Then Jesus shows the four how to fish for people and mend lives by teaching in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of God’s love, and healing people.  That is what discipleship looks like and that is how disciples are called to nourish the people and mend lives.

          Jesus meets us where we are and uses who we are to teach us how to live as people on whom light has shined, to nourish people with good news, and to mend lives.  Jesus wants our whole selves, not to make us into something we are not.  Whatever our vocation, Jesus tells us that not only can we use that vocation as the framework for following Jesus, we are called to do so.  We are called to follow Jesus with our whole lives, using all that we do to teach, to nourish the world with God’s love and to mend lives. Not everyone is called to leave everything and everyone behind to follow Jesus, although I do know people who have done that.   But Jesus does call each of us individually and all of us together to be as willing as Peter, Andrew, James and John to get up and follow Jesus into the future, using the fruit of our everyday labor to live as people on whom the light of Christ has shined.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Amen.