{"id":349,"date":"2012-01-19T16:49:45","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T21:49:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/onscripture\/?p=349"},"modified":"2012-03-19T11:57:02","modified_gmt":"2012-03-19T15:57:02","slug":"mark-114-20-a-call-worthy-of-their-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/01\/mark-114-20-a-call-worthy-of-their-lives.html","title":{"rendered":"Mark 1:14-20: A Call Worthy of Their Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Greg Carey
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Readers almost always gravitate to the same question. Why do Simon and Andrew, then James and John after them, abandon everything to follow Jesus? Mark leaves no doubt as to the immediacy of their response. Seeing Simon and Andrew casting for fish, Jesus says, \u201cFollow after me, and I will make you to be fishers for people.\u201d And immediately, Mark emphasizes, they leave their nets and follow Jesus. Likewise, Jesus immediately calls James and John while they are mending their nets. These two abandon their father in the boat with his hired workers to come after Jesus.<\/p>\n

Biblical stories often frustrate us by refusing to provide all the details we desire. John Grisham would do better. If John Grisham had written Mark, we\u2019d overhear a little dialogue between Simon and Andrew concerning Jesus. Stieg Larsson would have accompanied James and John through their morning routine. Patricia Cornwell would have clued us into the rumors that attend Jesus\u2019 arrival. Even the author of Luke\u2019s Gospel provides a little story that explains why the disciples find Jesus compelling. After a night of unsuccessful fishing, Simon, James, and John allow Jesus to use their boat as a podium. Jesus tells the men to put out and fish again. Simon grumbles, but an overwhelming catch of fish convinces him that Jesus is the real deal (Luke 5:1-11). No wonder Simon and his colleagues leave everything to follow Jesus! But Mark remains reticent.<\/p>\n

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We should honor the Gospels\u2019 reticence. The Gospels will reward our patience by supplying occasional details. When we learn that Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night, but the Samaritan woman encounters him at noon, we know to pay attention (John 3:2; 4:6). After all, the Gospel tells us that to mind the distinction between those who love darkness and those who come to the light. Our ears likewise perk up when Jesus has the crowd recline on the green grass (Mark 6:39). \u201cThey were like sheep without a shepherd,\u201d Mark tells us (6:34), and we remember: \u201cThe LORD is my shepherd. . . . The LORD makes me lie down in green pastures\u201d (Psalm 23:1-2). So when Mark refuses to tell us just why Simon and his colleagues abandon their former lives to follow Jesus, we hold our questions for later. But we do not forget them.<\/p>\n

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Watch the Video: The Gift of Service <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

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After fulfilling careers, seniors Nancy Cafferty and Sayyid Tirmizi are committed to giving back. In exchange for a small stipend from a non-profit, ReServe, the former museum finance director and professor assist library patrons with their job searches in Jamaica, Queens. ReServe helps nonprofits, schools, and public agencies fill skills-based, part-time positions with experienced professionals.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

If we choose to see it, Mark may provide one clue. Jesus\u2019 encounter with his future disciples represents Mark\u2019s first report of an act in Jesus\u2019 ministry. It follows immediately after Mark\u2019s summary of Jesus\u2019 activity. Marching into Galilee, Jesus preaches a single distinctive message, the gospel of God: \u201cThe time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has drawn near. Repent and believe the gospel!\u201d (1:15, author\u2019s translation). Jesus is saying something like, \u201cGod has broken into the world\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s good news \u2013 \u201cyou\u2019d better shape up and believe it!\u201d If Simon and his colleagues know what we know, they\u2019re aware that Jesus is calling everybody to \u201creshape\u201d their lives (following Clarence Jordan\u2019s Cotton Patch<\/a> translation). They\u2019re just receiving special attention.<\/p>\n

Many of the seminarians I teach can relate to Simon, Andrew, James and John. Their decision to enter full-time preparation for ministry may stretch out over decades, but the actual transition from professional or domestic life to full-time study usually comes as a shock. Seminary students vary in age from twenty-one to seventy-one, and our students have included lawyers, nurses, laborers, professors, and administrators. Sensing that God has indeed broken into their world, they put many things on hold, a decision that often stresses spouses and children. And they set off, seeking something different, something compelling, a path worthy of their lives.<\/p>\n

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Jesus\u2019 four new disciples lived in a tough world. Jewish aspirations for freedom confronted the grim reality of Roman imperial exploitation. Families lost their land. Children scattered in search of work and opportunity, often finding themselves enslaved by poverty. Traditional family and village structures crumbled under enormous cultural and economic stress. A very few people amassed incredible levels of wealth in Jesus\u2019 day, while countless others found themselves destitute. Those realities impinge upon Simon and Andrew while they fish; James and John sense them as they repair their nets.<\/p>\n

Lots of motives influence people who exchange their old lives for new ones. Harsh new economic realities are forcing people to retrain, restructure, and reorganize. Even Mitt Romney says he knows the fear of the pink slip. Countless people are leaving their old lives \u2013 or finding their former lives slipping away. What commitments convince us that they are worth living for?<\/p>\n

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Ancient philosophies often built their ranks from those persons who found ordinary life unsatisfying. According to Diogenes Laertius, Socrates encountered a young man named Xenophon in a narrow passageway. Blocking the path with his stick, the philosopher asked where he might find various kinds of food. Then Socrates asked, \u201cAnd where do people become good and honorable?\u201d With Xenophon looking perplexed, Socrates called him: \u201cThen follow me, and learn\u201d (Lives 2.48).<\/p>\n

It still happens. My friend Selina Man<\/a> owns a small chocolate-themed restaurant in Lititz, Pennsylvania. With a Princeton Ph.D. in economics, she found herself unfulfilled by Wall Street\u2019s big money. So she abandoned that life for the global Fair Trade retail business. After a year of that, she founded Caf\u00e9 Chocolate<\/a> with a business model<\/a> that emphasizes full participation by employees, environmentally friendly cooking, and economically just business practices.<\/p>\n

And some people abandon their nets because they hear good news worthy of our lives. If things were just fine in the world, perhaps they\u2019d stay with their nets. But sensing God\u2019s kingdom drawing near, they reshape their lives in response to God\u2019s call. They drop everything and go another way. Far too few churches ask this question, this vocational question, of their members: to what life is God calling you? And far too many of us domesticate the question, as if Simon and his colleagues were just volunteering for a single night at the winter shelter. The realities of our world press us with questions greater than how we\u2019ll spend a given night. Meanwhile, the kingdom of God lies right at hand. And what about those nets?<\/p>\n

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By Greg Carey Readers almost always gravitate to the same question. Why do Simon and Andrew, then James and John after them, abandon everything to follow Jesus? Mark leaves no doubt as to the immediacy of their response. Seeing Simon and Andrew casting for fish, Jesus says, \u201cFollow after me, and I will make you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":465,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[151,69,71,140,70,17,42,41],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-on-scripture","tag-cafe-chocolat","tag-change","tag-disciples","tag-fair-trade","tag-following-god","tag-greg-carey","tag-mark","tag-the-gospels"],"yoast_head":"\nMark 1:14-20: A Call Worthy of Their Lives - ON Scripture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/onscripture\/2012\/01\/mark-114-20-a-call-worthy-of-their-lives.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mark 1:14-20: A Call Worthy of Their Lives - ON Scripture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Greg Carey Readers almost always gravitate to the same question. 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