God's Call

     One day a man dressed in the clothes of a beggar stopped in front of run down church. He had often passed this way in his travels but today for some reason he felt the need to enter the church and pray.  Almost immediately he was deeply moved by the Holy Spirit. Lying prostrate, he heard a voice coming from the cross: “Francis, go and repair My house, which is being destroyed.” That was all he heard, that was all he needed to hear. Not looking for any deeper meaning to this call from God, St. Francis immediately started to  repair and rebuild the little church of San Damiano and then, others in the vicinity of Assisi. It was only later though that St. Francis realized this calling to rebuild God’s church was the human institution not the physical one.  By doing what was right in front of him though, St. Francis, over time accomplished both. 

     Throughout the history of our faith, God calls on his children. We become his hands, his feet his body.  The readings today are both about this call.  In the Old Testament reading we hear about God’s call to Jonah and in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus begins his call to his disciples.   

     The author of Mark was a man on a mission. He was not a descriptive author, yet told the world  in no uncertain terms and in very short order the very good news of the Messiah, Jesus Christ ,the Son of God. Mark is the shortest of the four Gospels. All of the Gospels tell us about Jesus, but in their unique ways.  In the space of thirteen verses, Mark goes from announcing Isaiah’s prophecy; ‘Behold, I will send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness” to the beginning of Jesus’s ministry. In those first thirteen verses Mark tells us the following:1- John the Baptist was taking the country by storm with his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin and announcing to all, “another will come who does not baptize with water but with the Holy Spirit”, 2-he baptizes Jesus 3- God’s voice is heard saying, “This is my own dear son whom I am pleased” 4-The Holy Spirit sends Jesus into the wilderness, and 5-During those 40 days Jesus is tempted by Satan yet Jesus rebuffs him. And that is only the first thirteen verses.

     The 14th verse were we begin our reading, tells us of the arrest of John the Baptist.  I have always thought of John as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. He fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy by paving the way for God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.  Diplomacy would be a word one would not use, when describing John. From calling the religious establishment of the time,  a brood of vipers to criticizing Herod Antipas for stealing his own half-brother’s wife, John did not mince words and ends up in prison.

     There was never any competitiveness or animosity between John the Baptist and Jesus.  Jesus begins his ministry by announcing, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”, not because John is out of the picture but because it is time that God communicates to his people directly through his Son. John the Baptist himself says in John 3:30, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. The time had come for the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

     For thousands of years, the Jewish people have sung the following words, “Even though the Messiah tarries, I will wait for him every day with great anticipation.” The Jews had waited generation after generation for this Messiah, this King. Then finally that wish was fulfilled. The Messiah had arrived.  Almost immediately though there are questions.  We heard one of them last week; “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  During the time of Jesus, Nazareth had a population of one hundred and fifty. How could this Messiah come from there?  In this week’s reading we read; “After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee.”  Galilee? The centre and heart of Judaism was 120 kilometres to the south.  In Jerusalem. Galileans were regarded as poor country cousins without sophistication.  They spoke a very distinct form of Aramaic, a very rough one according to their southern cousins. And perhaps most importantly, since Galileans lived so far from Jerusalem, they were viewed as being very lax in the proper observance of Jewish religious rituals. Yet, that is where this Messiah journeyed and announced the following; “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news”.  Jesus was telling the world, things had changed. There was a new way now, a better way. And the way would be unlike anything anyone could have ever imagined. 

     It was in Galilee, that Jesus began his call to the men who would soon become his disciples. “As Jesus walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he came upon some fishermen.  He first called out to Simon and Andrew, then a little further, to James and John. These four men were hard at work doing what they did everyday. Fishing. Their fathers were fishermen, their grandfathers too.  But when a voice called to them, to drop everything and follow the Son of God they immediately did so. Simon and Andrew left their boats and equipment ad followed Jesus. James and John left their father  and hired men and followed Jesus. They did not pause and ask questions, they didn’t store their equipment and boats. They started walking behind this man called Jesus. Somehow, these four men, the first of the twelve, knew the man they were now following was the Messiah. His call to them was just the beginning. 

     While the first of Jesus’s disciples answered his call immediately, Jonah went about things a little differently. Jonah was a prophet. As a prophet he would have an almost direct line to God. But as it turns out Jonah was very reluctant in listening to God’s call. “ The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time”. The first time God called to Jonah, the prophet jumped into a ship going the opposite direction he was supposed to go, the ship got into a terrible storm, Jonah got thrown overboard, and to cap things off got swallowed by a whale where he spent three days. It was only by praying to God, who Jonah had just ignored, that the prophet was released to dry land. Yet again, God calls to Jonah. “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message I tell you”. This time Jonah did what he was told.  Nineveh was a very large city.  It took three days to walk across it.  Jonah walked for a day, then said eight words, probably the shortest sermon in the Bible. “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Upon hearing these eight words, the people of Nineveh believed God, they proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloths and turned from their evil ways. God saw what they had done and changed his mind about the calamity. 

     God’s call to Jonah took two attempts. When God was first ignored, God made sure that Jonah  would soon learn the error of his ways. Jonah did but it took being swallowed by a whale to accomplish that. The first four disciples didn’t question Jesus’s call. They immediately started following him and became his disciples. Together with Jesus, they saved the world.

     As Christians, I think we all get calls from God.  Most of the time, they are silent, a feeling we get. Similar to when we put our cell phones on mute. Sometimes though we do hear God’s voice. God asks us to do a lot of different tasks. Some are called to become priests and ministers. Some to serve in convents and monasteries. Most of God’s calls though are for tasks that we consider simple. But this is Gods work. We, God’s children are his eyes, his ears, his hands, his feet.  Oswald Chambers is noted for saying; “The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone”.