Read the Lectionary Texts

I love those old television commercials where the surgeon, or the helicopter pilot, or whoever is performing an intricate specialized skill suddenly reveals that they have never received any training in what they’re doing – but they DID stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

Then there is a movie trailer with a young couple escaping from danger in an airplane. As the plane soars off into the sky, she says, “Where did you learn to fly a plane?”

He says, “Playstation!”

There’s something that strikes us funny about totally unqualified people performing highly qualified jobs! And that’s what makes today’s Gospel reading so humorous!

Jesus is recruiting disciples to help him save the world. They will be people who lead others to faith in God. They will establish social justice and fight the powers of evil. They will heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God.

What kind of people would YOU choose for such a lofty mission? Perhaps you’d look for some great preacher, or some missionaries like the late Mother Theresa, or people who use their fame to do good, like Bono. Maybe you’d go after great statesmen, or inspirational athletes, or successful business leaders. I mean you’d want to recruit people who are trained, skilled and experienced in the field of making the world a better place, wouldn’t you?

But Jesus didn’t choose anyone like that.

Jesus chose fishermen.

And we’re not talking fishermen like you see on TV in the Bassmaster tournaments with their multi-thousand-dollar bass boats, high-tech, sonar-driven, laser-guided fishing gear, and fancy-dancy three-tone-red uniforms with chewing tobacco patches all over the sleeves.

No, these people Jesus recruits are REAL fishermen – crusty, earthy, smelling-like-fish fishermen.

“Come and follow me…” Jesus says.

My friend Lea Slaton who is a Disciples of Christ minister over in North Carolina points out the irony in this story. She says all these men knew was FISH! I like that! I like to imagine that as Simon and Andrew, and then James and John walked off to follow Jesus that day, they might have asked the Master, “Why are you calling US to help you save the world? After all, all we know is FISH!”

They did not know theology, or how to preach, nor were they even particularly religious.

But they did know boats and tides and nets and bait. All they knew was FISH!

And there’s a great truth to be learned in this story. Evidently, it is not faith that qualifies you to follow Jesus – not religious belief – not sound theology – not any of the things we might imagine are necessary to help save the world and bring about the Kingdom of God.

Maybe you don’t need to know the bible, or how to preach, or how to pray fancy prayers in order to participate in God’s saving enterprise.

Maybe all you need to know is FISH.

Or taxes!

I mean, when Jesus invited Matthew to come and follow him, he was calling a man who had betrayed his fellow Jews by becoming a tax collector for Rome. All he knew was TAXES – and betrayal.

And what about Thomas? All Thomas knew was DOUBT! That’s why we call him “Doubting Thomas.”

None of these disciples possessed the theological understandings, ministerial skill sets, or religious proclivities to make a dent in the world’s problems and people’s alienation from God.

But they did know FISH. And TAXES. And BETRAYAL. And DOUBT. And AMBITION. And FEAR. How many times does the Bible tell us the disciples were AFRAID?

So what is it that qualifies a person to follow Jesus? What is it that prepares a person to be able to lead others to God, and to heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the Gospel? What is it that readies a person to transform this world of ours into the beautiful Kingdom of heaven where justice flows like a river?

Well, maybe it’s just being who you ARE.

“All we know is FISH!” those first fishermen-disciples said.

What do YOU know?

I once had the great pleasure of sitting at dinner with a couple named Ted and Frances Wampler.  Ted and Frances were the Wampler’s of Wampler Sausage fame, and were well known in these parts not only for their sausage, but even more importantly for their community service. They were highly instrumental in helping the Child Advocacy Center get started. But even before that, Ted and Frances helped get started the local chapter of Compassionate Friends. This is a group that supports parents who have lost children. I know many parents in our community who have lost children and grandchildren, and are grateful for the Compassionate Friends.

It was Thursday, October 5^th, 1995 when they got the call. Ted and Frances’ daughter Mary Lee was dead, killed in a car wreck up on Interstate 40. In a book about their experience of loss titled “Will Our Tears Forever Flow?” Ted writes about that awful moment, “The storm clouds had moved into our lives, and that night we began a long journey of grief, one for which nothing in our earlier life had prepared us.”

I asked Ted how he and Frances got involved in helping other parents who’d lost children. What he told me was something like this:

“One day, I said to Frances, ’We have no control over the tragedy that has happened to us, but we do have control over what we do with it now.’”

Isn’t that a marvelous statement?

And so they did something about their tragedy, and what they did has helped countless others who have had to take the same tragic journey.

But what was it that qualified Ted and Frances Wampler for this great work? They had no background, no training, no specialized education.

“All they knew was GRIEF – and TRAGIC LOSS – and TEARS that forever flowed.”

“All we know is FISH!” the first disciples said.

Maybe there’s a reason you are the person you are. Maybe there can be found a higher purpose in what you’ve experienced in life. Maybe the greatest of all God’s mercies is that God is able to take human experience of every kind – the good and the bad, the happy and the sad – and breathe into it the breath of life so that it becomes a way to bring God’s grace to others. Maybe you should begin your journey with Jesus not by coming to know everything there is to know about the Bible or other religious things. Maybe you should begin your journey with Jesus just by coming to know yourself.

“All we know is FISH!” the disciples said.

 What do YOU know?

I’ll bet there are people here today who know gardening – and teaching – and fixing things – and engineering – and medicine. I’ll bet there are people here today who know humor – and joy – and optimism – and hope. I’ll bet there are people here today who know sorrow – and loss – and loneliness – and despair. I’ll bet there are people here today who know failure – and sin – and doubt – and disappointment.

I’ll bet there are even people here today who know FISH!

“Come and follow me!” Jesus says, “And I will show you how to use who you are and what you know to bring others to God, and healing to the broken, and the Kingdom of heaven to earth.”

You see, all it takes to follow Jesus is to be yourself, and to give to God what life has taught you so that God can use you to reach others.

All Ted and Frances Wampler knew was loss. All Simon and Andrew knew was fish.

And yet they all changed the world in beautiful ways when they gave themselves and what they knew to Jesus!

What do YOU know?

What do you have to give to Jesus?