YOUR SPECIAL CALLING

(Preached on Sunday, January 23, 2005)

As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee; mending their nets, and he called them.                                          -Matthew 4:21

 

A fishing story.

An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.  Inside the small boat were several large yellow-fin tuna.  The businessman complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.  The fisherman replied, “Only a little while.”  The businessman then asked why he didn’t stay out longer and catch more fish?  The fisherman said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs.  The businessman then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”  The fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos.  I have a full busy life, senor.”  The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you.  You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat.  With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could by several boats and eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.  Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery.  You would control the product, processing and distribution.  You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA, and eventually New York City, where you will run your expansive enterprise.”  The fisherman asked, “But, senor, how long will this take?”  To which the businessman replied, “Fifteen to twenty years.”  “But what then, senor?”  The businessman laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right you would announce an IPO, sell your company stock to the public, and become very rich.  You would make millions!”  “Millions, senor?  And then what?”  “Well, then you would retire.  Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”

 

That is certainly not the conversation Jesus had with the fisherman on the shore of the Sea of Galilee!

Both conversations, taken together, are highly instructive for us as we think about what purpose our lives might hold.

 

Actually, Matthew’s concise reporting style does not give us many details of the conversation of Jesus with the fishermen.  We know that Jesus called disciples and that they responded.

I used to think that this was all there was to this incident.

Until I became the parent of teenagers.  I call my son and daughter every day, have for the past 10 years of living in Miami.  And during the school year I always ask them about their days at school, what they did, what they are learning.

To hear their summaries, given in about 2 minutes each, I really wonder what goes on for the other 5 hours and 58 minutes they are in school.

So, yes, I now understand that Matthew is just giving us the highlights of Jesus’ interaction here.

 

But even so, there is a significant learning we can take away from this passage.  Last week we heard the apostle Paul address us as “saints” and as those called by God in the fellowship of Jesus the Christ. From that we gleaned that our lives have a purpose; that we have been called to be used by God for spreading God’s love throughout the world.

I also mentioned last week that in addition to this general, universal call that goes out to all of us, that each of us has a special, unique call from God as well.  That is what this passage from Matthew and our opening fishing story help us focus on this week.

 

Here is Jesus beginning his special work for God. 

How does he begin?  He sees some people fishing and, calling them by name, says to them: “Follow me.” 

Isn’t that interesting? 

Jesus, whom we have earlier learned from the story of his baptism is the “beloved” of God, specially anointed by the Holy Spirit, does not embark on his work alone.  He calls people to help him in doing God’s work in the world.

 

You and I are here today in this church as contemporary disciples of Jesus.  Just like these sons of Zebedee, you have I have been called to help Jesus do God’s work in the world.

And that work is to catch people like fisherfolk, to throw out the wide gospel net about the good news of God’s love and acceptance of all people, and draw people into this new family that God is calling home.

 

The key to what Jesus is asking of the fishermen and of us is that we be engaged with people, that we plunge in and get involved, that we no longer stay aloof from the world and from the poor and the rich and the sick and the possessed and the powerful and the powerless.

Jesus’ own ministry was one of intense involvement with people and with their needs, teaching them; bringing Good News and light into darkness; healing their hurts, physical and otherwise.

Along with his disciples, we are called to do the same.

 

You see, our particular call is not to do something spectacular on behalf of God but to be what God has created us to be.

Each one of us is a response — a unique response to a unique call.  A God of infinite creative love, the source of all life and goodness, calls us into being, sharing with us something of God’s own being.

 

Each of us is here not just to fill space or to be a background character in someone else’s movie.  Consider this: nothing would be the same if you did not exist.  Every place you have ever been and everyone you have ever spoken to would be different without you.

We are all connected, and we are all affected by the decisions and even the existence of those around us.

 

Take the example of Peter, an attorney in Philadelphia, and his dog, Tucket.  Tucket was very sick.  Gradually he was becoming paralyzed by a tumor on his spinal cord.  Peter could not find a veterinary doctor who could save his dog.  Desperate to find someone who could help, he turned to a pediatric neurosurgeon.  The doctor agreed to try to help Tucket, and in return he asked Peter for a donation to the children’s hospital where he worked.  Jerry has never met Peter or Tucket.  Jerry is a blue-eyed, blond-haired, five-year-old boy who loves to eat mashed potatoes.  Jerry also has tumors on his spine and in his brain.  With the help from the donation Peter made to the hospital, Jerry underwent successful surgery performed by the doctor to remove the tumors.   Tucket’s surgery was also a success.

 

 

Each of us has a purpose, a special calling from God.

This special calling is what the church speaks of as “vocation.”

Frederick Buechner suggests a good way to discern our special calling is to look for an intersection in our lives.

“The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done.  If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumable met requirement (a), but if your work is writing TV deodorant commercials, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b).  On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a) but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.  Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do.  The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

 

If you see your work as only a job, then it’s dragging you away from what you really want to be doing.  If you see it as a calling, then it is not longer a toiling sacrifice.

Instead, it becomes an expression of you, a part of you.

Victor is a motorman for the Chicago Transit Authority.  

Five days a week he’s running an elevated train on the Red Line.  Victor stands out in the minds of the people who ride his train because of a notable and unusual trait: he loves his job.  “Thank you for riding with me this evening on Electric Avenue.  Don’t lean against the doors, I don’t want to lose you,” he tells passengers over the intercom as the train departs.  As the train makes its way north, Victory points out notable sites, including which connecting buses are waiting in the street below.  People compliment him all the time, telling the city he’s the best motorman in Chicago.  Victor admits, “Our equipment may be junky, but for $1.50 I want to give a Lincoln Town Car ride.”  Why does Victor have such a positive approach to his job?  “My father is a retired motorman, and one day he took me to work with him and I was so impressed looking out that window,” he says, speaking of the city skyline.  “Ever since I was five years old, I knew I wanted to run the trains.”

 

The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. 

You are truly blessed if that vocation is the way you make your living.  Not all of us are so blessed.  Sometimes, we must hold down a job to support ourselves and our families.

But even then, we have a special calling from God, which may be an avocation, a place where we can volunteer, or even just the family where we live. 

Somewhere in our lives, though, there is a place where God has a special work for us to do, a special opportunity for us to be the presence of God’s love, good news, light and healing for those around us.

We are here because God, through Jesus, has called us here.

The call is still being sounded.

“Follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.”

“Follow me, and you will be my love for a special part of the world.”