Called to What?
Jonah 3:1-10; Mark 1:14-20
So we have yet another foundational story of call. Jesus goes to the
lakeshore and calls James and John to repent, believe the good news and follow
him. This story is, let me suggest, first and foremost, a story about
salvation. Salvation is certainly among the “first things” of a faith that
calls Jesus “lord and savior.” But what does it mean, to be saved?
Rather than proceed by way of theological exposition, I want to begin
with a personal salvation story. Now, you’ll note that I didn’t say “the”
personal salvation story, but rather “a” personal salvation story, for anyone
as regularly lost as I am needs more than one story of salvation.
This one happened on the road from
We stopped outside of
We found another mechanic. He made a few adjustments and we were back
on the road.
A couple of hours later, in the middle of nowhere in central
This time, in the gathering chill and gloom, a certain desperation
began to creep into the car. Perhaps it was the Dramamine wearing off on the
cat. Perhaps it was the long odds against finding a mechanic on Friday night
after
In any case, if ever there was a time for a fox-hole prayer – you know
the kind, “Dear God, if you get me out of this …” and then some wild and crazy
promise that you know you’ll never actually fulfill. Well, if ever the was a
time when I needed some salvation ….
Now, some folks promise they’ll stop drinking. Some promise they’ll
stop lying. Some promise that they’ll never doubt again.
For me it has never been a question of habits or faith, but rather a
question of obedience. So I said, to myself moreso than to God – with whom I
was not on speaking terms at the moment: “God, if you get me out of this I will
do what you want me to do.”
Well, we drove up an exit ramp that promised two gas stations: one to
the right and one to the left. The one on the left looked a bit more promising,
or, at least, a bit closer. But at the top of the ramp there was one of those
tacky signs proclaiming, “Jesus Saves!” with a little arrow pointing to the
right. I figured, “what the heck?”
We went to the right, where we found a little bit of salvation in the
form of a mechanic whose wife was running late so he was still at work. If he’d
been a Latino named Jesus I might have been forced to keep my promise. He was a
good, ol’ Kentucky boy whose name I’ve long forgotten, but I have not forgotten
the good humor and great skill with which he patched together our fuel pump and
alternator enough to make it 200 more miles without incident.
For some folks, salvation means avoiding the fires of hell, or, more
gently, avoiding eternity separated from God. For me, it mean avoiding a cold
night in
Surely, there are numerous visions of salvation that lie somewhere in
between – salvation from a life of addiction, salvation from the depths of
depression, salvation from the meaninglessness of a job. In the weeks ahead, we
will talk with care about the meaning of salvation for the progressive church.
Understanding salvation is, of course, important.
But more and more these days, it seems to me that the bigger question
is not so much what does salvation mean, but rather what is it for? In other
words, not only “what are we saved from”
but also, “what are we saved for?”
What is the purpose? And, for Christians, what does Jesus have to do with any
of this?
Douglas John Hall articulates the question with clarity. “I am
entirely convinced,” he writes in Why
Christian?, “that ‘salvation’ as presented in the Bible and in the best
traditions of Christian faith, does not mean being saved from our mortality, our finitude, our human creatureliness; nor
does it mean being saved for an
otherworldly state, immortality, heaven.”[1]
We see this from the beginning of the gospel story. In our passage
from Mark this morning, Jesus is seeking followers, disciples. He announces his
ministry with a call to repentance, to turning their lives from the ways of the
culture and its values to the way of the gospel and its values. The first
demand of the gospel is trust. “Believe the good news,” Jesus says.
This is not an invitation to the perfect Christology or theology. This
is not a demand for the perfect creedal confession. Jesus does not say, “repeat
after me the apostles’ creed,” or make for me a proper “confession of faith
saying, ‘Jesus the Christ is my lord and savior.’” No, none of that.
The first step is to turn away from the values of the culture – in our
case, a short list of such values would include affluence, success,
consumption, appearance. The second step: trust the good news, a short list of
whose values would include compassion, mercy, justice, love.
Gospel salvation lies in the abundant life that flows from these core
gospel values. But, again, toward what purpose? What is the point of an
abundant life lived according to such values founded on a basic trust in the
good news of the gospel – the good news that God loves us and desires to live
in deep communion with all of creation?
Our readings this morning push toward that next question: for what are
we saved?
The first glimpse of purpose in the gospel narratives comes in Jesus’
enigmatic, “follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
What can that possibly mean? Well, one good fish story deserves
another.
The wonderful story of Jonah, which I often think of as my own story
of call, gives some depth to the question of call. Of course, it also
underscores the discomfort of call. James and John leave their nets and their
father – in other words, they leave their traditional economic and family
supports and values behind – immediately to follow Jesus. Jonah doesn’t do
anything immediately. Indeed, he runs in the opposite direction, as the opening
of the story tells us.
“Go to
“Uh, no thank you,” says Jonah. “I believe I’ll go to Tarshish. Better
coffee shops. Nice museums. Better job prospects.”
Then comes the fish story, as Jonah gets some time alone to consider
his response to God’s call. I like to think that’s when he was praying for a
good mechanic – one who might be able to open the mouth of a large fish.
Jonah’s own foxhole prayer is answered, and he experiences his own salvation.
As is often the case for so many of us, salvation comes as a second
chance. Given a second chance and additional time to reflect, Jonah hears God
say again, “Go to
And we see in
Ah, and here’s the rub. You see, the church – whatever else it is – is
a house of memory, and the memories kept by the church are memories of
salvation, recollections of salvation stories. The call of the church is to
share the stories with a world that stands in desperate need of salvation.
In other words, this is fundamentally an evangelical call. We are
called to share the good news of salvation that we find in Jesus with a broken
world.
Wow! Is that scary or what! Pat Robertson might say exactly the same
thing! Now you know why I didn’t want to go to
This is, I hope obviously, the place where it becomes crucially
important to talk with great care about what salvation means, and what it does
not mean. But for this morning, I will leave it at this: salvation has everything
to do with living fully and abundantly in deep communion with God, with one
another and with all creation.
God works in strange and mysterious ways. For me, I began to
experience the reality of my own salvation in
Next Sunday I will share with you a vision of church, of deep
communion, of abundant life that had its roots in the
We praise You, Lord, for all Your creatures,
especially for Brother Sun,
who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
of You Most High, he bears your likeness.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars,
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
We praise You, Lord, for Brothers Wind and Air,
fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Water,
so useful, humble, precious and pure.
We praise You, Lord, for Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night.
He is beautiful, playful, robust, and strong.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Earth,
who sustains us with her fruits, colored flowers, and herbs.
We praise You, Lord, for those who pardon,
for love of You bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace,
by You Most High, they will be crowned.
We praise You, Lord, for Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape.
Woe to those who die in their sins!
Blessed are those that She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm. Amen.