Why is so
difficult to live as we know we should?
The brothers of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist have been
sending out meditations by e-mail.
A few days ago, Br. Mark Brown sent out this meditation: “Most of us don’t wake up in the
morning thinking of ways to sin. Most of us most of the time don’t sin on
purpose. It’s possible, but not common. Our sins usually emerge in the context
of doing the best we can to make our way through the day in a world that can be
quite hostile…. And, so, we often find ourselves falling into the same old
traps, the same old sin, day by day.”
The need for repenting
of sin has been important for a long time—ever since Adam and Eve. We see it in our reading today from the
Old Testament. The prophet
Jeremiah calls out the people for worshipping idols or false gods. We also see
it in the concern St. Paul expresses about the priorities of the Christians in
Corinth. They were having a fight about whether one needed to fully embrace
Judaism before one could become a Christian. Paul emphasizes the supreme importance of simply obeying the
commands of God and not to worry about unimportant stuff. This was difficult in Paul's time; it
is no easier today.
So the
daily-ness of sin makes us incomplete—less than God has called us to be. To be fully responsive to God, we need
to turn away again and again from whatever distract us or separates us from the
love of God—the love that has called us to be followers of Jesus Christ.
We know
the followers Jesus started strong, but later faded in their loyalty and
commitment. They abandoned Jesus after his arrest and trial. But in their
strong start we can see a pattern for our lives as we commit to following
Jesus. And in the end, after the
resurrection, they become strong once again, able to take the Good News to the
whole world.
The
pattern we heard in the reading from Mark's gospel is: repent, believe, follow and fish.
Repent:
But we've been trying to live as best we can, we say. True, but as Br. Mark noted, we fall
into the “same traps” of turning away from God as we confront what life throws
in our paths. It is inevitable—for
in our humanness we, along with St. Paul, do what we know we should not do, and
fail to do what we know we should. So it's not violating some objective list of
sins, the big 10, for example—but our own consciences that tell us where we
have fallen short. Honesty—not
guilt or shame—in facing our shortcomings will lead us to the next step in
following Jesus.
Believe: When Jesus said the time is fulfilled and
the kingdom of God has come near, he spoke about his understanding about God's
time and God's love for all of creation—including humanity. Now through Jesus' life we can see how
much God loves us and how God wants us to live—fully ourselves in our humanity,
but with the generosity and compassion we have seen in Jesus. In response to our new awareness, Jesus
tells us to believe in the “good news”.
We must believe in the “good news” of God's love for us and God's intention
to in the end “to make all things new”—sorrow, pain and death overcome, peace
and justice established. We may
not find it easy to believe in Jesus' promises or in the truth of the
revelatory visions of John of Patmos.
We may find it hard to believe, given what happens in our lives and in
the world—but the core of our Christian faith must be our believing in Jesus as
the revelation of who God is.
Follow:
Our belief in Jesus may be shaky or tenuous at times, perhaps strong at
other times, but through our belief in Jesus—just as Simon, Andrew, James and
John were called; just as Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of
James, and Salome were called—we are called to be followers. For us, who cannot be in Jesus' presence,
to follow Jesus means to learn what he taught by studying the scriptures and,
within our own cultural context, by trying to live as he taught and as he
lived. No small task this seems to
me, and certainly not one we can manage doing through our own efforts. But relying on the Spirit Jesus promised
us for strength and for guidance, we keep trying to follow.
Fish (as a verb, that is): Despite the difficulties we encounter
in repenting, believing and following, fishing may be the most difficult task
of our call. Now for some of you
fishing may be a pleasurable pastime.
For Simon, Andrew, James and John, fishing was their livelihood. But in Jesus' teaching it became a
metaphor leaving behind one's comfort zone of a personal journey of faith in
order to bring the good news of Jesus' teaching to others. As much as I wish I could advocate for
this, “fishing” doesn't mean going out and netting new members for St.
Nicholas' Church. “Fishing” means
wading into the deep waters of life and offering Jesus' net of comfort and
challenge to others. You have
experienced Jesus, and now you are to offer Jesus to others. Yes, there is an element of personal
holiness to receiving Jesus, but if we stop there, we miss the point. Our
Christianity must be lived in the midst of the life of the world. It can be glorious, but mostly it's
risky and challenging. We won't
stay clean and dry—but Jesus clearly says, “Follow me and I will make you fish
for people.” So there you have it,
Jesus’ command to us: “Go fish!”
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