January 21, 2018               Fishers of Men                                    

This morning, I’d like to start with the story of Jonah. We all learned in Sunday School the story of how Jonah was called by the LORD to go to the city of Nineveh. And how Jonah decided instead to catch a boat going the other way. We all know how God made a storm to come up over the sea, and the sailors threw Jonah overboard, and he was swallowed by a great fish. And we know how Jonah was coughed up on shore and was called again to go to Nineveh, and when he did, he walked through the city saying, "40 days and Nineveh shall be no more", and the people repented. And that’s pretty much the story of Nineveh we get in Sunday School, except for that last part about Jonah sulking that Nineveh was not destroyed.

What they don’t tell you in Sunday School, is that Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the greatest military power on earth in those days. And as part of their military policy, they didn’t just conquer people, they laid waste to the places they attacked, slaughtering even women and children. Indeed, in their conquering of Israel, their army slaughtered nearly 60,000 people. The Assyrian military, then gathered up it’s plunder and brought it back to Nineveh, where the people indulged in all kinds of pleasures, without a thought even for their own poor starving people.

I guess by now, you should be getting a picture of why Jonah tried to run away. Going to Nineveh for Jonah, would be like some foreign Muslim preacher coming to New York City today, and calling people to repent – he would be lucky to get through the city alive. Yes, Nineveh ranks right up there with Sodom, Gomorrah, Babylon, and Rome in the just plain filled with evil department, which is why Jonah pouted when God did not destroy them. But the bottom line is, they repented and God saved them.

I spent a good deal of time this weekend thinking about Nineveh as I watched the news about the government shut-down and the women’s marches this weekend. Our leaders don’t really seem to care about how much damage they do to the people of this country, as long as they get their own way, and pay off their donors(and that's both parties). And I think the women’s marches reveal that we have a great many problems with racism, sexism, and poverty that need to be named and addressed. I believe in these events, God is calling us to repent of that nationalism, prejudice and injustice that tears at the fabric of our nation. I believe there is a parallel here between Assyria and America, between the women’s march and Jonah’s call to repentence.  

You know, some people say that we no longer live in a Christian nation, and to that I say Bolognie – ham and swiss, liver and onions!  I believe that those children of the sixties and seventies who went to church with their parents know full well the God revealed in Jesus Christ. They may not attend church now, but they know, it’s part of their spiritual make-up. They see the world the way it is, and they know something is wrong, they hear the call to repentence and are ready to do so. I believe that’s what happened at Nineveh, the population knew something was not right, and so they turned, and God saved them! So where does that leave us?.....

This year is Year B in our lectionary, which means we should read a lot from the gospel of Mark. Mark’s gospel was written to the citizens of the Roman empire. Citizens who had begun to realize that there was something not quite right with Rome. Citizens who had been promised opportunity, justice, and equality, but had been denied these things. And so we have Mark’s gospel of Jesus Christ, which calls the Roman citizens to “follow me”. To them, Jesus is some foreign prophet, who knows more about God than the people of Rome, and they respond to that message, it takes a bit, but eventually Christianity overcomes the Roman Empire! I think that says something about the power of God, In history God overcomes Pharoah, Babylon, Assyria, Rome, that’s quite a record. So what does God offer us today!

Back in the “aughts”, about 2005, I read a book by my NT professor Steven Patterson, who wrote about the Son of God. One of the earlier chapters spoke about the first disciples, and what they saw in him. They saw someone who knew the God of the prophets, who could envision, communicate, and realize for them what it meant to live in God’s love, to live in faithfulness to one another. They saw someone who could overcome their human divisions, teach them to care for each other, and change their lives. When they heard Jesus call, they realized the world was not as it should be, and they dropped their nets, and followed him. 

Despite the harsh rule of Rome, they could live in peace and treat one another justly. Professor Patterson says, this was an Exodus from Egypt, without having to leave Egypt. It was freedom from Rome, while Rome was still in power, and for us today, it means finding God’s kingdom in our lives, no matter how our leaders mess up, and no matter what our problems are. It means proclaiming the kingdom of God and being "fishers of men", .. and women,... and all people.

“Follow me”, Jesus says, and in doing so, he invites us to be saved from the powers of sin and death, to find life in abundance in a world of scarcity, and to find life in this world and life everlasting.  And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ!