2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Last Sunday we looked at the baptism of Jesus. And if you were with us last week, I mentioned that, as we look at his baptism, we learn more about our baptism than we do about his. Because his calling, which officially began at the Jordan with John, is really our calling too; and our calling officially begins at our baptisms. So celebrating his baptism reminds us that we share his calling through our baptism.
And I recognize that this is kind of a deep, theological notion; I mean, this wasn't really how I was brought up to think about the meaning of being a Christian. The church I grew up in, emphasized that I should put my trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins. I still believe that is true, but I never really heard about what comes next. Jesus died for my sins and was raised so that I would have eternal life... but now there’s this space in between. What am I supposed to do between now and then? In the church I grew up in, the answer was usually, “Go and tell others about Jesus.” But I've never felt very talented or successful at evangelism, so for a long time I just felt guilty and hoped that someone else was doing my job for me.
Maybe you can relate to those feelings. If so, I have good news: today our Scripture just so happens to pick up about where the baptism of Jesus left off. Today we hear about two followers of John the Baptist who turn and become (at least according to John) the first official disciples of Jesus. And what we learn from their story is that the beginning of their calling is exactly the same beginning as our calling; because just as Jesus calls them with the words, “Come and see,” so also he calls to us.
Again, we hear this morning of John's account of the calling of the first few disciples. And in our reading today Jesus and John the Baptist cross paths a couple of times following Jesus' baptism; and each time John points to Jesus and calls him “the Lamb of God.” And as we read on, we notice that after hearing this, two of John’s disciples stop following John, and start following Jesus. So John's disciples hear him praising Jesus they respond by leaving John to go and be disciples of Jesus.
Over the past couple of years, I have become very close friends with the pastor at First Presbyterian, Durango… I’m sure I’ve talked about our friendship before. We have a covenant to be there for each other whenever we need to be. The other day, I was having an emotional crisis, and knew that he was the call I needed to make. So I called… and it went to voicemail. So I hung up… and two minutes later, he called me back and explained why he couldn’t get to his phone in time. He apologized because that’s the relationship we have: when one of us calls, we pick up. I’ve done that for him, he does that for me. Most of the time, we can ignore my texts, but when my name shows up on his caller ID, he picks up; that’s our deal.
I love Beau; he loves me. We care for each other in real time. I appreciate his genuineness, his spiritual insights, and his thoughtfulness about the work of the church. But here’s the thing: I’m not going to tell you to go to his church. First of all, he’s got as much emotional baggage as I do (maybe more), that’s why we’re friends. But more than that, you belong here. This is your church. You’re not going to start going to 1st Pres, Durango just because I tell you that Beau’s a great guy. This is your church; these are your people; the work we do in this community is your ministry; and I am your pastor.
In our lesson today, John seems to send his disciples to go and follow Jesus—and to be fair—it’s a little different. John recognizes Jesus as Messiah; or as John puts it, The Lamb of God. (Neither Beau nor I are the Lamb of God.) At any rate, they hear from John, their teacher, that Jesus is the promised one, so they go and are then called by Jesus to follow.
Now as I've said before, I'm not always sure that when we hear about this idea of “being called” in the Bible, we always hear it as being about us. I think we tend to talk about being called as if it's some specific, remarkable thing. I think that when we talk of Christian calling, we think of it as something like being a pastor or a missionary or an evangelist. Often, it's a full-time job, with years of training, and often some board needs to certify us to do it before we can begin. In other words, we may not think about calling very much at all. We can listen to Scripture passages like the one we've heard today from John and, because we don't share their specific skill-set, we can leave it as a nice story about someone else.
But let's look again at what happens between these disciples and Jesus: it begins with the two of them literally walking behind Jesus, following him around. They have heard from John that Jesus is the One, so they just start walking after him. Jesus turns to them and asks them what they want and they respond first by calling him rabbi, or teacher, a term of respect. And then they ask where Jesus is staying... which doesn't really answer the question.
Then, Jesus says to them something remarkable: he says, “Come, and see.” Now this might not seem so remarkable at first glance, but trust me it is. As with any good teacher, Jesus doesn't just tell them the answer, he invites them to learn it for themselves. He doesn't just say, “I'm staying over there;” he says, “Come and see.” He invites them to experience it with him; he invites them not only to know the answer, but to live the answer just as he does. And that is remarkable.
And in this way we are reminded of our calling in theirs. Just like these first two, we are each called to follow; called to walk with Jesus and learn not just about him, but from him. Because, even from the very beginning, Jesus didn't just call individuals to know a certain thing or behave a certain way, but he called us into his presence, into that relationship and eventually into relationship with one another.
So the call of Jesus is not primarily a call to do a particular job, or to fill a particular role; it is a call to relationship. When these two come to Jesus, there is no tract, there is no alter-call, there is no membership class; he says, “come and see.” It is a call to experience a relationship; to experience an intimate relationship with Jesus. It is very different from signing up to do some job. To do a job requires at least some small understanding of what is involved; you can plan it out, it's negotiable, it has its limits, and you know what it looks like when the job is over. To be called is to be in relationship. To be called is to follow Jesus into a mystery; it is to move out into uncharted darkness. Jesus simply says, “follow me” and really, that's all that matters. Everything else will work itself out through the course of that relationship.
One of my favorite theologians Dietrich Bonhoeffer, talks about this adventure. He says:
If we answer the call to discipleship, where will it lead us? What decisions and partings will it demand? To answer the question we shall have to go to him, for only he knows the answer. Only Jesus Christ, who bids us follow him, knows the journey’s end. But we do know that it will be a road of boundless mercy. Discipleship means joy. [The Cost of Discipleship]
Those first disciples weren't called to a specific place; they were called to go wherever Jesus led. They weren't called to give up any specific thing, but in following Jesus they would find the freedom to walk away from anything and everything. This is a scary proposition if you think about it; mostly it's scary because there is no mistaking who this call is about. Each of us hears our Savior's call to “Come and see.” The call to know him and experience a relationship with him has been extended to each one of us. And a relationship can take us almost anywhere. But as we grow in this relationship, we learn to trust. And as we learn to trust, we will find the depth of God's grace and our greatest joy as we learn more of who we have been created to be.
So let us remember again the call of our master; a call that begins in a relationship with him and leads wherever he takes us.
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