Jesus Calls the First Disciples
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishers. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 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. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
~ Matthew 4:18-22 (NRSVUE)The Call of Matthew
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
~ Matthew 9:9-13 (NRSVUE)Jesus Calls the First Disciples
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
~ Mark 1:16-20 (NRSVUE)Jesus Calls Levi
Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
~ Mark 2:13-17 (NRSVUE)Jesus Calls the First Disciples
Once while Jesus[a] was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
~ Luke 5:1-11 (NRSVUE)Jesus Calls Levi
After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up, left everything, and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
~ Luke 5:27-32 (NRSVUE)Some Women Accompany Jesus
Soon afterward he went on through one town and village after another, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to them[a] out of their own resources.
~ Luke 8:1-3 (NRSVUE)
During our sharing time today, I asked you to share a word that describes you. Now, we all wear different hats during our lifetime, and we are known by different names and labels. We are all someone’s child. We may be a sibling, a parent, or a grandparent. We may be an artist, a farmer, a business owner, or a teacher, a wellness guru, a pianist, a doctor, or a dog walker. We might be kind and humble, or rude and selfish. We might be outgoing and adventurous, or we might just like to spend quiet time alone. Friends, those are all adjectives or descriptive words that we as human beings use to try to label, define, or identify ourselves and those around us. But each of us is unique and one of a kind. Sure, we may have similarities, but we also have differences. So, finding a single word or name to describe us is like trying to find a single word or name to describe the vastness and the mystery of God.
Folks, if you remember, we are all made in the image of God. But what happens sometimes is we take on a label or a name because of something that happened in our lives, and we begin to not only believe it but to live it.
Almost fifteen years ago now, when I first came to serve as the pastor here in Oldtown, there was a phrase, a label, a name that I kept hearing over and over and over again. From the moment I signed my call agreement, or contract with the church, I started imagining the amazing things that we could do. It was so exciting! I started dreaming of all kinds of new possibilities and ways that we could swim together, a school of students, beautiful in all of our differences and held close by the same goal: to believe in the names that Jesus calls us and to learn more about the kingdom he promises. But with each new idea and dream and possibility that I shared with the congregation, I always heard the same reply. “Oh, Pastor Kelly, but we’re just a small church!” “Oh, we could never do something like that; we are just a small church.” “Oh, that would never work; we are just a small church.” “Oh, that would be really fun and could really help our community, but we’re just a small church.”
Each time I heard the phrase, “we’re just a small church,” I knew in my heart that those words had nothing to do with the size of our building, our budget, or our congregation. But on the contrary, it was an overarching feeling that the people of this church were not worthy, that this congregation wasn’t good enough, and that though this is the mother church to so many other churches in the area, somehow God favored all the others more because they had more money, they had more people, they had more of what society tells us is success. And here in Oldtown, we were just a small church.
Folks, when I officiate a wedding, I often share a few words of wisdom with the couple after I pronounce them officially married. And one of the things that I usually tell them is that when the relationship looks too perfect on the outside, it doesn’t stand much of a chance of going the distance. But when people come together in a relationship as real individuals, they are not afraid to let each other be who they really are, and they love each other anyway. That is when amazing things happen. And that, my friends, is exactly what happens here in Oldtown. We may not look perfect on the outside because we’re not. And we may sometimes swim in different directions, but we all strive to be a part of Jesus’ school of fish. And Jesus says to all of us: “Live with me; travel with me; take care of one another. You don’t need those old names.” Because you’re not just a small church. You are not unworthy. Money and the number of people that sit in your pews aren’t what matters! But the way you love and treat yourselves and others does.
Friends, every single day, we carry with us the weight of the names that the world has given us. But Jesus doesn’t listen to any of them. So, just like the disciples did the day that Jesus called them to follow him, it’s time for us to toss away our old names. It’s time to stop thinking of yourself as smart, lazy, forgotten, or broken, rich, poor, best, or least. Because if we truly want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and swim with the other disciples learning more about the kingdom of God, and how we can bring it closer to earth, we need to remember what we learned last week.
And don’t worry if you weren’t here last week, because we’re going to go over it again. So, friends, take a deep breath, then, sitting in this safe sanctuary, where we are ALL held lovingly in the hands of Go, take a moment to let go of the names that the world gives you. There is no more tall or short or fat or thin. There is no more rich or poor or kind or selfish. There is no more deserving or undeserving, worthy or worthless. Then place your hands over your heart, close your eyes if you like, and repeat after me, “I belong, I am beloved, I am delightful.”
Friends, we’re going to continue to work on this during the Season of Epiphany, because if and when you truly start to believe that you belong, that you are beloved, and that you are delightful, you’ll start to let go of your worries and your concerns. You’ll start to find that you sleep better at night, and you don’t feel stressed all the time. You’ll stop finding the need to judge yourself and those around you because you’ll begin to experience the peaceable kingdom that the prophet Isaiah told us about. You’ll begin to feel God’s presence all around you, no matter where you are. And you’ll know that you are never alone because you’re swimming with a school of students, beautiful in all their differences and held close by the same goal: to believe in the names that Jesus calls you as you learn, experience and truly begin to believe that the kingdom of heaven has come near. And that you, my friends are an important part of it.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ, as you go out into your busy week ahead, take some time to think about and maybe even write down the names and the labels that the world gives you. Now, some of them may feel good, and some of them may feel bad, but the truth is, you are so much more than a label or a name. Labels and names are what the world gives us to separate us into categories, to put us in the right boxes, and to keep us from being what God created us to be. You need to let them go, even if just for a little while, so that you can remember that the possibilities for you are endless because you are not a label or a name. You are a child of God! You are one of a kind. You are made in the image of the Creator. You belong. You are beloved. And you are delightful.
My friends, may it be so. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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