Will You Come and Follow Me?
Will You Come and Follow Me?
Mark 1:14-20
Last week, we connected to Jesus in his time in the wilderness by thinking about our own wilderness days, our life in the “land of no and not yet.” We think we’re ready to begin a new chapter in our lives. We think we’ve figured out what we were put here to do. We know what’s next…except what is actually next is one giant lesson in patience. It feels like a total waste of time.
The thing is that wilderness time is never wasted time. Jesus is tempted in the wilderness. When it is time for us to wait, we are tempted pretty quickly, too: “If I quit now, maybe no one will ever know I tried;” “If I compromise and cut a few corners, maybe I’ll have a safety net!” The secret is that we grow by being tempted, early and often. Having navigated those hurdles early, having learned how to say no to some things, our commitment is deeper than it ever would have been. We know what we’re not going to do. We know why I’m doing what we’re doing. But overcoming temptation is not the only lesson we learn while waiting…
Two more things of value happen while we wait. First, in the wilderness, the wild animals are Jesus’ companions, which sounds strange until we consider the companions we meet in our “wilderness,” folks we would have avoided or ignored or flat out feared. At the same time, while I’m waiting for “the show to begin,” I may be shown God’s presence. God’s presence won’t be revealed in giant dramatic ways but in ordinary moments that become extraordinary: when I finally remember to look up at the night sky; when I actually listen to what someone says to me; when the right song comes on my radio at just the right moment and a memory is triggered. God works in and through common people and everyday moments, whispering to us, “Hey…I’m right here!”
Here’s something to consider. Jesus was stuck in this waiting time, just like we are. Jesus wasn’t sure exactly why he was stuck. Neither are we. So, we learn how to say “no” to the things that would tempt and derail us. We look for companions. We listen for God. Still, we ask ourselves, “Was this really necessary?”
The very first message in our text this morning is that there was a larger purpose for Jesus’ waiting. It is so easy to miss this point. While Jesus was in the wilderness, something else was going on. Mark tells us that John, the Baptist was being arrested. Maybe the reason that Jesus needed to be in the wilderness was simple: if he wasn’t, his whole ministry would have been over before it ever began. Maybe Jesus was off in most dangerous place imaginable because it was the only place he would be safe.
It may seem like a crazy thought, but every now and then we catch a glimpse of such answers for ourselves. We’re creeping along behind that one driver in Lake Bluff whose maximum speed is 16 mph in a 25 mph zone: “Come on, lady! If you just speed up a hair, I’ll make this light!” You have things to do! She’s oblivious. Too bad, …you don’t make the light. Then, it happens. A car comes barreling thought the intersection. It dawns on you that if she’d been going a little faster, you would have been t-boned on the spot. You think to yourself, “Oh, my God,” and you hear a whisper, “I know…I’m right here.”
Such moments make me think of the Garth Brooks’ song where he thanks God for unanswered prayers: for answering, “no” to the pleas that he’d get to stay with his high school girlfriend; for answering “no” to his prayer to get that job that would have been a disaster; to answering “no” to the desperate hope that he would get away with whatever his latest transgression might have been. We think we know what needs to happen and when it needs to happen. We think to ourselves, “Well, if I were God…” Sometimes, though, when things don’t work out as we wished things are actually working out for the best. That thought can change your life. That thought can change how you live.
Mark tells us that for forty days, Jesus was in the worst place imaginable. Some good things happened. Maybe, though, what mattered most about those days was what didn’t happen. Jesus didn’t get arrested with John.
After John was arrested, Jesus’ ministry began. Now, I want you to pause. Sure, it’s hard to take “no” for an answer. Sure, it’s hard to sit around and wait, even if you make some new friends and have an extraordinary moment or two. Honestly, though, what happens when life finally says , “Okay…now you can go.”
Some moments, we are ready and raring to go. I remember when it was time to go to college. I had spent my entire senior year of high school missing my friends who had already graduated, missing my time in Japan where I had felt so grown up and free. I didn’t want to be where I was. I didn’t want to wait for a second but I had to wait a whole year. When it was time to go, I ran and I never looked back.
I never thought twice about getting married, either. I just wanted to get “hitched” before Tracy came to her senses! However, the prospect of parenthood? Not so much… Honestly, I wasn’t sure I was ready as I drove to the hospital to give birth. When we prepared for our second child, I was full of doubts again. I was smart enough to know that our lives were about to change forever. And both times, I was right. I’ve completely loved being a parent, but there was no may I could have ever imagined what was coming.
Mostly, the transitions that we make smoothly in life—without balking—are the ones when there is no time to balk. More time to think isn’t always a good thing. Give me enough time and if there’s not a rabbit hole to fall down I’ll dig one and jump in! That’s why I love the moments when something just happens and it’s “game time.” You look at the people you love and say, “Hey, I’m going to do this. You should do this with me!” Later, as we think back on these moments that feel so spontaneous, we realize that we were actually doing what what been preparing our whole life to do.
God knows that sometimes we need less time to think. Life comes flying at us and says, “It’s time to stop thinking. It’s time to start doing.” Jesus did this all the time when he met people. He didn’t mince words. He rolled into town. Nobody told you he was coming ahead of time. You had to decide if you were going to go see what the fuss was all about. If you chose to show up, you might hear a sermon or a parable. You might see a healing that looked a lot like a miracle. Pretty soon, though, Jesus would look you in the eye and say, “Follow me!” There wasn’t much time to choose. It’s “go” or “no” and the vast majority of people answered, “No!”
It’s only human, you know. Think about how many times in your life you’ve said, “No!” Some “opportunities” that you said no to, well…thank God! You didn’t have one that more drink. You didn’t spend one more minute with that toxic person. You didn’t toss your career out the window for the chance to be a part of the “opportunity of a lifetime.” Good for you! Honestly, moments like those are enough to make you feel like 99% of the time we should say no…which is a huge problem if we are trying to make ourselves available to be a part of God’s work or at least trying to do something other than play it safe.
There are opportunities that we know we flat out missed. I had a friend in college who told me that one day, everyone would have their own computer and it would be small enough to fit on a desk. He was one of Apple’s earliest employees. I knew better! I just kept writing on my typewriter. No Apple stock for me!
I remember when someone explained the internet to me: “There’s this network and it’s going to change everything!” I was like, “Ya…right.” Later, I finally got used to that noise that my dial up modem made, someone told me about wireless internet connections. “What? That’ll never happen!” Just the other day, someone mentioned “artificial intelligence.” “What’s that nonsense?” Honestly, I’m terrible at figuring out what’s coming next.
This makes me far more sympathetic to the people who met Jesus, who had no idea who he was, who just thought something was finally happening in their town where nothing ever happened. “Follow him? Forget about it…” I get that…
This is why I stand in awe at the people who ran into Jesus of Nazareth and thought to themselves, “This is it! This is the one!” This guy from nowhere rolls into town. He looks like he’s going nowhere fast. He spouts some crazy ideas about loving and forgiving. And yet, when he looked them in the eye, they did not look away. When he spoke, they leaned in. When he said, “Follow me,” they knew that he was talking specifically to them. And shockingly, against all the odds, they dropped everything. They followed him, with no real idea of where they were going. They did something that I’m not sure that I could have done.
If you “do the math” you’ll figure out pretty quickly that that the less someone had to lose, the more likely they were to take Jesus up on his offer. Rich people didn’t tend to drop everything and become homeless at quite the same rate as folks who can honestly say to themselves, “What do I have to lose?” Of course, you can be rich in things and utterly lacking in a purpose. Or, you can be poor as a church mouse but still not want to let go of the one thing you’ve got left. In the end, human beings, given a little time, can come up with a reason not to change. That’s why it seems like a big “ask” on Jesus’ part: “Follow me!” And, yet, incredibly, some people drop everything and do exactly that.
Look at how fast they said yes. A half-hour before they met Jesus, nothing mattered more to Peter and Andrew than their boats and their nets. An hour later, they abandoned that stuff. A dozen or so yards further down the beach, James and John, who also loved their boats and nets and loved their father, Zebedee, even more, left their boats and their nets and their Dad behind. Somebody got a free boat that day! Did someone take Zebedee home? It almost seems “un-Christian” doesn’t it, this whole following Jesus thing?
I’m warning you! You should take my warning seriously: God still pretty much just pops up in life. It’s not like we know ahead of time. I’d like to think that the early warning might just be a sermon you heard one day, but that’s just me. It might be just as likely to arrive in a life-lesson that arose or in some thought that just seemed to be thrown your way. However it arrives, you’re not prepared. Maybe it’s not a “lesson” at all but just one of life’s everyday miracles: people forgiving each other; people making incremental changes that you didn’t think were possible; maybe, against all the odds, that person is you! Hear me! Remember this! When something that’s said or something we see drives us below the surface of things and into a moment of depth, we should get ready!
If you had time to think, you might realize that this is the moment you’ve been waiting for, the moment you’ve been preparing for your whole life. However, now is not the time to think. It’s time to decide: “Are you ready? Are you in? Will you come and follow me?”