3 Epiphany A
January 27, 2008

Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 5-13
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23



I'm going to ask you to use your imaginations in a serious way this morning. All you men imagine yourselves emptying your pockets right now,  wallet, car keys, cell phone, checkbook, whatever else you have in your  pockets, and setting all that stuff on the pew beside you. Now imagine getting up from your seat and stepping out into the aisle, leaving everything that was in your pocket in the pew. And all you women imagine leaving your purse and anything you might have in your pockets in the pew, and joining the men in the aisle. Now all of you imagine the crucifer leading you with the cross right out the doors you came in through, past your cars, east on Coley Drive, everyone walking together following the cross. All your stuff is still here. You leave without it. You don't go home and gather up the stuff you have there. You don't call anybody to see about your pets or cancel your afternoon commitments. You don't have any medication with you, or tissues, or chapstick, or anything, just you and the clothes on your back. You, separated from all the stuff you carry around with you, even to church. Now imagine if you can, how you would feel if you actually did that? Is vulnerable a good word for it? Or insecure? Maybe grief over the things you'd leave behind.

What you imagined just now is what happened in today's Gospel when Jesus said "Follow me.." to the disciples. They got up, left everything right where it was and followed him. Over the time of Jesus' public ministry, his disciples had two things in common. Two things that bonded them into one fellowship, one community. The first was that they were all following the same leader, Jesus. The second was that they all gave up something. They made some sacrifice to follow him. They all went empty-handed, with only the clothes on their backs.

This story of Jesus calling these first disciples and their leaving everything and going with him is a different story of leading and following than we're used to in scripture. In biblical times people carried their belongings with them when they went somewhere. In the great exodus when God delivered Israel from the oppression of the Egyptians, they took stuff with them. They took their families and their livestock. They wrapped up the unleavened bread dough and took it with them. They even took some of the Egyptians' gold and silver and extra clothing. They left on that journey through the wilderness with some provisions. They didn't have to feel vulnerable and insecure on the journey. They didn't know exactly where they were going or how long it was going to take to get there but they trusted Moses to lead them, and they had enough stuff to survive at least for a while. It wasn't like leaving everything the way the fisherman did.

I love the way writer, Justo Gonzalez, referred to the calling of the first disciples. He said the call from Jesus to the fishermen was a call to go somewhere and you can't go somewhere and stay where you are at the same time. He said inexperienced travelers tend to over pack because they want to go on a trip and they want to stay home too. They want to see new places and experience new things but they don't want to miss the way things are at home, so they bring stuff from home, stuff they don't need where they're going.

I remember going to girl scout camp in the summer after fifth grade. We had a list of things to bring and another list of things not to bring. Whatever bag we brought our stuff in had to fit neatly under the little beds we slept on. That alone limited what we could bring. The idea was that all the girls would have brought the same sort of things from home and would have left the same sort of things at home.

The camp was a week long. It was the first time some of the girls ever stayed away from their families and their homes for that long. Some of them had a rough time with that but I didn't. My family was crazy. Every minute away from those people was a gift. But we all missed the things we were not allowed to bring with us like candy and chewing gum, our favorite magazines and music. Radios and cassette players were strict taboos.

The first night or two the girls in my cabin commiserated about all the things we missed. Doing without those things was a common bond between us. Finally one girl fessed up. She had at least one of everything on the not to bring list. She only brought two sets of clothes, instead of the six she was supposed to bring, but she had a radio. And enough packages of kool-aid that we could all put some in our canteens so we didn't have to drink that nasty camp water. She passed out double-bubble chewing gum, the square kind with the little comic strip inside and we had bubble-blowing contests by the light of our flashlights lying in our beds at night. We giggled in the dark. And nobody missed being at home because we had a little bit of home with us.

I can still see that girl's face. She looked a little bit like Peppermint Patty in the Charlie Brown cartoon. Acted a little like her too. She made a lot of friends that week. We all thought she was so cool. But because we were some of those people who wanted to go somewhere and experience new things without having to leave our favorite things behind, we missed the chance to make a sacrifice, to learn the valuable lesson that we really could get along for a week without some of the stuff we thought was so important, even necessary to our lives. Truth is we could have gotten along without that stuff for longer than a week if we'd wanted to. Pity we didn't try.

The story of Jesus calling the first disciples is a lesson for us modern day disciples of Christ that we can't have our cake and eat it too. We cannot embark on a lifelong journey to follow Christ and expect to stay where we are. We can't go somewhere and keep all the comforts of home. A call to follow Christ is a call to get moving. It's better to leave
things behind, no matter how important we think those things are, than to encumber the journey and end up using all our energy to manage the stuff we think we need to live. The stuff we can't or won't let go of. When we do that we take our eyes off our Lord. Before you know it, we're not following him at all. We're wandering like pack mules plodding along in a circle in the dirt wondering why the journey is so boring and
meaningless.

The call, the daily call to follow Christ and him only (and it truly is a choice we make daily), is to a journey that is anything but boring and meaningless. But it requires risk, sacrifice, and above all, trust in the love and providence of God. It's a call to see what is necessary for abundant life and what is necessary for us who dare to call ourselves Disciples of Christ to let go of so we are truly free to follow our Lord to the end of this life and beyond.