This morning, I want us to notice that we have before us Mark’s story of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.  After John is arrested, according to Mark, Jesus came out of the desert and into Galilee announcing that God’s realm was very near.  Jesus’ instructions were to repent, that is, turn around toward God.  A complete re-orientation is what Jesus was calling for.  “Turn around,” he was saying, “the God you are searching for is right behind you, loving you, supporting you!”  He began to assemble a team to help him spread this good news.  He saw Simon and Andrew casting a net.  He saw James and John mending their nets. 

If you were to read the Gospel of Mark from beginning to end (it’s not that long, only about 20 pages) I bet you would notice the breathless pace of Mark’s storytelling.  In fact, it’s even faster – and more spare --  in the original Greek. The word that here gets translated as “immediately,” [euthos] appears 42 times.  The eu part of the word has to do with goodness, wellness and has moral undertones.  Think “right away” which conveys a sense of closeness in timing and uses the word right with its allusions to being morally sound, correct, and decent.  The word can also be used to mean directly, open, frank, without reserve.  Mark uses it over and over and over in his story about Jesus and his followers.  He’s talking about what came next, and after that, and after that in terms of both timing and a sense of goodness.

Perhaps his emphasis on goodness, on rightness, in this story is because fishing is and always has been hard work that is not particularly highly regarded as a profession by others.  The Roman philosopher Cicero wrote to his sons that "the most shameful occupations are those which cater to our sensual pleasures: 'fish-sellers, butchers, cooks, poultry-raisers, and fishermen,'" (1) According to K.C. Hanson, “There was an ancient Egyptian observation that the fisher was ‘more miserable than any [other] profession.’”(2) Added to the low-esteem in which fishers were held was the fact that after paying for the ability to fish (the Romans sold and enforced fishing licenses), after paying the hired help if your family wasn’t large enough to staff a boat, after paying the taxes on the haul of fish, and maintaining the boat and the nets, fishers were lucky to be able sustain their families.  Roman taxes and tolls placed an extremely heavy burden on peasants in ancient Palestine.  Also, fishing is and always has been dangerous work.  Storms can take away everything. 

When I visited the Sea of Galilee two years ago, I learned something that I’d never understood before.  Fishing on the Sea of Galilee happens (and has always happened) at night when the fish can’t see and escape the nets!  Fishermen went out at night, threw their nets over the side of the boat again and again, hauling in fish (if they were lucky), and came in to shore in the morning to sell their fish and wash and mend their nets by the springs that feed into the Sea.  Nighttime on the Sea of Galilee is pitch black even now, with only the moon and stars for light when there is no cloud cover.  Storms can be fierce and deadly.  Nevertheless, fishing was what Simon, Andrew, James and John knew and did.  And the story is that Jesus called them from their casting and their mending –Jesus called them while they were at work.  They were not at the synagogue worshiping; they were not at home eating; they were not asleep and dreaming.   They were at work.

You have come down to the lakeshore seeking neither the wise nor the wealthy,
But only asking for me to follow.
O Jesus, you have looked into my eyes;/ kindly smiling, you have called out my name.
On the sand I have abandoned my small boat, now with you, I will seek other seas.

Tú has venido a la orilla, no has buscado ni a sabios ni a ricos;
tan sólo quieres que yo te siga.
Señor me has mirado a los ojos, sonriendo has dicho mi nombre,
en la rena he dejado mi barca, junto a ti buscaré otro mar.

I’m going to sing two more verses – but first I want to tell you two things about this story occur to me.  The first is what this story illustrates about how and where Jesus works.  It reminds me of the Irish joke in which a traveler asks, “How do I get to Dublin?  And the response is, “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t start from here.”   That is never Jesus’ response.  To get to the realm of God, Jesus wants his followers to start from wherever they are.  There are no try-outs or interviews or future meeting dates in other places.  They are at work.  Jesus wants them to follow him starting immediately – and they do!   The second thing is the way that Jesus sees the skills that these four fishermen have and knows that those exact skills can be applied to spreading the good news of God’s goodness and of all of the possibilities in the midst of the problems of poverty and oppression.  He sees them casting and mending, working the nets, and says, “Come with me.  I’ll show you networking!”

You know full well my possessions.  Neither treasure nor weapons for conquest,
Just these my fish nets and will for working.
O Jesus, you have looked into my eyes; kindly smiling, you have called out my name.
On the sand I have abandoned my small boat, now with you, I will seek other seas.

Tú sabes bien lo que tengo; en mi barca no hay oro ni espadas,
Tan sólo redes y mi trabajo.
Señor me has mirado a los ojos, sonriendo has dicho mi nombre,
en la rena he dejado mi barca, junto a ti buscaré otro mar.

The story then and the story now is that Jesus doesn’t work alone.  Jesus needed the hands and the love of people like Simon and Andrew, like James and John.  He wanted their love for himself, sure, but what he was really after was their love for all people.  He wanted them to move beyond their own small boats.  You know, a lot gets made of the idea that these four fishers left their work right away to follow Jesus – and maybe that is a big deal -- but actually, they didn’t seem to leave fishing and the sea completely.  They continued to have experiences fishing and traveling across the Sea of Galilee by boat while learning from Jesus.  They learned to work together in an entirely new way.  And in the last part of the Gospel of Mark, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome encounter a young man at the tomb who tells them that the Risen Lord will meet his disciples back in the Galilee.

You need my hands, my exhaustion, working love for the rest of the weary,
a love that's willing to go on loving.
O Jesus, you have looked into my eyes;  kindly smiling, you have called out my name.
On the sand I have abandoned my small boat,/ now with you, I will seek other seas.

Tú necesitas mis manos, mi cansancio que a otros descanse,
Amor que quiera seguir amando.
Señor me has mirado a los ojos, sonriendo has dicho mi nombre,
en la rena he dejado mi barca, junto a ti buscaré otro mar.