Mark 1: 14-20
Have any of you ever seen the reality TV show The Apprentice. I am not a big fan of reality TV shows and I have to confess I have never managed to watch a whole episode. But my understanding of the show is that, in the original format, a group of contestants came together to compete for the chance to work with the Real Estate magnate, businessman and TV celebrity Donald Trump. Each week the contestants carry out a task and at the end of each episode you hear the words "You're fired" for one of the contestants, until eventually in the last episode there is one person left standing. Is that about right?
Obviously, that process developed for TV is so different than our gospel where we hear that Jesus called his disciples. Today's gospel is similar to last week where rather than starting with a large group, eliminating as Jesus walked along, Jesus invited a few with the words "follow me."
And as I reflected last week at the calling of Nathaniel and Philip, Jesus never said "be like me" rather Jesus said "follow me." But last week's gospel as well as today's leads me to consider if our Christian life as a disciple is different from, or similar to, being an apprentice? And what does it mean to be --- and a use this word very carefully --- what does it mean to be chosen?
Now do not get me wrong, we are disciples and "disciple" itself is in fact simply the Latin word for "learner." And I clearly am hesitant to even suggest we are "chosen" because that seems to suggest others are not.
That being said being a disciple implies that we have embarked on a life-long process of learning from Jesus as Lord and Savior through prayer, through reading the Bible, through being Christ to our neighbors, through meeting together in worship.
Yet, there are those then who then feel that in the course of this process of being a disciple --- chosen if you will --- that their whole Christian life is based on the nagging fear or guilt that they will hear the words "You're fired" from God. So, to make sure they are never fired, they see it as their duty to carry out the tasks they have been given to the best of their ability, so that somehow they might earn God's approval. Furthermore, they expect others to compete as well.
That is not view in today's gospel. In it we see Jesus walking around and for whatever reason chooses to walk by the lake shore where he encounters fishermen. Why the lake shore and not the food market? Why not the feed store? Why men and not women at this point? We can only guess. And to some of the fishermen he says "follow me" and to others, notably Zebedee and the hired men, Jesus --- shockingly --- says nothing or if Jesus did say something to them we have no record.
Furthermore, we have nothing to indicate that Jesus knows more than we the readers about those who follow. We could speculate. Did Jesus watch and notice something about these four before he stepped forward to the shore? Did Jesus have some type of ability to see through a person? Or did Simon, Andrew, James and John have some psychological need for mid-career change? Any of those directions however would be mere speculation.
And then the question why not chose Zebedee and the hired men for example. Why are they "left behind" --- I hate using that term--- why did they remain doing the hard work? I can only just imagine how Zebedee felt to be abandoned by his two sons. And then of course we could fantasize about what that would mean for Zebedee and the hired men. Why can't or didn't they follow? Perhaps we can trust in the fact that although we never hear about them again, it does not mean that they did not follow later. Jesus returns to this area on numerous occasions even establishing his headquarters in nearby Capernaum.
Nonetheless, Zebedee and hired men aside, Jesus chooses not because of anything Simon and Andrew, James and John have done, but quite simply because God places them under his wing because that is exactly the way God chose others. Throughout the Bible we have the names of certain people. That does not mean others are not chosen, it simply means that for whatever reason their story remains.
And why is this so important …it is a reminder that the basis for our relationship with God and with each other is not competitive, nor is it based on pleasing a boss, nor is it because others are better or worse than you and I. Instead, today we hear how Simon, Andrew, James and John followed Jesus. Today it is you and I. Tomorrow it will be someone else. They were not competing nor are we competing with each other because competition produces anxiety and a constant striving to do more --- winners and losers. Rather the Kingdom of God is just the opposite; peace and assurance that, no matter what happens, we belong to God and in a very real sense, like the prodigal son, have come home.
And the words "follow me" are not the end of the story, as we see in today's gospel they are only the beginning. The gospel message does not end with an appeal to trust, but continues with the constant challenge to follow.
In that sense there is a strong similarity between being a disciple and being an apprentice. Because just as an apprentice will devote his or her self to learning and acquiring necessary skills from a master, so a disciple can devote his or her self to learning from Jesus and discovering new things about him or herself and the world. But there are some differences. And point of fact we have a tendency to jumble disciple and apprentice together when the Greek word used as "disciple" can be translated as "apprentice."
Why the distinction? Just consider that at the time of Jesus to be a disciple was generally understand as a process whereby a Jewish religious student would take on a teacher --- rabbi --- to master the content of the written Law of the Old Testament and become familiar with the oral traditions, the stories that helped people understand the law. To be a disciple was to master a set of teachings from a teacher. For example that is why John the Baptist had disciples. There were people looking for teachers.
However, discipleship as Jesus conceived it was not a study but a practice. And Jesus was their master not so much as a teacher of right doctrine, but rather as the master-craftsman whom they were to follow and imitate --- more like an apprentice --- so that the student could become a master craftsman.
Furthermore, as I said, in Jesus' day, it was the followers who chose their master. The students chose their teacher or rabbi to help them learn. But in today's gospel and in other stories of the call of the disciples even though it brings up other issues --- it was Jesus who chose his students. For example, contrast today's gospel with the story in Luke 9 where a nameless man initiates and comes up to Jesus and says: "I will follow wherever you go, just let me bury my father." Jesus however, dissuades the person, telling him in no uncertain terms: "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
To summarize, what we glean from today's gospel is that the call of Jesus to follow him is a broad and deep call to recognize that for whatever reason we have heard something --- which in no shape or form is a competitive race --- us versus them --- but a call to imitate Jesus and share in values, to see the world through the eyes of Jesus Christ. It is a call to follow Jesus as he heals the sick and comforts the broken hearted, to cast out the evil and to speak the truth.
I want to conclude with a parable written by Soren Kierkegaard, a famous Scandinavian author and pastor. Kierkegaard tells a parable about a flock of geese. Each Sunday it seems these geese would gather in the shade of the barn to hear the gander preach of the glorious destiny of geese. The gander would describe the grand purpose for which the geese were created, namely the geese were to fly. Week after week they were enthralled by his messages about soaring above the clouds. Meanwhile, the geese were getting more and more plump until at Christmas time they were butchered, eaten and none of them ever experienced the exhilaration of real flight.
Kierkegaard called this parable "The Domestic Goose." We could spend a great deal of time speculating on being a disciple on what it means to follow and what it means to be an apprentice. And whether or not who is or is not chosen, but I think more importantly we need to fly. Amen.
Comments