A DIFFERENT NET - Mark 1:14-20

Gospel Text:
14After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15"The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18At once they left their nets and followed him.
19When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.



NOTES: Mark says a lot with a little amount of text: Baptist John’s been imprisoned; Jesus has taken over with a simple message, and at the time of his choosing, he calls Andrew, Peter, James and John. Though John 1 tells us these men had already been primed by the Baptist, their former teacher, with detail not recorded in Mark’s narrative, detail which demonstrates some recognition and familiarity with Jesus prior to this episode, Mark’s point is clear – the men’s embrace of Jesus was sudden and dramatic, literally dropping one net to take hold of another, a spiritual net, embracing the calling to become “fishers of men.” Here is our own calling and challenge, timeless and universal, to all who hear Jesus’ voice, who read Mark’s account, who sense that whatever “net” they’ve been holding on to may not be the “ultimate net.” What’s more, the backdrop of the lectionary passages from Jonah and 1 Corinthians enrich and strengthen Mark’s theme, of letting go to take hold, of repenting, turning, changing course, living with a different set of values, priorities, loyalties, etc., as if a different reality is taking shape. What “net” might have a hold of you? How might taking hold of Christ’s “net,” to answer his call, also be God’s approach to “net” you, save you, gather you? To use Paul’s examples from 1 Corinthians 7, what mourning or joy, what keepsakes, what things of this world grip you? Can there be following without repentance? Can you be engrossed in the Spirit if engrossed in earthly sorrow, celebration, or stuff? The Good News is clear: the Kingdom of God is near; let go, take hold; turn and follow a new Lord, a new direction; real life is there, with Him.

Epistle Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
29What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; 30those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

Old Testament Reading: Jonah 3:1-5, 10
1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2 "Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you."
3 Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city—a visit required three days. 4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." 5 The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

WHO IS NATHANAEL? JOHN 1:43-51

GOSPEL TEXT:

43The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."
44Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. 45Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
46"Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. 
 "Come and see," said Philip.
47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
48"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. 
 Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."
49Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."
50Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that." 51He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

NOTES: Only John tells this story, about Nathanael (and Philip); why? Something important is being said about Jesus – who he is, what he does, how he works, who he calls – and thus it’s about us. Nathanael is a nobody and an everybody – a regular guy. One who studies the Torah and seeks God, but also a skeptic. Rather cynical about Nazareth, another place that is nowhere and everywhere. Jesus knows/calls Nathanael before the man even knows who Jesus is; there’s no special insight Nathanael possesses. Nathanael is blown away by Jesus’ knowledge of him, as Jesus speaks a personal word about this friend of Philip’s, without benefit of introduction; but as is common in John’s telling of Jesus’ story, this little sign of Jesus’ power is nothing compared to the “greater things” Jesus promises; that he, the Son of Man, is the very gateway to God/Heaven; words chosen by Jesus to evoke the image of Jacob’s ladder (Genesis). John reminds us that the Messiah of the world came from Nazareth, a despised region, and his disciples were from among the hinterlands, not from among the elite. John reveals that Jesus himself, who is with us, alongside us, in us, as we invite him, is the very “stairway” to heaven. As Nathanael’s buddy Philip famously asks later in John, “Could you just show us the way,” we are always looking. The “Way” is right here, revealed in Christ through the Holy Spirit. He knows us before we know him.

QUESTIONS: Why does John choose to include this story in the first chapter of the Gospel? Do we imagine we must be a “somebody” in some special place, in order to access God, to see glory? If Jesus is the “stairway to heaven,” how often do we see him, or miss him?

PREPARING THE WAY Mark 1:1-8

1The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2It is written in Isaiah the prophet:

"I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way"—
3"a voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.' "

4And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."


NOTES: we may be tempted to get right to Jesus, to salvation, to feeling good, to Christmas, BUT JOHN THE PREPARER GETS IN THE WAY, because he needs to; we must see what God sees, who we are; hungry people in the desert; to prepare us for Christ’s coming, the advent of the Messiah, of the cleansing Spirit, our spiritual resistance must be abolished, and so we confess our sins and receive the water in a river of life/death transition, away from our routine, to return home anew GOOD NEWS: our hunger/thirst for new life are quenched; beyond physical water, real breath of God, Holy Spirit, comes in the Messiah. How is God preparing you? Where do you need cleansing? Have you been willing to give that to God? We open ourselves to God – making a “path” – as we let down our guard, and face, in grace, our dirt, as Israel did with John, at the edge of the Advent of Christ.

Why John’s fuss about pointing to someone else? Was it not obvious?
• Messianic expectations ran high; any charismatic figure could be “the one.”
• Essenes, separated, drawn out of impure masses, lived in wilderness, waiting for Advent of God’s Kingdom. Especially strict about observing all Moses’ Law, outstanding in cleanliness. Believed Messiah would be in two people, a priest and a “secular” ruler, anointed high priest and anointed king of Israel, one like David. John being son of Zechariah, High Priest, whose mother was descendant of Aaron could be anointed Messiah Priest; his message was to repent; he bowed to nobody of present age, like someone from another.
• Zealots, insurgents of their time, abhorrent of Rome, dismissive/intolerant of cooperative, subservient Jews; hid in caves, stole food from Jewish farmers; excited that John Son of Zechariah was unafraid to curse Herod Antipas; politically powerful figure; perhaps the Messiah?

Mark’s pace like a graphic novel; jumps from Jesus to Isaiah to John.
• Let’s us know John is fulfillment of Isaiah’s (and Malachi’s) prophecy, preparing way, but not God himself.