1. Calling to become disciples
From today, the first Sunday of the church year 2011, we will read the Gospel according to Mark for several weeks as a commemoration of the Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus. Jesus set out from Galilee toward Jordan River at the age of around 30. He received baptism form John of Baptist in the River. The event made him the starting point of public life. According to John, the Gospel writer, Jesus stayed with John the Baptist for a while after the baptisement. Jesus respected him as a teacher. But John was arrested for menacing the society by the Jewish authority. The incident pushed Jesus to launch his own ministry. He came back to his homeland Galilee to spread the teachings. ; - He said, “The right time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Change your hearts and lives and believe the Good News!”(Mark 1:15 )
“The time” above is in original Greek, “καιρὸ (kairos)” which must be distinguished from “ χρόνος (kronos).” The latter means the indefinite continued progress of events whereas the former indicates a moment of time suitable for a purpose. The time at which Jesus started the ministry was the very “καιρὸ(kairos).”
As the first step of movements, he called disciples . ; - When Jesus was walking by Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew throwing a net into the lake because they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” (Mark 1:16-17)
Responding to the call, Simon and Andrew put the net down and followed Jesus. It means that they gave their present job up. But with which motivation? Mark didn’t give any comment. Then Jesus met James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and ; - … immediately called them, and they left their father in the boat with the hired workers and followed Jesus. (Mark 1:20)
James and John left their father, hired workers and the boat. The act symbolizes that they abandoned their family, social position and property, not simply the job. The episode alludes to “The Call of Abram” in Genesis 12:1. It seems also an appeal to us to leave everything to follow Jesus, as they did. But we should have question: “ Can we give the present life up so easily?” We cannot be so sure that God requires us, ordinary persons, to leave all to serve Him. Personally, I quitted the previous job after 27 years of business life. Then I started the theological study in a university. However I think it didn’t mean that I abandoned the earthy life I had had before.
In advance of taking the decision, I calculated how much I could afford for living costs after the resignation. Because I needed money for rent for accommodations, daily necessities and tuitions for my two children. Only after assuring enough income, I could choose a new life. It means that I didn’t have courage to give all up for becoming pastor. Gospel might say that I was not faithful enough. According to John, Simon and Andrew came to the Jordan River by responding to the appeal of John the Baptist. They were baptized there and made the acquaintance of Jesus. ; - The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and say to him, “We have found the Messiah.” Then Andrew took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas.”(Cephas means Peter.)( John 1:41-42)
Afterwords, they gat back to Galilee. They must be already sure that Jesus was the Messiah then. For that reason, they could accept the call from Jesus without hesitating. However I wonder, as a human of the modern world, what they give up by obeying Jesus. Didn’t they expect certain rewards from Jesus’ messianic success?
2.They kept calculations
To find the answer to the question, we will see how Mark told about disciples’ behavior. At first in Galilee, they attended many healing acts of Jesus. Furthermore Jesus gave teachings about the salvation in the kingdom of God in simple but powerful expressions. As a result, the huge crowd followed him to everywhere. Mark also reported what happened when Jesus cured Simon’s mother-in-law ; - The whole town gathered at the door.(Mark 1:33) And, when Jesus came back to Capernaum after a journey, ; - Many people gathered together so that there was no room in the house, not even outside the door. (Mark 2:2) Even on a lakeside of Galilee ; - a large crowd from Galilee followed him(Jesus)(Mark 3:7) to listen to him teaching.
Considering all those phenomena, we can say that the disciples responded to the call of Jesus because of his fame. They might think that they could share messianic glory by accompanying Jesus. For that expectation, they might leave their family and properties. Their decision might have been in line with human calculations. Now I show you a passage from Mark 8, which suggests the fact. Please see their reaction when Jesus predicted his arrest and death on a cross.
To begin with, when Jesus asked Peter, ; - who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”(Mark 8:29) However Jesus gave them a completely unexpected prediction. ; - Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and that he would be rejected by the Jewish elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of the law.(Mark 8:31) Those words upset them who had kept a big hope in future. So much so, ; - Peter took Jesus aside and told him not to talk like that. He said, “God save you from those things, Lord! Those things will never happen to you!”( Matthew 16:22)
Peter meant that it must not happen because the incident should collapse all the hope they had. Peter’s comment is implying that they followed Jesus to share a marvelous future with him. And we have another episode in Mark 10, which reveals that the disciple were seeking rewards. A rich man asked Jesus how he should do to have life forever. Jesus said to him, “There is one more thing you need to do. Go and sell everything you have, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.” The rich man left sorrowfully, because he was rich. Attending the scene, Peter said to Jesus “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”(see Mark 10:10, 21) And the Gospel of Matthew has a verse added to that. ; - So what will we have?”(Matthew 19:27)
Yes, they followed Jesus because they though their act would bring a huge fruit. Therefore they run away when Jesus was arrested and judged. They thought such a powerless man couldn’t give them any good things. The whole story about disciples’ behavior in Mark tells us that humans cannot give all calculations up for the sake of faith. Japan Baptist Convention holds the campaign of “Theological study week” to raise the money to support students in theology. And one of its slogans is, “Support students in theology, who shut the way to withdraw.” But in reality, nobody can shut the way to withdraw to follow Jesus.
3. Zacchaeus’ way to serve God
Today’s invocation verse is Luke 19:18 ; - But Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “I will give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times more.”
Presently I’m working for the Tokyo Bubtist University as the manager at the same time as serving God as a pastor. The University organizes a seminar every summer and the lecturer in 2009 was Professor Higashikata in economics of Aoyama Gakuin University*1. The theme of the lecture was “ Christianity and economics.” During the session, Professor said that there were 2 types of serving God. One is to live like a monk by abandoning all earthy relations and interests. The other is to live like Zacchaeus who remained in the secular society by running his job as before.
How was the life of Zacchaeus? He was a tax corrector of Roman Empire and built his wealth thanks to the job. In Jewish society of the era, tax correctors were disdained by Jews for working for pagans. Besides, they were considered to be dishonest persons because, in many cases, they abused amounts of taxation. Therefore, no rabbis had talk to Zacchaeus. They avoided a man who seemed to them unclean. Nonetheless, Jesus said to him, ; - “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down! I must stay at your house today.”(Luke 19:5)
Zacchaeus was strongly touched by Jesus who were so free from biases. So much so, Zacchaeus responded to the invitation of Jesus. as today’s invocation verse shows. And his reaction pleased Jesus so that ; - Jesus said to him, “Salvation has come to this house today, because this man also belongs to the family of Abraham.(Luke 19:9)
Also we find another episode concerning a tax corrector in Mark. ; - While he(Jesus) was walking along, he saw a man named Levi son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax collector’s booth. Jesus said to him, “Follow me,” and he stood up and followed Jesus.(Mark 2:14)
Jesus said to Levi “Follow me,” whereas he didn’t give the same instruction to Zacchaeus. And Zacchaeus too didn’t intend to leave his daily activities to follow Jesus. Zacchaeus kept working as before. But the encounter with Jesus changed his life. He was then willing to behave righteously and care the poor and week. He would please God by doing his best that way. And Jesus appreciated his stance.
In the community of faith, different types of believers were needed. If all of them have served in the same say, the community wouldn’t have worked. The Church couldn’t have been preserved. It needs those who give material support as well as spiritual servants. The Early Church formed a primitive commune. But it collapsed because its financial bases were too weak. Acts 6 reported what happened then. The Greek-speaking followers had an argument with the other followers about distribution of share of the food.
It shows that without gaining external income sufficiently the commune can’t survive. Paul also served God in the similar way to Zacchaeus. Paul didn’t received reword for preaching service. Instead, he kept working as a tent maker to have daily necessities. ; - … The Lord has commanded that those who tell the Good News should get their living from this work. But I(Paul) have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this now to get anything from you. I would rather die than to have my reason for bragging taken away.(Corinthians 9:14-15)
He chose that lifestyle probably because the majority of believers of the time were not rich enough. It should be very difficult for them to support preachers financially. Many of Japanese protestant churches are also unable to pay pastors adequate wages. Their congregations are too small. As a result, the Japanese Protestant Church seeks pastors who can earn their living from a secondary job. Pastors who live like Zacchaeus are really needed in Japanese society of which Christian population is so minor.
The Twelves weren’t selfless in precise meaning during Jesus’ life time. Their faith in Jesus became self-sacrificing when they met Jesus after the Resurrection. We will see in John chapter 21 what happened after the execution of Jesus. The disciples gat back to Galilee to live as fishermen like before. Then Jesus appeared and shared the meal with them. And ; - When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15)
Then Jesus asked the same question for the second time, “Do you love me?” and Peter answered the same “Yes, I love you.” But Jesus asked again as the third time, “Do you love me?” Peter was hurt and ashamed because he was aware of his unfaithful conduct at the Cross. When Jesus was arrested and brought to the house of the hight priest, Peter denied 3 times the relationship with Jesus.
And Jesus asked Peter “Do you love me?” 3 times there. The parallelism had an impact so strong that Peter must repent. He felt judged. But Jesus’ words “Take care of my sheep” saved him. Jesus will never threw failures out. Instead, he trusts God’s acts to those who experienced failure. And that very trust made Peter rise up and overcame the guilty conscience. Thanks to this, “Do you love me?” Peter was newborn and felt raised for a new mission.
We recognized our sin too, then repented and received baptism. However baptism with water cannot make us real Christians. As a matter of fact, many of new Christians leave the Church or keep living as before without changing their life style. The human act of baptism isn’t powerful enough to make us newborn. To start a totally new life, we must receive the baptism from the Holy Spirit. That must be the very moment of “καιρός(kairos),” which point up to the Cross. Only at that moment, we can turn into a real believer. For Peter, the baptism with water must be the first encounter with Jesus in Galilee. Then he apparently followed Jesus. But when he met Jesus after the Resurrection the baptism with spirit came to him. It was also in Galilee. He followed Jesus genuinely since then. To follow Jesus is not necessarily to abandon all of what we have on the earth. Instead, we try to use as God’s tool our material and mental wealth bouilt through our past. The rich can make offerings. Those who have enough time can work to help neighbors. And I think that all of us who believe in Jesus are required to be laic preachers like disciples of Jesus. We must not be happy only by being Christians. Please work to “fish for humans.” Laic preaching is to spread through our personal acts the Good News to neighbors or church visitors. All of us can do so in living as before, without quitting present positions. That is the very suggestion given by today’s lecturing passage.
*1 Aoyama Gakuin University http://www.aoyama.ac.jp/en/
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