The gospel lesson this morning shows us the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry. John’s arrest seems to shock Jesus or had a life-changing impact on him to the point where he actually proclaimed what John proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Then we see Jesus calling his friends, Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John. He invites them to join the work of God with him.
This morning I would like us to focus on Christian calling or vocation in three aspects which are: 1) Jesus’s words of invitation or calling to his friends, 2) the locus of our calling, and 3) the common or catholic calling that we share together. 1) First, let’s pay attention to how Jesus invited or lured his friends into his ministry. He tells them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” The first phrase, “Follow me” clearly shows us where our Christian calling is directed to and from. All Christians are called to follow Jesus, which means we are all called to follow the way of Jesus, the way that Jesus revealed to us through his life for others, death on the cross, resurrection, and ascension. In other words, our Christian calling begins when we personally hear this voice of Jesus calling each one of us in our hearts to follow him, his way that leads us to God’s eternal oneness with us. I think this saying of Jesus in relation to calling is not so hard to understand. What can be hard, however, would be whether we truly hear his invitation deep in our lives. One thing I can assure you is that you are here because you somehow heard Jesus’s voice whether you actually agree or recognize or not. We might not follow him as much as we would like to but we are still on the way despite all our shortcomings and failures. God doesn’t lose anyone after all even if one might feel lost! Perhaps too often, we forget to take this invitation of Jesus at a personal level. Jesus knew God invites every single one of us to follow, not as a way to restrict us but to live freely in love, trust, and hope. Have you told anyone to actually follow you? Imagine this moment when you tell someone to follow you. “Follow me.” It’s quite daunting to say it to someone because when I say to you to follow me, that means that I will take responsibility for your following me. I need to guide you. I need to in a way provide what you need. In this sense, our Christian calling is not God’s way of using our labor for free as if we are slaves. Our Christian calling is God’s expression of love that says, “I will take care of you. I am with you forever. You are mine. You are my beloved. You and I are one forever that there’s nothing that can set us apart, not even death.” Now, let’s reflect on Jesus’s second phrase to Simon Peter and Andrew. Jesus says, “I will make you fish for people.” or “I will make you fishers of men and women.” Some other translations say, “I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish” or “I will teach you to catch people.” Whichever translation we use, we get the point. Simon Peter and Andrew are fishers. All Jesus’s fisher friends end up following Jesus and become his disciples, sharing the gospel. What gets tricky or confusing here about our Christian calling. It can be quite misleading that if you’re called or have a calling, then you’re to become a clergy. This is one form of clericalism. But this is not the point of Jesus’s saying. If this is so, then there’s no one who is called here but only clergy, which is a very bad theology and ecclesiology. What Jesus’s saying to fishers evokes in us should be that we have a deeper spiritual meaning in what we actually do in the society. If I’m a fisher, I’m not just catching fish but catching people from despair or suffering. If I’m a teacher, I’m not just teaching people knowledge but also the wisdom of life. If I’m an environmental service aide, I’m not just keeping things neat and clean but also help people keep their spirits clean. Jesus’s calling to make Simon Peter and Andrew fishers of men and women is not giving them a career change opportunity but transforming what they do for living into what they can do for others. Jesus in his words of calling basically says, “You’re more than what you do for living. You’re not just a vessel of money but a vessel of God.” 2) Let’s then move to the second aspect of our Christian calling, that is, the locus of our calling. Where do we experience this calling? The answer to this question is way too simple. We experience this Chrsitian calling in ourselves. It doesn’t happen outside ourselves. It only happens when we actually experience within ourselves that God is present, God and we are one. What does this experience or encounter with God within and without look like? Today’s Psalm 27, which is named “Dominus illuminatio,” depicts it so beautifully: 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? * the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid? 5 One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; * that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; 6 To behold the fair beauty of the Lord * and to seek him in his temple. 7 For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe in his shelter; * he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling and set me high upon a rock. 11 You speak in my heart and say, "Seek my face." * Your face, Lord, will I seek. All these words of the psalmist do not come from the head but from the innermost depths of her heart. One can only come up with such words due to one’s experience and encounter with God in oneself. As you know I love to talk about this subject on the presence of God or gazing upon God’s eternal oneness with us, which we call “contemplation,” it is crucial for every Christian to experience it. In that moment of our experience of God within, we hear the voice of God, “Follow me.” And this experience becomes the source of our ministry and this experience becomes our spiritual exercise and prayer life. So how do we get to this point? Simple but not so easy because we, no one else, usually get in the way. The simple logic is this: when our thoughts and feelings stop, what’s left is God’s presence in us. While our thoughts and feelings are crucial for our survival, they tend to dominate us to the point where we believe we are what we think and how we feel. Let me make it a bit easier for you to imagine what it’s like to suspend our thoughts and feelings. Imagine that you’re by the shore, looking at the ocean, smooth waves tiding in and out. Or you’re at the Metropolitan Museum, gazing upon a beautiful artwork. These two experiences share one thing. In that very moment of gazing upon ocean waves tiding in and out or a magnificent artwork, our mind stops. Our thoughts and feelings are suspended. And there’s a sense of calmness and peace. After that, we feel relaxed, refreshed, and restored. Neuroscientifically, we can say our brain activity slowed down. Spiritually speaking, God revealed Its presence to us. What we want to do then is to revisit this moment of encounter our oneness with God more and more. In this very moment, there’s no thought therefore no judgment. There’s no feeling therefore no anger or fear. The fruits of this experience are love, peace, and hope. From this place, our Christian calling is first heard, then refined and renewed over and over again. 3) When all Christians have this experience of God within their innermost depths of being, we all hear the calling of Jesus which we share the common calling. Paul in today’s second lesson, however, talks about when this common calling is forgotten or ignored or completely unexperienced by the members of the church in Corinth. He says, “...all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.” While it is somewhat surprising that the early church also had disputes and quarrels like any other churches nowadays (even ours), we see how important it is to be in touch with our ultimate experience of God within. When we lose this, we get caught up in our ego, our thoughts and feelings, our own judgment of others and ourselves, so there’s a division. If we detect any division in ourselves as well as in our faith community and in our society and world, that is a sign that we have lost our touch with our oneness with God but an opportunity to get back into that eternal oneness. It is my prayer, my friends, that all of us seek to be in unity with God, to be one with God, especially in our everyday lives, in our every encounter with others, by the grace of our loving God. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. AMEN. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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