2024.1.21 | Fishin' for Folk
“Fishin’ for Folk”
Mark 1:14-20
Preached by
Rev. Dr. Marvin Lance Wiser
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, CA
21 January 2024
This morning’s gospel passage comes from the Gospel according to Mark. Most agree that it was the earliest accounting of the Jesus story among our four evangelists that made the cut into the New Testament.
There’s a lot going on in Mark, there’s typically crashing waves, big crowds, demons, exorcists, a lot of special effects. And it’s super fast paced too. It may not seem so, when you compare it to a 4k movie with 120 hertz refresh rate, but did you notice just in our snippet this morning we heard, “immediately,” “at once,” “without delay.” It’s almost comical how fast Mark portrays things moving, at break-neck speeds. The word Mark uses for these adverbs is εὐθὺς. I counted Mark using this word more than 40 times to hurry things along, nearly a dozen times in the first chapter alone. Now, if you’re going to use the same adverb 40 times in a paper, for me, you’re gonna get some red ink. Who are my teachers out there? Right?
We go from John preparing the way, to the Baptism of Jesus, from Jesus’s wilderness journey to John being imprisoned, to finally Jesus proclaiming the Good News–in just 14 verses. Of course there’s a lot of blanks here to fill in and other gospels inside and outside the New Testament do that for us.
Están sucediendo muchas cosas en el Evangelio según Marcos, hay olas del mar rompiendo, grandes multitudes, demonios, exorcismos y muchos efectos especiales. Y además tiene un ritmo súper rápido. ¿Notaste que en nuestro pasaje de esta mañana escuchamos “inmediatamente”, “de inmediato”, “sin demora”. Conté que Marcos usó estas palabras más de 40 veces para acelerar las cosas, casi una docena de veces solo en el primer capítulo. Pasamos desde Juan preparando el camino, hasta el bautismo de Jesús, desde el viaje de Jesús por el desierto hasta el encarcelamiento de su primo Juan y, finalmente, Jesús proclamando las Buenas Nuevas, en sólo 14 versículos.
So, after setting the scene, we find ourselves at the initiation of Jesus’ ministry. After John’s arrest, and soon to be be-heading, Jesus, after his own wilderness journey, goes into Galilee and picks up where his wilderness-loving cousin had left off. Like Elisha taking up the mantle of Elijah. Of course, John’s arrest and execution foreshadows Jesus’. Jesus proclaims the good news, that the reign of God–in contrast to the Empire of Caesar–is at hand, and we are to repent and place our trust into it instead.
ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ, the reign of God, is a peaceable one, Isaiah reminds us,
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” (Isa. 52:7)
Luke tells us that Jesus’ first public sermon in the synagogue too was from Isaiah, “to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.”
What happens next in the Lucan account is that Jesus is run out of the synagogue, for insinuating, in the tradition of Jonah, that God’s mercies extend to those in enemy territories and of other ethnicities, just as Elijah and Elisha healed Syrians. Luke, the physician, lets us know that the coming reign of God was definitively an inclusive one.
Entonces, después de preparar el escenario, nos encontramos en el inicio del ministerio de Jesús. Después del arresto de Juan, Jesús, después de su propio viaje por el desierto, va a Galilea y continúa donde lo había dejado su primo, como Eliseo tomando el manto de Elías. Jesús proclama la buena noticia: el reino de Dios, a diferencia del Imperio del César, está cerca y, en cambio, debemos arrepentirnos y poner nuestra confianza en él. El reino de Dios, Jesús no dice según Lucas, significa Buenas nuevas a los pobres, y libertad a los presos y oprimidos.
And so, with his cousin imprisoned Jesus started to organize. Don’t mourn, organize! Jesus, passing along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Tiberias, called out to Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and later to James and John, also brothers, to “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Both instances were followed by, you guessed it, “immediately.” Immediately, they left their nets and followed him.
Come on, who of us today would, upon looking up from our array of computer monitors, see a young guy, with a survivalist tinge, who invites us to leave our keyboards and go fishin’ for folk, would simply stand up and walk out with him? Show of hands, anybody?
Of course, Simon and Andrew, James and John probably didn’t have a 401(k) or other benefits to lose out on to keep them tightly tethered to their nets, but they would have likely been part of a family cooperative that would have been adversely affected by their absence.
What else have we missed here in Mark’s hurriedness to get to the Good News? What has Mark not shown us? This passage is often interpreted at face-value, that in a split second decision, the pair of brothers up and followed a new charismatic leader. And while it could have happened that way, I’m betting that they didn’t just jump ship and follow him–hear what I did there? There must have been some intentional relationship building behind the scenes, that has gotten buried under all of Mark’s “immediately’s.” And one thing’s for certain, relational organizing doesn’t happen “at once.”
We then are left to ponder, what happened in the slowness, in the times in-between, in the mindful preparation? In the 40 days in the wilderness, of which we have but one verse in Mark’s account? What transpired during the years of his cousin John’s “preparing the way?” Probably a lot of 1:1s. What I am hoping to highlight here is the importance of taking time to prep, to listen, to strategize, to evaluate as we go, physically, mentally, spiritually, and communally.
Y así, con su primo preso Jesús empezó a organizar. Jesús, pasando por la orilla del mar de Galilea, llamó a Pedro y a su hermano Andrés, y a Santiago y Juan, también hermanos, «Vengan conmigo, y yo haré que ustedes sean pescadores de hombres». Como habrás adivinado, la palabra "inmediatamente" sigue, «Inmediatamente dejaron las redes y lo siguieron.»
Este pasaje a menudo se interpreta literalmente: en una decisión de una fracción de segundo, la pareja de hermanos se levantó y siguió a un nuevo líder carismático. Y si bien podría haber sucedido de esa manera, apuesto a que no simplemente abandonaron el barco y lo siguieron. Debe haber habido tiempo de haber desarrollado relaciones. Y eso es la clave. Y una cosa es segura: la organización relacional no ocurre “de inmediato”.
Entonces nos queda reflexionar: ¿qué pasó en los tiempos intermedios? ¿Durante los 40 días en el desierto, de los cuales sólo tenemos un versículo en el relato de Marcos? ¿Qué ocurrió durante los años en que su primo Juan “preparó el camino”? Me imagino muchas pláticas profundas. Lo que espero resaltar aquí es la importancia de tomarse el tiempo para prepararnos, elaborar estrategias y evaluar sobre la marcha, físicamente, mentalmente y espiritualmente.
We’re quick to canonize the speeches of charismatic leaders, post their quotes on our social media accounts, while overlooking the long and slow work of movement building. Church didn’t happen when the brothers jumped ship, it would be a while still. But plenty of folks were caught up—a diverse tapestry of folk—into the nets that Spirit wove.
Jesus understood the truly transformative power of relational ministry. He probably could have healed so many more, but like he revealed in the synagogue in Nazareth, the healing points to something greater, just as in Elisha’s healing of Naaman the Syrian leper, and not the many lepers in Israel. Rather than do it all himself, Jesus went fishin’ for folk, and taught others to do just that as well. That’s why we’re here today.
Ella Baker, among the most notable organizers of the Civil Rights Movement, who spurred on and sparred with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we just celebrated last week. She was an outspoken critic of singular charismatic leadership. She promoted grassroots organizing, participatory democracy, and the empowerment of the oppressed to advocate for themselves, in essence People Power.
Seen in this light, as with Jesus, leadership is not simply the most charismatic among us, the greatest orator, or even who can get there the quickest, most immediately, without delay. Quite the contrary, the details are in between Mark’s lines, what’s happening behind the scenes—like with Ella Jo Baker.
Nos apresuramos a poner en pedestal los discursos de líderes carismáticos y publicar sus citas en nuestras cuentas de redes sociales, mientras pasamos por alto el largo y lento trabajo de construcción del movimiento. La iglesia no existía cuando los hermanos abandonaron el barco, todavía pasarían un tiempo más, pero mucha gente diversa entraron a las redes del Espíritu.
Jesús entendió el poder verdaderamente transformador del ministerio relacional. Probablemente podría haber sanado a muchos más, pero como reveló en la sinagoga de Nazaret, la curación apunta a algo mayor, tal como cuando Eliseo curó a Naamán el leproso sirio, y no a los muchos leprosos en Israel. El reino de Dios es inclusivo de todas las etnias. En lugar de hacerlo todo él mismo, Jesús fue a pescar gente y enseñó a otros a hacer precisamente eso también, ser pescadores de personas. Y debido a eso, estamos aquí reunidos el día de hoy.
Este més se cumple el 30º aniversario del Movimiento Zapatista en Chiapas. Uno de los líderes principales es el famoso Subcomandante Marcos.
El promovió la organización de base, la democracia participativa y el empoderamiento de las indígenas oprimidas para defenderse a sí mismos, en esencia el Poder Popular.
Visto desde esta perspectiva, el liderazgo no es simplemente el más carismático entre nosotros, el mejor orador, o el que puede llegar más rápido, más inmediatamente y sin demora, es decir el Comandante. Por el contrario, seguían a Jesús porque era un siervo que escuchaba al pueblo, y empoderó a personas para hacer su parte y participar en el reino de Dios. Que nosotros también participemos y seamos pescadores de personas, aunque toma su tiempo.
A leader has followers. Our coordinators and directors read together last year Playbook for Progressives: 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer by Eric Mann, who founded and organized the Bus Riders Union in L.A., which sued the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority for “transit racism” and won. Of the many gems of the book that we internalized was that good organizers are listeners who build a base and never walk alone, but take time for renewal. Kind of like Jesus.
Last week Carlos and I were in a meeting with Alameda County Public Health and a representative of the CDC where we heard comments of how the Eden Area looked at the close of the twentieth century, many of you yourselves remember. There was but one lone base-building organizing office in Ashland, across from where REACH is today. Today, there exist multiple community base-building organizations in the area. While we could fast forward from then to today in a rapid recounting like Mark, that would overlook so much of the relational work that many fishers, community leaders—our own Pastor Arlene and Las Compañeras included—have invested into this community, sometimes with fanfare out front, but most of the time behind the scenes, in between the lines.
It’s now 2024, and we too have a choice to participate in radical democracy and building beloved community. But, don’t fool yourself into thinking that this happens immediately, whether at the voting booth or in the pew. Don’t forsake the slowness of sharing the Good News. The conversations. The sobremesa. The relationship building. For that is the way. Amen.
Blessing:
Iglesia, que nosotros seamos pescadores de personas, y aunque toma su tiempo, que las escuchemos y juntos nos empoderamos a vivir en el reino de Dios. Be fishers of folk, Church, and although it may take time, let us listen to one another and together empower ourselves to put our trust in and live into the reign of God, this day and everyday. Amen.