Park United Methodist Church

Luke 5:1-11

Ephesians 4:11-15

  

Reflection: Discipling

Last fall, our Bishops came together with a team from each conference and put together a statement.  We have been making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world since I graduated high school (1996).  This has been 30 years. As they talked about it, they decided we needed to shift a bit to The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide.  As we celebrate this Easter season, we will explore what it means to be disciples empowered by the Holy Spirit who love boldly, serve joyfully and lead courageously.  

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This week, we are starting at the beginning.  Jesus called us.  This passage in Luke calls Peter into discipleship.  This is not a simple little yes, or a follow for a moment, this is faith, the good, the bad, and eventually the ugly, as well as the redeemed.  This is a discipleship that turns life upside down because it reorders life.

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Let’s take a look at the story for a moment.  I really appreciated that Alan Culpeper in his commentary on Luke pointed out that the fishermen did nothing to “warrant or merit” Jesus to call them.  Let that sink in for a moment.  We don’t have to “deserve” anything.  We just say yes.  We do nothing that makes us more or less deserving of being a follower.  

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Jesus also came to them, in the middle of their ordinary, everyday lives.  It wasn’t like they were having an extra holy moment out on the water.  It was actually a bad fishing day.  They caught nothing.  Jesus showed up in the middle of the everyday.  Sometimes we are so busy waiting for the extraordinary moment, the breathtaking quintessential spiritual moment, we miss Jesus meeting us while we cook supper or do the dishes, or clean up our fourth cup of spilled milk for the day.  

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Jesus called them to be be fishers of men - this was a call to the work of the Kingdom of God.  This was a call to reorder their lives after Jesus and to give up what was “normal” and “expected” for this new order.  They walked away from a good business - everyone - literally everyone ate fish.  They walked away from their families at a time when family was the only security and livelihood you had - YOU DID NOT WALK AWAY.   

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They had to trust Jesus.  As Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:15 we are to grow into the mature head that is Christ.  We are given gifts.  We are given talents.  These are not for our use alone.  They are to be shared with the community.  We were never meant to live for ourselves alone, for in love, caring for one another.  So how do we do this?  What does it look like?  What does it mean to do so today?  What does it mean for what we choose to do and how?  When?