January 22, 2012                                                                                          Third Sunday after Epiphany

Mark 1:14-20                                                                                                    Rev. David Naumann

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.

We as Christians live in dangerous times. Our Christian freedom may not be in jeopardy, but in a way we may be facing something even more dangerous in our society today. We may not lose our Christian freedom, but every day our Christian standard is being challenged. We may be entitled to believe whatever we want, but that simply means that God’s opinion is being valued less and less. We may share God’s position in his Word on issues that we face each day, but the world does not. And worldly influence often effects us as much as if not more than God’s influence. And the subtleties of worldly influence make the attacks on our faith all the more dangerous. It is very challenging to be a Christian today. But we have comfort from Jesus himself as we continue this battle. He brings us good news. And he invites us to hear this good news. Two actions stand out in our text for today. They can even be startling by their starkness. These same two actions Jesus asked of these followers in our text he asks of us also today. He says, “Leave” and “Follow.” But it makes all the more sense when we understand what we are leaving and we know who it is we are following. Today let us hear God’s call to

“Leave and Follow”

The very first words of our text help us to appreciate the very real danger that Jesus and his followers would be facing in the coming days. John had just been put in prison. It wasn’t because he had broken some law. It wasn’t because he was leading some kind of rebellion against the king. It was because his preaching rubbed Herod the wrong way. He was put in prison for calling out the governor for his sins. His message was clear: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Mt. 3:2). Such a message of turning from sin did exactly what it was supposed to. It pricked Herod’s conscience. But of course he didn’t want to hear it so he threw John in prison.

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