Year B Epiphany III Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20

Just this past Thursday I received an email from AAA, the automobile association. The subject line read: “How Much Life Insurance Do You Need? You might think you’ve thought of all the expenses, but don’t bet your life insurance on it.”

Insurance! Our awareness of the word may have started when we were kids and watched those old movies on TV, the ones where the gun totin’ bad guys were “packin’ heat for insurance”. As we grew older we became acquainted with more realistic insurance – health and dental insurance, life insurance, and car insurance, and as we age, there’s burial insurance and such to be considered.

The purpose of these different insurance policies is - security. It is sort of like purchasing an assurance that everything is really going to be okay no matter what happens. In fact, this need for assurance that all will be well goes beyond the purchasing of insurance, for people have a tendency to look to other things as security, as insurance against the unknown. People are told that they must have just the right job, live in just the right neighborhood, attend just the right schools, and buy just the right clothes and just the right things. We have insurance to make us feel safe – but what is it we most want to protect? What is most important to us?

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”

When we hear the name of Jonah we tend to immediately think of the whale, that, we are told, swallowed the prophet whole. Today’s reading is about Jonah’s second call, when he obediently does as God tells him, and goes and prophecies to the Ninevites, but it’s the first call and Jonah’s response to it that we all remember.

Like many prophets before him, Jonah wasn’t happy about being called by God. Other prophets tried to talk their way out of it, because they knew that prophets often received a very negative reaction from the people to whom they gave God’s message, and they ended up being chased out of town, dumped it pits, or worse. Trying to avoid such a fate makes sense to us. We see that what is most important to them is their personal well-being, which sounds very normal.

For Jonah there’s a second reason for not wanting to prophesy to the Ninevites. These are the people who scattered the ten tribes of Israel – these people are enemies. Jonah doesn’t want to give them the opportunity offered by God through his (Jonah’s) prophecy the chance to repent and be forgiven.

Jonah doesn’t just try to talk his way out of it. He actually tries to run away from God. But, as the psalmist tells us – God is everywhere. If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. At his own request, Jonah is thrown overboard from the ship on which he is fleeing, and he ends up in the belly of the whale – so it is fortunate for him that God keeps close tabs on us all. God saves him when he prays for forgiveness. Though his first priority had been his own well-being, when we meet Jonah in today’s reading, he has come to understand that in his life, in all things, he must put God first, foremost, and above all.

But, as the psalmist tells us – God is everywhere. If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. At his own request, Jonah is thrown overboard from the ship on which he is fleeing, and he ends up in the belly of the whale – so it is fortunate for him that God keeps close tabs on us all. God saves him when he prays for forgiveness. Though his first priority had been his own well-being, when we meet Jonah in today’s reading, he has come to understand that in his life, in all things, he must put God first, foremost, and above all.

In Jonah’s case, instead of persecuting him, the Ninevites respond favourably to the message God is sending them through His prophet. Finally, bravely doing God’s work, Jonah must have been relieved when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. Which is to say – they repented.

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the Good News.’”

In today’s Gospel, God Incarnate calls a few ragtag fishermen to come and follow Him. They, like the prophets before them, had lives and livelihoods already in progress. Simon and Andrew, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, are people with a great deal of worldly security. They are fishermen, who have a decent living, and good families. Commercial fishing was – back then and is still today in many places – a family business in which each member of the household has his or her important role, and it’s fair to say that fishing for a living – a lot of hard work – was not always fun. But this is the life they knew and in which they felt secure.

And in worldly terms, they were very secure. While a family-run fishing business might not have been the most glamorous profession in ancient Israel, nor have put one into the highest echelons of Hebrew society, it was nevertheless a respected profession and a solid means of income and support for one’s family. It was, in fact, more highly regarded – according to some scholars and experts – than the work of a lowly village carpenter and jack-of-all-trades as was apparently Jesus’ own father, and perhaps Jesus Himself. The men Jesus is calling have a lot to lose in a worldly sense if they respond to Jesus in the affirmative.

And Jesus came walking by on the shore and said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people”, or as we may be more accustomed to hearing it, “fishers of men.”

Following Jesus meant for James and John the giving up of a not-insignificant trade or profession. As they say, people will always need to eat. For them, following Jesus meant leaving parents and family and the security and comfort of a good job. And we aren’t told how Zebedee was supposed to manage without the assistance and support of his sons we simply do not know from the Gospel account. “Follow me,” said Jesus. And, they did!.

The fishermen drop their nets. They abandon their ships, their catch, even their father, who is left sitting in the boat. Why on earth would they do that? Maybe they want a change in their lives, or they have heard Jesus’ reputation? There is no explanation given, but the truth is, though it may take time, as it did with Jonah, or the response may be immediate, as with the disciples in today’s Gospel, when God goes fishing – He catches what He wants and needs.

What we tend to forget when we hear Gospel stories, is that Jesus’ call continues, that God is still fishing. These days it seems that many of us have a Jonah response to God’s call. We try to run away. We find all sorts of diversions and we also find excuses for why they are more important than time for prayer, time for good deeds, even, when the pandemic finally ends, time to attend church. And the world encourages us to be thus distracted – by scheduling many tempting activities to fill our time, even on Sunday morning. We are constantly being swallowed by a whale, i.e. consumed by worldliness.

If we reflect prayerfully on our own lives, the times we “run away” may startle us. We run away from God every time we choose not to pray but to play, and our idea of “play” can involve everything from shopping for ourselves or going to an entertainment instead of finding time for worship. We run away from God when we judge others, lose our temper, worry, fuss, are unkind, are unloving in any way. And we all do these things and more, because we are sinners, and need Jesus and His forgiveness and redemption.

We have not the power within ourselves to be other than what we are, but the Holy Spirit in us has Power. The Spirit is always tugging at our hearts, pulling us forward onto the right path. Jesus is always calling us! There is not a moment when He does not have His eyes on us, when He is not holding us in the palm of His hand. And it is never too late to be like the disciples, to leave the safety of our boat, whatever that may be, and follow Him.

What do we most want to protect? What is most important to us? In order to be safe and secure, we have all the worldly insurance we can afford – but have we put our faith in the wrong place - because it does take faith to follow Jesus. We are not mistaken if we believe that living in the grace of God involves a cost. The first disciples of Jesus recognized that cost when they left all to follow Jesus. Each person called to be a disciple must be willing to give up something in order to receive the Good News and then bring the Good News to others. Ultimately, it means that Jesus becomes our insurance policy.

We are always called by the Lord, and the choice of response is always ours. Because we are sinners, we often do not respond as Jesus wishes, but we only need repent and ask Him for help – and we will be plucked from the belly of whatever worldly whale has again swallowed us up. The time is now, the call is now, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Let us pray:

“Out of the depths have I called to you, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice; let your ears consider well the voice of my supplication.” Lord Jesus, help us to repent, and become Your faithful followers. Help us to be less concerned with ourselves and our lives, and instead let us become dedicated to doing Your will. Shine through us, and be in us, so that every soul we come in contact with may feel Your presence in our souls. You have called us. Help us to follow You Lord Christ. This we ask for Your love and mercy’s sake. Amen