3 Epiphany, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
3 Epiphany, Yr B (2024) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Jonah 3:1-5,10 St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
in whom we live, and move, and have our being. Amen.
Life is full of decisions:
some are small,
and some are big.
Every single day we make thousands of decisions,
some of which we aren’t even aware we’re making because they are so routine.
When the alarm goes off,
we have to decide if we’re going to hit the snooze button – and how many times.
We decide what to wear,
what to eat,
where to go and when,
whether or not to answer the phone, or look at email.
Can the laundry wait until later,
or do we need to do that now?
What about the bills?
I don’t know about you, but I find that some of my decisions are made easily –
even when they are decisions about major events in my life.
Other decisions, however, require much agonizing:
the weighing of pros and cons,
conversations with family and friends,
lots and lots of prayer…
and even after all that,
some of those decisions are still difficult to make.
Today’s readings from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Gospel all speak about making decisions… and making decisions at what seems to be a particular point in time.
Paul tells the Church at Corinth:
“The appointed time has grown short….”
In the gospel of Mark, Jesus says:
“The time is fulfilled….”
The passage from Jonah begins this way:
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time….”
In each of these passages there seems to be an urgency about the time…
the decisions to made are important and critical.
The time is at hand.
Now…there is chronos time…a biological, earthly time.
Chronologically I am 57 years old,
and it is Sunday morning, January 21, 2024.
But, the word Mark uses for time is kairos.
Kairos is God’s time.
It is the time in which promise, presence, and fulfillment meet,
and it has nothing to do with chronological time.
“The time is fulfilled,” Jesus says…
“and the kingdom of God has come near.”
Examine your hearts and minds and turn toward God…
expand you thinking and orientation to God’s time…
believe in the good news…
the kingdom of God has come near.
In these days we live now,
time also seems to be growing short.
We are in a moment of political, economic, and ecological crisis!
And…time is of the essence.
The story of Jesus in the gospel took place “after John had been arrested.”
John was arrested for speaking out against Herod and his marriage to his brother’s wife.
It was a time of political and economic crisis for the people of Israel.
They were oppressed and worn down.
The Jewish people were longing for the Messiah…
for freedom…
for new life…
for a new world order filled with shalom: peace with justice.
It is why, I think, so many flocked out to John the Baptist to be dunked in the Jordan.
It is why, I think, that when Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee and calls out to Simon and Andrew and James and John: “Come and follow me” that they drop their nets and follow him.
Somehow they know in their guts that this man is offering them new life…
a new way of living that will set them free,
even in the midst of their earthly bodies.
Their decision is easy…
They don’t have to ponder anything.
Yes, Jesus…
we will follow you.
But, as I mentioned before, not all decisions come easily.
And sometimes we even realize that the decision we made was not the better choice.
Gratefully we have Jonah’s story as an example to give us comfort.
Today we hear: “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time,”
which means there was a first time!
The first time Jonah’s decision-making didn’t go so well.
But, I get it!
God asked Jonah to do a hard thing.
A thing he wasn’t quite ready to undertake.
The book of Jonah begins with God’s first call to Jonah…
“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying
‘Go at once to Nineveh, that great city,
and cry out against it;
for their wickedness has come up before me.’
“But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:1-3a)
You see, Jonah’s response to the Lord was not “no” but “hell no!”
Not only did he get out of town quickly,
but he boarded the first ship he could find
that was heading in the opposite direction from where the Lord wanted him to go.
And then we hear the familiar story of turbulent seas,
the mariners on the boat discovering that Jonah was the problem,
his being tossed over the side and swallowed up by a large fish.
Then, in the midst of darkness and chaos Jonah has a change of heart.
He prays to God for deliverance,
saying that he will offer thanksgiving to God.
After three days in the belly of the fish,
he is regurgitated out on dry land for what must have been a harsh landing!
Then we begin today’s reading:
“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.’” (Jonah 3:1-2)
Jonah got a second chance.
This time Jonah set out
and went to Nineveh.
Nineveh was a huge city, the capital of Assyria,
and the Assyrians enacted torture on its enemies.
It was a frightening place.
And God was asking Jonah to go speak a word of judgment to the Ninevites.
Who in their right mind would do such a thing?
John the Baptist spoke a word of judgment and was beheaded for it!
It is no wonder that Jonah had run in the opposite direction!
And yet, as he turned away from God’s call to him,
he found himself in the midst of darkness and chaos,
feeling distant from God.
In feeling that distance, he turned back,
seeking God’s mercy,
which God granted…
and then called him a second time.
So, as we struggle to make decisions as to how to follow God’s call in our lives,
I think we have comfort in knowing that God will keep asking us…
will keep wooing us
and loving us
and forgiving us
and honoring us
so that we can find our way to “yes.”
The Psalmist says,
“For God alone my soul in silence waits;
Truly, my hope is in God.”
Our hope IS in God.
For with God all things are possible.
It is God’s will to make us whole –
as individuals, as a community, and as creation –
and God will make us whole!
When Jesus called Simon and Andrew and James and John,
he didn’t ask them to “repent” or to “believe”
or to worship him or lay down their lives for him
or do anything except to follow him.
And they did.
They, of course, ended up literally laying down their lives, and Jonah’s was spared.
We just never know what’s going to happen when God calls, even if we think we do!
Only rarely do most people immediately hop right up and follow when God calls.
I think Jonah’s response is much more common…
seeking safety,
but often ending up in the midst of the darkness and chaos we were trying to avoid.
And then we realize that all along we are in God’s hands…
that God alone is our rock and our salvation.
In these days of election rhetoric and increasing warfare,
perhaps our call is to be people of companionship and hope.
Perhaps in reaching out to others
– particularly to those who live alone –
we may even find ourselves renewed.
In whatever ways that God may be calling each of us at this moment in time,
let us remember that God walks with us
and will never abandon us on the journey.
And if we find that the call is just too hard right now,
we will get another chance.
The good news is that God will call us again and again.
And even if we sometimes are crystal clear that we should follow a call and hop right up from whatever we are engaged in in our lives and take immediate steps to follow that call, it doesn’t mean that somewhere along the journey we won’t be confused or doubt.
Many times the disciples did not understand and acted contrary to their calling.
None of them accompanied Jesus at the cross!
And yet, the Church exists because of their witness.
God returns again and again,
offering us invitations to faithfulness and witness.
God alone is our rock and our salvation,
our stronghold, so that we will not be shaken.
In God is our safety and our honor;
God is our strong rock and our refuge.
Amen.
