40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#7 Hooking the Big Fish

Mark 1:17; 

Reflection

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

I have to admit I have never really been a keen fisher or really wanted to be, something to do with time and patience perhaps! There is something however in the words ‘come and follow me’. Connected deeply I think with other interpretations that say ‘come and see’. For years these words and others have been used as key slogans in evangelism and growing the church and particularly in lent I think to read it only in that way misses the point of Mark. There is a distinct call here to refocus the disciples, not convert them but in many ways re orientate them. In this case the core business of the disciples is fish, Jesus calls them to shift their core business to people.

There in the invitation is the come and see, the come follow me suggests come and see the ways of God, for they are concerned about people. For fishing was no easy task in the first century. It took commitment, passion and great resource. Business was tough and people’s livelihood relied on the days catch, determining whether their families would eat that day. As the disciples leave their boat behind, they are called by Jesus to bring their passion, their commitment and their resources to come and see the revealing kingdom of God.

I wonder when the last time was we were invited to come and see, to come and follow? Who are we following? What are we taking with us? What are we inviting people to come and see?

What are the markers that make sure our core business are people? If we really read this text for all it is worth we will see that it is connected to us deeply in all we say, think and do. Perhaps this is the marker, come and follow is to hook the big fish, to catch people, not for conversion but to invite them to see life!

Perhaps today you could go fishing…if you literally can great! If not why not go fishing for a conversation, a ‘so how’s things for you today?’ conversation. Perhaps in this shared human moment, something of the kingdom of God might just get revealed and you might hook that big fish!

– LB, Moreland Baptist

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#6 Leave your nets

Mark 1:16-20; 

Reflection

Discipleship has a way of interrupting our business as usual.

As a middle class white reader of the text I used to think ‘leaving your nets’ was all about the individual vocational choices of earnest disciples and a spontaneous response to a charismatic religious figure.  Perhaps like celebrity papparazi or fans at the Oscars swooning over the Hollywood movie stars. In more recent times I’ve seen this sort of action alongside contemporary movements for social change where workers ‘down tool’s…from Solidarity in Poland to Occupy in New York.

I especially like the story of Vincent Lingiari and the Wave Hill walk off because it is uniquely Australian and has some powerful Baptist connection with its wilderness imagery through the ministry of Rev. Graham Paulson.

Like pastoralism or mining in Australia, the Galilean fishing economy was not a benign, a-political endeavour.  Herod controlled it ruthlessly in order to supply the salted fish industry, and his favour in far away Rome.

That Jesus first action is to call fisherman and tax collectors, (class enemies within this bigger system), empowers me to consider who are those who are making risky decisions to ‘down tools’ in order to seek social, political and personal change today and how might my ‘business as usual’ be interrupted in solidarity with such movements.

– MC, Newmarket Baptist

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#4 Initiation: Get Wild and Baptist…

Mark 1. 9-15  The Kingdom of God has come near!

Jesus’ baptism is somewhat of a theological conundrum – why did the sinless Son of God need to repent of his sins? For Baptists, baptism as believers, rather than as infants, is our central piece of distinctive theatre, and for many of us the significance of baptism goes further than simply a symbol of sins being washed away. Jesus seems to prefigure this wider understanding of baptism in the way he embraces the practice. The full immersion of a new believer in a river, the sea or a pool demonstrates our belief that as we go under the water our former life is drowned and we rise to a new life in Christ. For the early Christians and for many since, baptism was a sign of conscientious objection- a dying to the prevailing powers of empire; religion; materialism and individualism and a rising to a new way of living, which was risky and adventurous. It is commonly held that in undergoing baptism by John, Jesus was identifying with all people in their need and brokenness, and also that he was rising to a new life of obedience to the will of God. The great affirmation from God “You are my beloved Son” is both a seal on this new beginning and an empowerment for what is to come. It is significant that after this mutual declaration of love and support, the commitment is immediately severely tested, as Jesus enters the wilderness.

These 40 days of testing are at the heart of the traditional understandings of Lent. Are we willing to live out our baptismal commitments? Will we seek to live counter-culturally resisting the lure of possessions; power and personal aggrandisement? Jesus calls us to simplicity; hospitality; community and sacrifice, and every day, be it Lent or not, we face those choices. Whenever we choose life and love, then we hear Jesus say again “the Kingdom of God has come near”.

Questions

• What does your baptism mean to you in terms of living differently?
• What have you died to, or what do you wish to die to?
• What do you want to take on as you rise up in the new beginning this day offers you?

-AWH, Newmarket Baptist