Caught into new life in Christ.

In 1975 the United States left South Vietnam.  Shortly thereafter Saigon fell, and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees fled offshore on boats and began a long sojourn to find a new home.  We called them the boat people.  Many wound up in the United States.  Some came here.

About that same time our state tried an experiment to reduce the amount of vegetation in many Florida lakes and rivers.  They introduced the Tilapia, which was known for its voracious vegetarian appetite.  The Tilapia is also a staple food in Vietnam, so this was a familiar friend in the midst of a totally new world for them.

Lakeland, where I grew up, has lots of lakes.  And on just about any given day, on almost any lake, you would see Vietnamese men wading in the shallows, casting their nets for Tilapia.  I don’t know if they were catching them for their families or to sell to the local markets and restaurants, but there they were, casting their nets.

The way those nets work is you have to kind of spin them with your wrist and their weights fan out, settle down in the water, then as you pull them in they close, catching whatever was under them, mostly tilapia.

I expect the fishermen’s focus on those cool mornings was catching fish.  But if we step back we can see that they were also caught in a net of sorts themselves. World events far out of their control had caught them up, dragging them away from everything they knew and expected in life.  Everything changed.  Everything.  And you know the pattern.

Most of them probably spoke little if any English, many of the older ones learned enough to get by.  They took whatever jobs they could find or create.  But their children would be fluent in English.  They would go to school and in time enter every field: teachers, nurses, doctors, football players, construction, or waiters. In short, they would live into this new life.

In today’s Gospel Simon Peter, Andrew, James & John at work in the trade of their fathers.  It’s the only life they’ve known, the only life they were likely to ever know and certainly the only life they expected to know.  It has been handed down from generation to generation.

By the way, you know what they were fishing for?  Well, the most common fish in the Sea of Galilee is the Tilapia. It was introduced in SE Asia in the 1940’s to control water vegetation just as it was here.

So these guys are fishermen. And along comes Jesus up with a fairly simple message:  The time has come.  In Greek there are two common words for time. Chronos means a specific time like on your watch/chronograph.  Kairos means a fitting time, like it’s time to reap or to pick, not by the clock or calendar but when it’s ready. 

In this fitting time Jesus calls, saying, “The Kingdom of God has come near, repent and believe in the good news.”

Suddenly these four men are caught up in a world changing event, a universe changing event.  They could not have anticipated it. Do you suppose they had any sense in that moment that they had just made a decision that would not only change their lives but change the world and secure eternal life, that they had been “saved”?

No, they just knew that things were very wrong and they were searching for God’s way to make them right. And that really is the essence of the call to Christ. In every age, in every place, we find people hunger for things to be set right, internally and all around them.

The Kingdom of God is not a place but rather a state of being wherein God reigns. Everything in your life is purposefully set according to God’s will: peace, justice, truth, joy and love under the mantle of God.  Eventually, pain and suffering are no more.  That Kingdom has come near and is walking by.

They certainly can’t control it.  But this Kingdom of God has come near.  They want it, and the only way to find it is to follow Him. This is Good News. 

What did you come here this morning to find?  Fellowship, to the extent we can have it right now? A Word of life, a gem to be tucked in your pocket to ponder through the week or to be saved for when you need it later?  A little encouragement in these uncertain times? Those are all important, and in the short run they are enough reason to follow Jesus.

Don’t forget the net that God is casting around you.  You will find the very best way to live. And as you follow His way, you will find you are caught up into His Kingdom, which will far exceed whatever blessings he gives us here and now.

The church is meant to be an earthly reflection of the Kingdom of God. His Kingdom is not of this world.  All the stuff that takes up so much of our time and attention is irrelevant compared to the glories of his promise.

They way to get to that Kingdom, like Simon Peter, Andrew, James & John, is to follow Jesus Christ.  He is the way, the truth, and the life, and will bring us to God.

Too often we think of church growth like fishing for people the other way; baiting a hook, finding the right lure to draw people close and when they bite down yank them in. That sounds manipulative but it does fit in with our consumer economy. Most often, Jesus casts his net. He makes his presence known and people’s own need draws them to him.

Here’s how to cast His net:  Be that loving, caring, kind, patient person Jesus calls us to be.  When people around you get distressed by life, offer to pray with and for them.  Don’t push but don’t hide who you are and whose you are. Don’t hide what you believe. This is how Jesus rolls: scattering seed, casting nets.  We are not to command, coerce, cajole, entertain. 

In these uncertain times, in all uncertain times, people are looking for answers. They are looking for purpose and meaning. They are looking for truth. We are here to meet them when the time is fitting, when it is ripe.

We don’t have all the answers, but we know the One who does. We follow him. And not for this life only.

AMEN