Reflections...

A sermon preached on Sunday, 14th January 2007 at Kowloon Union Church by Rev. Hans Lutz on Mark 1:14-20. The Bible readings for that day were 1 Kings 19:19-21, Colossians 1:3-8 and Mark 1:14-20.


I
For some years now Kowloon Union Church has welcomed brothers and sisters from African countries who are in Hong Kong and await a reply to their request for asylum. Each of you who have come from Africa has his or her story to tell. You have left your home and your country under different circumstances. Some of you may have nurtured the plan to flee for weeks or months, while others may have been forced to leave abruptly. Either way, there must have been a moment when you made up your mind and took the plunge. For all of you the decision to leave your work and family had dramatic consequences and changed the direction of your life. At the time you made your decision you did not know what was awaiting you. You made a leap into the unknown.

II
Your experience can help us to understand what happened to the four disciples. It is likely that they had heard of Jesus before and that they had met him. Yet the call of Jesus prompted them to a decision on the spot, which changed the future direction of their lives. What happened to them is comparable to what happened when Elijah called Elisha. The four could not foresee what was awaiting them.
l Peter became a leader of the early church and a missionary. He died as a martyr, most likely in Rome under the emperor Nero.
l About his brother Andrew we do not know much. The story that he suffered on an X-shaped cross seems to have been unknown before the late middle age.
l James became a martyr in the year 44 A.D. under Herod Agrippa.
l John became, like Peter, a leader of the early church. Tradition says that he spent his old age in Ephesus and was buried there.
The call of Jesus led them far away from their life as fishermen on the shores of the lake of Galilee.

III
Jesus called people to repent. He asks us to break with our past and to accept a new direction for our lives. He calls us, he touches our hearts.

On that day, at the lake of Galilee, Jesus called the four to become his disciples. Not they chose him as one chooses a spiritual advisor, but Jesus chose them. He asked for an immediate, decisive response, for their willingness to give up job and family ties.

When Jesus calls us, it is an issue of his Father’s kingdom, not of our kingdoms. It is an issue of God’s ultimate future, not of our short-term plans. We shall reckon with him, but we cannot foresee where he will lead us. We can learn from these four fishermen, that everything we knew and had been used to, even if it was good, comes to an end in him. He calls us away from what we think, plan and do to what he thinks. Plans and does.

IV
When I look back onto my on journey which brought me here today, I can identify such a decisive moment which shaped my life. In 1965 I was a pastor in Geneva. At that time I was thinking of joining missionary work overseas. The Basel Mission expressed an interest and mentioned possibilities in Ghana or Hong Kong. The matter rested there for several months until I received a call from the mission board asking me whether I would be willing to join them. They said they had another candidate but would prefer me. So I traveled to Basel where I was formally asked whether I was willing to go to Hong Kong. I agreed on the spot, I must admit with a pinch of vanity. It is nice to be given priority. When I said yes, I knew I was going to spend a number of years in Hong Kong as the time for learning the language had to be justified. But I could not imagine that I would spend my whole working life here. I do think that the members of the mission board were instruments of God in calling me to a new and different life.

V
Jesus called Peter and Andrew and promised to make them fishers of men. Jesus called them to become his co-workers, preachers and witnesses of the kingdom of God.

Catching men and women means drawing them out of the waters of this world into a new life with Jesus. He calls us to work with him and bear fruit.

It is for this reason that participation is so important in the church. When we participate we contribute and have a share in what is going on. Last week I received the latest issue of the Letter on Evangelism from the World Council of Churches in Geneva. It tells about the experience of congregations in the Eastern part of Germany, where 44 years of Communist rule have estranged 90% of the population from the Christian faith. Young people may not even have heard of Jesus. Through invitations to participate in activities and events such as choir singing they can again find joy and meaning in the church. Kowloon Union Church is a congregations offering many avenues for participating. Jesus does not want us to be passive consumers, but disciples who come forward to contribute and share, to be involved.