Controlling the Aquarium
A Sermon for the Third Sunday After the Epiphany
January 21, 2024 at St. James, Cartersville
The Rev. Robin Teasley
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.” As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him. Mark 1:14-20
How many of you here have ever had an aquarium? Even if you have not, you probably know something about them. They are tiny microcosms, contained ecosystems, and while we can create beautiful underwater environments, they require a good bit of attention, careful planning, and control. It’s all a balancing act. If the temperature is too hot or too cold, the fish will die. The algae must be scraped off the glass, the gravel must be vacuumed, and the pH of the water must be monitored. The fish must be carefully selected so they do not become territorial. They must be compatible or the smaller ones will be eaten! As long as we are very attentive and in control of the aquarium, things go smoothly.
When my husband Paul and I were first married and the kids were small, we had a freshwater aquarium and we were so good at controlling it that we boldly moved into the world of saltwater aquariums. Saltwater aquariums are more difficult to maintain. There are even more variables to monitor, and the fish are more beautiful and more fragile; all of them are valuable.
Before long we realized that we were spending way too much time and money on our aquarium and it was preventing us from doing other things as a family. It was no longer a joy but a drain on our time and resources. Working to control even so small an environment was stressful. Being aquarium keepers was not all it was cracked up to be.
Not unlike an aquarium, our lives can be complicated and difficult to control sometimes. Whether we are talking about our family, our work, our church, our nation’s politics, or ultimately the coming of the kingdom, eventually something happens to remind us that we are not in control of everything, or of much of anything at all. We mistakenly believe that we’re in control when all along God is the aquarium keeper, and we are the fish. Beautiful, fragile, valuable fish. Fish that will learn to school together or fight one another for the territory.
As Jesus calls disciples, we see examples of first century people hearing and responding to God’s call on their lives. If we are paying attention in our own lives, we hear God’s call, and we know it will challenge our idea of control. Whether God is calling us to a major life or career change, calling us to be more forgiving and inclusive of others, or calling us to personally give up something we know deep inside is harmful to us, we decide if we will respond, if we will follow Jesus.
Last week we heard about Samuel, who needed some help from Eli to answer God’s call. We heard about Philip and Nathanael (one very willing and the other slightly doubtful) as they answered God’s call. Today we have Jonah, not so willing, the Ninevites more than willing, and four more disciples who are immediately willing to answer God’s call.
Which one of these call stories has you squirming in your boat, or holding onto your net all the more tightly? Because following Jesus is not always easy, it does not always make sense or seem rational, and much of our response is all tangled in the nets of our lives; nets we are so dependent upon to help us stay in control of our lives! We believe we need our nets, and we are so reluctant to put them down when God calls. We love the comfort of our boats and are not inclined to leave them behind. But, if we spend all our time mending nets and painting boats, what might we be missing as God reveals the kingdom?
When we hear these call stories today, we might recognize that we are living our lives much as those first disciples did, doing what we can to get through the day and make a living. We may ask ourselves if we could possibly measure up to the standards of those disciples and drop everything when God calls us. Priest and author Barbara Brown Taylor wisely reminds us that this is not about the disciples, or about us, it’s about God and “the power of God to walk right up to a quartet of fishermen and work a miracle, creating faith where there was no faith, creating disciples where there were none just a moment before.” (1)
Jesus met the disciples where they were, on the beach with their nets and in the boat with their father. He invited them to follow, encouraging them to be more of who they were created to be. We don’t have to become someone or something that we are not in order to follow Jesus. The disciples called in today’s readings were fishermen. I suspect Jesus would just as easily call carpenters to be builders of the kingdom, artists to paint the kingdom, doctors and nurses to help heal the kingdom, or teachers to teach about the kingdom. Jesus calls us to use the gifts and talents we have been given to bring the kingdom near to all. Jesus calls us to follow, to belong, to invite others to come and see.
To respond to this call may mean that we have some nets to put down, or some boats to step out of. We may be called to let go of old habits, old ways of doing things. There may be people we need to forgive, or be more compassionate towards. We may need to stop our futile attempts to control our own lives or the lives of others. We may need to give up being the keepers of the aquarium.
The good news is that God knows all of this. God knows us in our innermost being, God has created us and called us by name. No matter what our nets might be, no matter what beach we walk, or in what boat we sit, God is calling us to be more of who God created us to be.
We are called not once, but again and again to do a new thing, to show the world the good news that the kingdom of God has come near. We are called, not to be keepers of an aquarium, but to be fishers of people; fishers of people who are beautiful, fragile, valuable children of God.
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