Sit Down, You're Rocking the Boat!

Emily Schaming
January 22nd, 2006
Ottawa Mennonite Church
www.ottawamennonite.ca

As I read over the scriptures for this Sunday, the song "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat" from Guys and Dolls kept going through my head. First there was Jonah, running away from God on a boat and then the fishermen, leaving their boats to follow Jesus. The Guys and Dolls song is about a man whose drinking and gambling habits upset the people taking a boat to heaven. But unlike the complacent passengers in the song, Jesus tells us we must leap from the boat. We don't know what comes next, perhaps there is a whale, perhaps we will lose our standing in society, perhaps we will lose our jobs. But Jesus merely says, "leave it behind and come with me".

Material Lives, Material Goods

Mother Teresa once said, "If you give what you don't need, it isn't giving." Today we heard the story of Jesus calling the fishermen to follow him. The Bible tells us that they immediately left their boats, their community, their lives to follow. The call of the first Disciples is held up as the prime example of a Christian response to the call of God. But how does our experience compare with those who gave up everything to follow? Juan Carlos Oritz imagines how this story might play out today.

"If a man finds Jesus, it costs him everything. Jesus has happiness, joy, peace, healing, security, eternity. Man marvels at such a pearl and says, 'I want this pearl. How much does it cost?"

"The seller says, 'it's too much, too costly.'
"But how much?'
"Well, it's very expensive.'
"Do you think I could buy it?'
"It costs everything you have -- no more, no less -- so anybody can buy it.'
"I'll buy it.'
"What do you have? Let's write it down.'
"I have $10,000 in the bank.'
"Good, $10,000. What else?'
"I have nothing more. That's all I have.'
"Nothing more?'
"Well, I have some cash here in my pocket.'
"How much?'
"Let's see: Thirty, forty, fifty, eighty, one hundred, one hundred twenty -- one hundred and twenty dollars.'
"That's fine. What else do you have?'
"I have nothing else. That's all.'
"Where do you live?"
"I live in my house.'
"The house, too.'
"Then you mean I have to live in the garage?'
"You have a garage as well? That, too. What else?'
"Do you mean that I should live in my car, then?'
"You have a car?'
"I have two.'
"Both become mine. Both cars. What else?'
"Well, you have my house, the garage, the cars, the money, everything.'
"What else?'
"Are you alone in the world?'
"No, I have a wife, two children...'
"Your wife and children, too.'
"My wife and…?'
"Yes, everything you have. What else?'
"I have nothing else, I am left alone now."

"Oh, you too! Everything becomes mine -- wife, children, house, money, cars -- everything. And you as well. Now you can use all those things here but don't forget they are mine, as you are. When I need any of the things you are using, you must give them to me because now I am the owner."

Is this really what it means to be a disciple? Do we have to give all of our material possessions? In Matthew, Mark, and Luke one out of every six verses deals with money. Of the twenty-nine parables Jesus told, sixteen deal with people and their money.

It is easy for us to brush off money, giving, and even the poverty of others. We already know the statistics, we already give. I once heard a woman at a Mennonite church give a talk on poverty. Afterward someone said to me, "her talk was ok, but really she's just preaching to the converted." Looking around the large, comfortable church at the well-dressed comfortable people who would drive away their large, comfortable cars to their large, comfortable houses, I thought maybe on some level we already know we are wealthy but it doesn't hurt to be reminded every now and then.

According to the gospel story four men walked off their jobs and followed Jesus the moment Jesus invited them to come after him. There was no preparation, no time for consideration; the four changed their lives completely in a few seconds. The story invites us to consider what kind of person Jesus must be to have such an impact. And it invites us to examine our response to Jesus: have we allowed him to have this kind of impact on us?

We have many choices and decisions to make every day. The more we possess, the more choices we have. Many people have told me how overwhelmed they were upon returning from developing countries. A friend of mine who had just returned from a year of village life in Uganda walked into the cereal aisle at Loblaws and burst into tears. She said she wasn't feeling guilty, she just didn't know how to choose anymore. Sometimes having fewer choices is easier.

This it is not about guilt. And it is not about how much we put in the offering box. It is about examining every part of our lives from Jesus' perspective. I will be the first to admit that I did not sell my laptop this week and give the money to the poor, I still have a car and I don't think anything of spending thirty or forty dollars to get my hair cut. It is a simple fact that we have much, much more than we ever use, let alone need. Following Jesus is a choice that is difficult and counter-cultural for North Americans.

Paying less attention to material goods in our quest to be disciples does not mean we will end up sitting around being miserable. On the contrary, as we find our way out of North American culture and into God's culture we realize that life can be wonderfully rich and full with very little emphasis on material goods. My most cherished childhood memories certainly have nothing to do with money. I remember racing little pieces of wood down a stream, cuddling on my grandfather's lap, climbing trees with my brothers. We remember time we spend with people, the love we have for our family and friends. This is holy time, and part of God's gift to us when we decide to leave our earthly belongings and follow Jesus.

Friends in Christ

But it is much easier to say we should give up everything we have to God's work, and much more difficult to do it! We don't even like to talk about money. The more we have, the less we like to talk about it. As a student, I remember everyone openly sharing how much money they made, what their rent was, how much they had to borrow in student loans. But even now I find the same friends timidly asking if I would mind telling them how much I pay in rent, if that's not too nosy… There are people about whom I know almost everything, their politics, their religious views, their family conflicts, every detail of their experiences with childbirth… yet I have no idea how much money they earn.

If Jesus talked so much about money and what should be done with it, perhaps it is time for the people who make up the church to do the same. What does it mean to give everything we have to God? How can we hold each other accountable to this giving? The story of Jonah adds more to the idea of doing God's will, not merely for our own sake, but for the sake of others as well. Too often we think of our response to God's call in terms of how it will affect our own lives. How we respond and when we respond will have repercussions for those around us too.

So often we really need an event of some magnitude to change our minds and our way of life. A radical break from business as usual is required. Most people can't just turn their lives around by a mere exercise of will power. Something has to happen! Saul was struck by a flash of light that knocked him down on the road to Damascus. Many stories of conversions throughout history are stories of some shocking act which precipitated change. It is the same in our lives. We don't consider cutting back until someone loses a job, we don't spend enough time with our family members until someone gets ill. And even when these major changes occur in our lives we can't do it alone.

Jesus didn't call just one lonely disciple to come and follow him around. He called Simon and Andrew, James and John, you and I to follow. Not merely as pupils, but as apprentices to a radically new way of life. And today we still are not alone.

There are thousands...millions... of people who have decided to follow Jesus' call to give all we have. We have Christian role models who have gone before us, and a Christian community that goes with us. An elderly woman from my home church, who I grew up calling "Aunt Lil" is one of those models. Aunt Lil spent much of her childhood orphaned and desperately poor, working where she could babysitting to see her through school. As a teenager, she joined the Salvation Army and spent well over 25 years in the jungles of Indonesia looking after the needs of ten local children, whose children and grandchildren she now supports from Canada. When I was getting ready to go to university, Aunt Lil taught me something I will never forget. She had inherited some money from a friend and wanted to give me a little something to buy some new clothes for school. I was pleased to accept. She then proceeded to write me a cheque for $1000. This would easily have been close to a month's income for her. I protested that it was far too much, but her response is still clear in my mind. She said, "the Lord has always provided for me and this was just extra money. I've always found that the more I give away, the more He gives back to me." We can learn from our fellow Christians and support them as they make financial decisions.

We don't need to be rich to give. J.D. Rockefeller said, "I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week." And giving can't stay a secret or a taboo topic of conversation if what we're giving is everything. Jesus didn't say "sit down!" he said, "leave the boat, and come with me!"

Right Now!?!

But do we have to give God everything right now? Here we come to that sticky little word- "immediately". The sense of urgency is strong in all the Bible readings for today. Paul is preparing the Corinthians for the imminent arrival of God's kingdom, the fishermen immediately drop their nets and follow Jesus, Jonah convinces the people of Nineveh that their problem is dire with what just might have been the world's shortest sermon, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" Short, but pretty effective.

We live in a culture that warns us of the risks of discipleship. Instead of action, we are advised to be cautious, hedge our bets, diversify our portfolios, watch out for all possible unknowns. Often our culture tries to convince us that we can't even expect to live long enough to die unless we are very, very careful.

Jesus provides an alternate vision. "Come, follow me," he says. We follow. We learn. We grow. We do things we never imagined because it is no longer just us, but Jesus working in us. We are called to be stewards of action. It is often said that if a change is to be made or a new course is to be pursued we will be more effective and successful if we "act our way into thinking" instead of trying to "think our way into acting." This seems to be especially true when we consider the call to discipleship.

Discipleship in Mark involves fear, doubt and suffering.... the disciples never fully understand and never quite overcome their fear and apprehension. We can relate to those disciples. It is really scary to decide we are going to give up everything to God. But the rewards can be incredible.

"Right now" never seems to be the right time. I just don't have the money "right now", I just don't have the time "right now"…But sometimes the worst time is the right time.