Readings:
Jonah 3:1-10;
Psalm 62;
Hebrews 9:24-end;
Mark 1:14-20

Collect:
God of all kindness,
look with compassion on the anguish, pain and distress of our troubled world.
We are a people desperately in need of a better way to live and trade.
Our destructive habits are a threat and a danger to our planetary home.
We continue to behave as if Jesus had not declared
that his kingdom of justice and peace had arrived.
We continue to look for scapegoats
as if Jesus had not offered himself as the last and final offering.
Raise up bold and brave people who will speak and live your different way. Amen
(Adapted from Alternative Collects: Prayers to a Disruptive and Compassionate God, by Graham Turner, published by Sacristy Press, 2018)

Reflection

There are some things easily overlooked in the story of Jesus calling the first disciples in Mark. For example, what status do you imagine they held in their society? Did they have influence? Money? Social responsibilities for which they were respected? Fact is, we just don’t know and none of the gospels tells us directly. There are some insights we can discern, however, but the evidence is not clear-cut, and some imagination is called for. 

I wonder if, today, you are willing to imagine they are first century and an occupied country’s equivalent of captains of industry? People, mostly men, but we do know of wealthy women among them (Lk 8:1-3), who may have left the management of their commercial and financial affairs to others. I think there is enough evidence for this, that among Jesus disciples were wealthy individuals from influential families who were ever so attracted to Jesus, his teaching and his way of life, that they were prepared to follow and be Jesus’ disciples. These were the people who supported Jesus financially and socially and may have assisted with the instruction of newcomers to the movement – we might even say those responsible for sharing the good news.

Read the rest of Mark’s gospel, however, and we see they don’t measure up very well as disciples. As the story develops, they oppose what he is doing and despite moments of spectacular insight, in the end, and at the end, they leave him. They cannot be trusted to carry our Jesus’ mission, either because they don’t know what it is, or they oppose it.

But we know Jesus’ mission is not thwarted. So, just what is Jesus’ mission? At least some of Jesus’ mission is to transform the ordinary lives of everyday people so that we recognize and fulfil our God-given life. What we call the Church only survives, is there at all, because the people met together, prayed together, sought and opened themselves to be transformed by God’s Spirit, together.

Jonathan Sacks, in his posthumously published The power of Ideas: Words of Faith and Wisdom, says: “Prayer changes the world because it changes us … The world we build tomorrow is born in the prayers we say today.” (Hodder & Stoughton: 2021, p81f).

Our world needs changing. A government accused of corruption and acting illegally. A system of commerce and consumption giving advantage to the most wealthy and powerful. A system of exploiting the natural world apparently for our benefit, but destroying the very planet on which we depend. So, we should wholeheartedly support and encourage those who are seeking better ways of living together, whether by taking the knee, marching or finding ways to challenge those with power and authority, and to make significant changes as to how we structure our common life.

But change lies also with each one of us. How? Well, I think best described by Teresa of Avila (1515-82), whose (adapted) prayer is a challenge for us all to pray and change from the depths of our hearts: Take my body, O Christ, to do your work, for here on earth you have no body now, but mine. Take my hands to be your hands, my feet to walk in the ways of your feet, and my resources of money and time to be spent on those who need it most. Take my eyes to be the eyes of your own compassion shining forth on a troubled world, for your own mercy’s sake.

Barry Lotz (adapted from a sermon preached at St. Giles’ on 7.11.21)