The test
Commentary
Object:
I have a dear friend who is a college professor. He loves both his subject and his students, which helps to make him an excellent teacher. However, he does become exasperated at times with the shortsighted purpose and motivation of some students along the way. As midterms and final exams approach each semester, he invariably has to field questions like "Will this be on the test?"
My friend's vocation is to teach. His goal is for his students to learn. Their goal, however, often seems to be something short of true learning. Rather than genuinely striving to internalize the material, their aim is merely not to mess up on the exam.
Perhaps we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are commonly guilty of the same sort of shortsighted superficiality. Our operative question, however, is not so much "Will this be on the test?" as it is "Will the test be coming soon?"
All three of our passages this week invite us to give some thought to timing. Specifically, God's timing. In the case of Jonah, the issue is the prospect of God's judgment. The sinful citizens of Nineveh were given fair warning: "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
In the gospel of Mark, we hear Jesus calling for the same sort of response that characterized the Ninevites. In this instance, though, it is not exactly the prospect of judgment that animates the repentance. The scope of Jesus' future prospect is much larger than just the destruction of a single city. Jesus declares that "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near."
Finally, in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he is also aware of God's time. "The appointed time has grown short," he explains to those first-century believers. Then he instructs them about their proper response to what time it is -- or almost is.
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The modern mind, so weighed down and distracted by skepticism, may miss out on the beauty of Jonah. We get preoccupied with the famous fish, debating the possibility and probability of it all. But the "great fish" is not the greatest part of the story.
First, of course, there is the comical prophet. We are amused by his prejudices, his frustrations, and -- perhaps most of all -- by his familiarity. We recognize something of ourselves in him and the more closely we look at him the more recognizable we become.
The real hero of the story, of course, is neither the fish nor the prophet. It's not even the very enlightened and surprisingly responsive citizens of Nineveh, to whom we are introduced in this passage. No, the star of this show is the Lord and while the reputation of the Old Testament prophetic books may be heavy on judgment and punishment, this prophet's story is all about God's mercy and grace.
Our particular passage begins with an emblem of that grace: "The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." A second time. This is how I know that Jonah and I belong to the same God. For what servant of God does not have this experience somewhere in his or her testimony? It is by God's grace that he initiates with us and speaks to us in the first place, of course. Then it is such a mercy that his word comes to us a second time -- since we, like Jonah, did not respond adequately, or fully, the first time.
Of course, the particular direction contained in this word to Jonah is also an indication of his grace. "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." The sheer fact that God has a message for Nineveh is proof of his grace, for he is endeavoring to speak his word to a people that does not know him, does not worship him, and is not listening for him. Even the fact that the initial message to them was a judgment message is merciful, for he gave them fair warning. A less generous, more capricious sovereign would simply have wiped out the people or the city that offended him. But this God sounded the alarm first, in order that the people could respond.
And the people did respond. Jonah is nearly unique among the canonical prophets for his apparent success. These surprisingly responsive pagans serve as a foil, therefore, at two levels. In the immediate, they stand in contrast to the supposed man of God, who is a more reluctant convert than they are. In the larger context, the Ninevites stand in contrast to neighboring Israel and Judah, who do not repent at the preaching of their judgment prophets but persist in their sin and are sentenced to destruction.
Destruction, however, while it may be God's threat, is not his will. His message through Jonah -- just as it was through Amos, Jeremiah, Hosea, and more -- was a message of warning and doom, and yet we see in the case of Nineveh the true desire of his heart. For when he saw that the people had "turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it."
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
This brief passage from the apostle Paul presents us with two broad issues. First, there is the issue of how he felt that believers should live in light of the fact that "the appointed time has grown short" and "the present form of this world is passing away." And second, we question whether he was incorrect in his sense of the time and therefore wonder about the applicability of his advice.
Let us deal first with that second question. I think it goes without saying that Paul did not envision 2,000 more years passing before Christ's return and the culmination of the age. Clearly his expectation -- indeed, the broader expectation that pulses throughout the entire New Testament -- was that Jesus' return was imminent and the kingdom of God nearly complete. Who among the New Testament authors would have predicted that in 2012 we would still be on this side of the parousia?
Of course, not knowing is not the same thing as being wrong. And expecting is not the same thing as predicting.
If Paul -- or likewise Peter, John, James, and such -- had specifically predicted an earlier return then they would have been wrong but they did not. In contrast to so many subsequent believers, who have eschewed all good judgment and broadcast some specific prediction about the day of Christ's second coming, the apostles recognized that "no one knows the day or the hour" (Matthew 24:36).
Nevertheless, if Paul's counsel to the Corinthians was predicated on the Lord's imminent return, didn't his advice turn out to be moot? And if Jesus does not return in our day -- or for another 2,000 years -- then wouldn't that make his instructions here irrelevant for us? Our primary treatment of the lections for this week endeavors to explore precisely these issues.
Meanwhile, there is the other prominent issue of this text: that is, the kind of lives Paul urged the Corinthian Christians to live.
The apostle offers a five-part litany of recommendations. He addresses, in turn, "those who are married, " "those who mourn," "those who rejoice," "those who buy," and "those who deal with the world." And in each case, Paul's counsel is that they should live "as though they were not" doing and being the very things that they were.
What shall we make of Paul's strange list and counterintuitive advice?
First, we note that he does not address any wrongdoers. In other words, this is not corrective and it is not about morality. He does not speak here to "those who" are idolaters, practice sorcery, or cause dissension (see Galatians 5:19-21). No, the types of pursuits and activities Paul mentions are conspicuously harmless and routine -- much like the excuses of the people who declined the invitation to the great feast (Luke 14:18-20). Our conversion, therefore, is not only away from what is evil. Our conversion must be away from whatever keeps us from complete devotion to our Lord.
Second, I don't think that Paul is trying to be comprehensive here. I think the list is presented more as a sampling than as an exhaustive listing. For if we are correct in the first point, then there is almost no end to the types of "harmless and routine" things he might have mentioned.
Third, the juxtaposed examples of mourning and rejoicing give us another insight. Because these seem, at the surface, to be opposing statements, we conclude that the real goal is not for a person simply to choose the opposite of his or her condition. The point is not that mourning is bad and so each person should rejoice instead. No, for those who are rejoicing are mentioned next.
Rather, I think Paul's underlying point is that we should no longer be defined by the things that customarily define us in this world and in this life. A football coach or a marine drill sergeant might require those under his command not to act like they're tired when they are, or hungry when they are, or despairing when they are. Instead, they are challenged to rise above those conditions in order to perform their assigned duties with complete focus and dedication.
So too for the Christian. It's not that marriage or mourning are bad things. The bad thing is when the things of this life and this world -- which "is passing away" -- keep us from the focus and dedication that our Master and his work deserve.
Mark 1:14-20
The familiar story of the calling of Jesus' first disciples is remarkably unadorned. The call itself is simple and unelaborated and the response of the four men comes across as surprisingly ordinary. Inasmuch as Jesus seems to be requiring them to leave behind their lives and their livelihoods, we might expect a great deal of deliberation. And inasmuch as most of our decisions to follow Jesus are accompanied by great emotion, we are surprised by the matter-of-factness with which Mark reports this life-altering event.
First, Mark places the moment in relation to another event: the arrest of John the Baptist. The timing is not exactly the same in the other gospels, but it probably symbolizes for Mark an important transition. John was the prophesied predecessor; Jesus was "the one who is coming after." So this narrative detail represents the passing of a baton: John's moment and mission are completed and now Jesus begins his work.
Apropos of that sense of symbolic timing, Mark reports that Jesus declares the fulfillment of time. It is a word reminiscent of Paul's conception of "the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4). For a conviction runs throughout all of the New Testament that there is a great providential divine plan in human history and that their present was a pivotal moment in that history. The notion that the kingdom of God had come was surely fundamental to that understanding, and all people were urged to respond appropriately to that epochal moment. In this case, the appropriate response was to "repent, and believe the good news."
That, it seems, was the general invitation: the one extended to everyone. But then there was a specific invitation as well: an invitation extended to those select people who would assist Jesus in his momentous work. "Follow me," he said, "and I will make you fish for people."
The coming of the kingdom of God, you see, is a cooperative effort. On the one hand, Jesus teaches his followers to pray for that kingdom to come. On the other hand, it is not an achievement performed exclusively by God. Rather, he has invited -- perhaps required -- human participation in this coming kingdom. There is the human cooperation of Jesus' followers, and there is the still more central concern for a human response: indeed, preferably a response by every single human being (see 2 Peter 3:9)!
It would be fascinating to ponder Jesus' selection of these four men. Why specifically fishermen? And why these particular fishermen? Our answers, of course, would be purely speculative, for the text does not afford us much information. Whatever the background, however, we see an exemplary moment: Jesus calls, and the men respond.
Application
The shortsighted college student may be so preoccupied with preparing for the test that he neglects real learning. He tries to whittle down the material for which he is responsible -- "Will this be on the test?" -- rather than eagerly embracing as much of the material as possible. The real priority of the instructor, however, is that larger body of material and the learning of it.
I suggested above that we, as Christians, may often be as shortsighted as that college student. But our issue is not so much "What's on the test?" as it is "When is the test?" If we knew that the day was coming soon, then perhaps we would live accordingly. But if it is a century away -- perhaps a millennium away -- then why bother? Why not just go about our own business as usual? And that is, indeed, what we mostly do.
We observe that the people of Nineveh were exemplary in their response to God's timing. On the other hand, we also note that they knew God's timing. It was specific and it was imminent. We imagine that we would be just as responsive under those circumstances.
In the cases of the two New Testament lections, we are not privy to the response of those audiences. Almost certainly it was mixed. But we do have the great benefit of knowing the specific instructions of the apostle Paul and of the Lord Jesus. According to Jesus, the first step is to repent. According to Paul, a subsequent life of complete focus is what the time demands.
Space does not permit a full consideration of the theme of the kingdom of God but the coming of that kingdom is central to Jesus' exhortation. We are acquainted with the now-but-not-yet quality of the kingdom as it is revealed in the New Testament. Clearly the kingdom of God is not fully installed in this world, and so we are to pray for his kingdom to come. On the other hand, Jesus indicates that John the Baptist is the watershed figure that marked the beginning of the kingdom (Matthew 11:11-13; Luke 16:16), and several of Jesus' parables portray it as a phenomenon that starts small and grows. So while we look for the fulfillment of the kingdom, we do not need to wait for the beginning of it. It has "come near" and if that reality called for repentance in Jesus' day, surely it deserves and requires no less in ours.
Which brings us back to the counsel of Paul: His is, shall we say, a post-repentance audience. That is to say, having turned from sin, now they are called to live a certain sort of life. We might imagine that Jesus' exhortation is to those who are heading down to Jordan to be baptized and that Paul's exhortation is to those same folks as they come up out of the water. And the sort of life that Paul commends to those people is, again, a function of the time: that is, the assumption that the appointed time has grown short.
Since he wrote that statement 2,000 years ago, however, it doesn't seem to ring true. That time doesn't seem short at all and so the lifestyle he proposes may lose its rationale, its sense of urgency.
Except for the serious student.
The serious student, you know, does not put off studying until the final week. The serious student does not try to limit the material for which he is responsible, but rather seeks to embrace and internalize as much material as possible. The serious student will do exceedingly well on the test because, for him, it is not ultimately about the test.
That is the truth for the followers of Christ as well. The ones who are living life altogether focused on serving their Lord are the ones who will be most ready for the test, no matter when it comes. For if we are living it every day, then we will be ready for the day.
An Alternative Application
Mark 1:14-20. "Answering the Call." What are a person's options when Jesus calls?
One option, of course, is to ignore the call, which is tantamount to declining it. It is the coward's way of saying no. It is decision by indecision and I suppose it is a rather common response to his call.
A second option is to respond to his call in our time and on our terms. This was the pattern of those men we know as the "would-be disciples" of Jesus (Luke 9:57-62). They were the ones who had an excuse, a "but first." Men who were willing to follow Jesus, they said, but only after they had taken care of something else. Of course, whatever a person does first is, by definition, their priority, and it is something of a non-sequitur to call him "Lord" and yet have a different priority.
Then there is the third option: to respond to his call immediately and completely. He calls, we answer. "What he says we will do, where he sends we will go; never fear, only trust and obey."1
This was the look of the fishermen's response. They dropped what they were doing, left behind what had been their lives, and followed Jesus. No debating, no hesitating, no equivocating. This is the look of true discipleship. And each time a moment comes when we hear his call, Peter and company have shown us how to answer it.
__________
1. John H. Sammis, "Trust and Obey" (United Methodist Hymnal #467).
My friend's vocation is to teach. His goal is for his students to learn. Their goal, however, often seems to be something short of true learning. Rather than genuinely striving to internalize the material, their aim is merely not to mess up on the exam.
Perhaps we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are commonly guilty of the same sort of shortsighted superficiality. Our operative question, however, is not so much "Will this be on the test?" as it is "Will the test be coming soon?"
All three of our passages this week invite us to give some thought to timing. Specifically, God's timing. In the case of Jonah, the issue is the prospect of God's judgment. The sinful citizens of Nineveh were given fair warning: "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
In the gospel of Mark, we hear Jesus calling for the same sort of response that characterized the Ninevites. In this instance, though, it is not exactly the prospect of judgment that animates the repentance. The scope of Jesus' future prospect is much larger than just the destruction of a single city. Jesus declares that "the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near."
Finally, in Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he is also aware of God's time. "The appointed time has grown short," he explains to those first-century believers. Then he instructs them about their proper response to what time it is -- or almost is.
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The modern mind, so weighed down and distracted by skepticism, may miss out on the beauty of Jonah. We get preoccupied with the famous fish, debating the possibility and probability of it all. But the "great fish" is not the greatest part of the story.
First, of course, there is the comical prophet. We are amused by his prejudices, his frustrations, and -- perhaps most of all -- by his familiarity. We recognize something of ourselves in him and the more closely we look at him the more recognizable we become.
The real hero of the story, of course, is neither the fish nor the prophet. It's not even the very enlightened and surprisingly responsive citizens of Nineveh, to whom we are introduced in this passage. No, the star of this show is the Lord and while the reputation of the Old Testament prophetic books may be heavy on judgment and punishment, this prophet's story is all about God's mercy and grace.
Our particular passage begins with an emblem of that grace: "The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time." A second time. This is how I know that Jonah and I belong to the same God. For what servant of God does not have this experience somewhere in his or her testimony? It is by God's grace that he initiates with us and speaks to us in the first place, of course. Then it is such a mercy that his word comes to us a second time -- since we, like Jonah, did not respond adequately, or fully, the first time.
Of course, the particular direction contained in this word to Jonah is also an indication of his grace. "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." The sheer fact that God has a message for Nineveh is proof of his grace, for he is endeavoring to speak his word to a people that does not know him, does not worship him, and is not listening for him. Even the fact that the initial message to them was a judgment message is merciful, for he gave them fair warning. A less generous, more capricious sovereign would simply have wiped out the people or the city that offended him. But this God sounded the alarm first, in order that the people could respond.
And the people did respond. Jonah is nearly unique among the canonical prophets for his apparent success. These surprisingly responsive pagans serve as a foil, therefore, at two levels. In the immediate, they stand in contrast to the supposed man of God, who is a more reluctant convert than they are. In the larger context, the Ninevites stand in contrast to neighboring Israel and Judah, who do not repent at the preaching of their judgment prophets but persist in their sin and are sentenced to destruction.
Destruction, however, while it may be God's threat, is not his will. His message through Jonah -- just as it was through Amos, Jeremiah, Hosea, and more -- was a message of warning and doom, and yet we see in the case of Nineveh the true desire of his heart. For when he saw that the people had "turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it."
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
This brief passage from the apostle Paul presents us with two broad issues. First, there is the issue of how he felt that believers should live in light of the fact that "the appointed time has grown short" and "the present form of this world is passing away." And second, we question whether he was incorrect in his sense of the time and therefore wonder about the applicability of his advice.
Let us deal first with that second question. I think it goes without saying that Paul did not envision 2,000 more years passing before Christ's return and the culmination of the age. Clearly his expectation -- indeed, the broader expectation that pulses throughout the entire New Testament -- was that Jesus' return was imminent and the kingdom of God nearly complete. Who among the New Testament authors would have predicted that in 2012 we would still be on this side of the parousia?
Of course, not knowing is not the same thing as being wrong. And expecting is not the same thing as predicting.
If Paul -- or likewise Peter, John, James, and such -- had specifically predicted an earlier return then they would have been wrong but they did not. In contrast to so many subsequent believers, who have eschewed all good judgment and broadcast some specific prediction about the day of Christ's second coming, the apostles recognized that "no one knows the day or the hour" (Matthew 24:36).
Nevertheless, if Paul's counsel to the Corinthians was predicated on the Lord's imminent return, didn't his advice turn out to be moot? And if Jesus does not return in our day -- or for another 2,000 years -- then wouldn't that make his instructions here irrelevant for us? Our primary treatment of the lections for this week endeavors to explore precisely these issues.
Meanwhile, there is the other prominent issue of this text: that is, the kind of lives Paul urged the Corinthian Christians to live.
The apostle offers a five-part litany of recommendations. He addresses, in turn, "those who are married, " "those who mourn," "those who rejoice," "those who buy," and "those who deal with the world." And in each case, Paul's counsel is that they should live "as though they were not" doing and being the very things that they were.
What shall we make of Paul's strange list and counterintuitive advice?
First, we note that he does not address any wrongdoers. In other words, this is not corrective and it is not about morality. He does not speak here to "those who" are idolaters, practice sorcery, or cause dissension (see Galatians 5:19-21). No, the types of pursuits and activities Paul mentions are conspicuously harmless and routine -- much like the excuses of the people who declined the invitation to the great feast (Luke 14:18-20). Our conversion, therefore, is not only away from what is evil. Our conversion must be away from whatever keeps us from complete devotion to our Lord.
Second, I don't think that Paul is trying to be comprehensive here. I think the list is presented more as a sampling than as an exhaustive listing. For if we are correct in the first point, then there is almost no end to the types of "harmless and routine" things he might have mentioned.
Third, the juxtaposed examples of mourning and rejoicing give us another insight. Because these seem, at the surface, to be opposing statements, we conclude that the real goal is not for a person simply to choose the opposite of his or her condition. The point is not that mourning is bad and so each person should rejoice instead. No, for those who are rejoicing are mentioned next.
Rather, I think Paul's underlying point is that we should no longer be defined by the things that customarily define us in this world and in this life. A football coach or a marine drill sergeant might require those under his command not to act like they're tired when they are, or hungry when they are, or despairing when they are. Instead, they are challenged to rise above those conditions in order to perform their assigned duties with complete focus and dedication.
So too for the Christian. It's not that marriage or mourning are bad things. The bad thing is when the things of this life and this world -- which "is passing away" -- keep us from the focus and dedication that our Master and his work deserve.
Mark 1:14-20
The familiar story of the calling of Jesus' first disciples is remarkably unadorned. The call itself is simple and unelaborated and the response of the four men comes across as surprisingly ordinary. Inasmuch as Jesus seems to be requiring them to leave behind their lives and their livelihoods, we might expect a great deal of deliberation. And inasmuch as most of our decisions to follow Jesus are accompanied by great emotion, we are surprised by the matter-of-factness with which Mark reports this life-altering event.
First, Mark places the moment in relation to another event: the arrest of John the Baptist. The timing is not exactly the same in the other gospels, but it probably symbolizes for Mark an important transition. John was the prophesied predecessor; Jesus was "the one who is coming after." So this narrative detail represents the passing of a baton: John's moment and mission are completed and now Jesus begins his work.
Apropos of that sense of symbolic timing, Mark reports that Jesus declares the fulfillment of time. It is a word reminiscent of Paul's conception of "the fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4). For a conviction runs throughout all of the New Testament that there is a great providential divine plan in human history and that their present was a pivotal moment in that history. The notion that the kingdom of God had come was surely fundamental to that understanding, and all people were urged to respond appropriately to that epochal moment. In this case, the appropriate response was to "repent, and believe the good news."
That, it seems, was the general invitation: the one extended to everyone. But then there was a specific invitation as well: an invitation extended to those select people who would assist Jesus in his momentous work. "Follow me," he said, "and I will make you fish for people."
The coming of the kingdom of God, you see, is a cooperative effort. On the one hand, Jesus teaches his followers to pray for that kingdom to come. On the other hand, it is not an achievement performed exclusively by God. Rather, he has invited -- perhaps required -- human participation in this coming kingdom. There is the human cooperation of Jesus' followers, and there is the still more central concern for a human response: indeed, preferably a response by every single human being (see 2 Peter 3:9)!
It would be fascinating to ponder Jesus' selection of these four men. Why specifically fishermen? And why these particular fishermen? Our answers, of course, would be purely speculative, for the text does not afford us much information. Whatever the background, however, we see an exemplary moment: Jesus calls, and the men respond.
Application
The shortsighted college student may be so preoccupied with preparing for the test that he neglects real learning. He tries to whittle down the material for which he is responsible -- "Will this be on the test?" -- rather than eagerly embracing as much of the material as possible. The real priority of the instructor, however, is that larger body of material and the learning of it.
I suggested above that we, as Christians, may often be as shortsighted as that college student. But our issue is not so much "What's on the test?" as it is "When is the test?" If we knew that the day was coming soon, then perhaps we would live accordingly. But if it is a century away -- perhaps a millennium away -- then why bother? Why not just go about our own business as usual? And that is, indeed, what we mostly do.
We observe that the people of Nineveh were exemplary in their response to God's timing. On the other hand, we also note that they knew God's timing. It was specific and it was imminent. We imagine that we would be just as responsive under those circumstances.
In the cases of the two New Testament lections, we are not privy to the response of those audiences. Almost certainly it was mixed. But we do have the great benefit of knowing the specific instructions of the apostle Paul and of the Lord Jesus. According to Jesus, the first step is to repent. According to Paul, a subsequent life of complete focus is what the time demands.
Space does not permit a full consideration of the theme of the kingdom of God but the coming of that kingdom is central to Jesus' exhortation. We are acquainted with the now-but-not-yet quality of the kingdom as it is revealed in the New Testament. Clearly the kingdom of God is not fully installed in this world, and so we are to pray for his kingdom to come. On the other hand, Jesus indicates that John the Baptist is the watershed figure that marked the beginning of the kingdom (Matthew 11:11-13; Luke 16:16), and several of Jesus' parables portray it as a phenomenon that starts small and grows. So while we look for the fulfillment of the kingdom, we do not need to wait for the beginning of it. It has "come near" and if that reality called for repentance in Jesus' day, surely it deserves and requires no less in ours.
Which brings us back to the counsel of Paul: His is, shall we say, a post-repentance audience. That is to say, having turned from sin, now they are called to live a certain sort of life. We might imagine that Jesus' exhortation is to those who are heading down to Jordan to be baptized and that Paul's exhortation is to those same folks as they come up out of the water. And the sort of life that Paul commends to those people is, again, a function of the time: that is, the assumption that the appointed time has grown short.
Since he wrote that statement 2,000 years ago, however, it doesn't seem to ring true. That time doesn't seem short at all and so the lifestyle he proposes may lose its rationale, its sense of urgency.
Except for the serious student.
The serious student, you know, does not put off studying until the final week. The serious student does not try to limit the material for which he is responsible, but rather seeks to embrace and internalize as much material as possible. The serious student will do exceedingly well on the test because, for him, it is not ultimately about the test.
That is the truth for the followers of Christ as well. The ones who are living life altogether focused on serving their Lord are the ones who will be most ready for the test, no matter when it comes. For if we are living it every day, then we will be ready for the day.
An Alternative Application
Mark 1:14-20. "Answering the Call." What are a person's options when Jesus calls?
One option, of course, is to ignore the call, which is tantamount to declining it. It is the coward's way of saying no. It is decision by indecision and I suppose it is a rather common response to his call.
A second option is to respond to his call in our time and on our terms. This was the pattern of those men we know as the "would-be disciples" of Jesus (Luke 9:57-62). They were the ones who had an excuse, a "but first." Men who were willing to follow Jesus, they said, but only after they had taken care of something else. Of course, whatever a person does first is, by definition, their priority, and it is something of a non-sequitur to call him "Lord" and yet have a different priority.
Then there is the third option: to respond to his call immediately and completely. He calls, we answer. "What he says we will do, where he sends we will go; never fear, only trust and obey."1
This was the look of the fishermen's response. They dropped what they were doing, left behind what had been their lives, and followed Jesus. No debating, no hesitating, no equivocating. This is the look of true discipleship. And each time a moment comes when we hear his call, Peter and company have shown us how to answer it.
__________
1. John H. Sammis, "Trust and Obey" (United Methodist Hymnal #467).
