The Riskiness of Following Jesus

Beloved in Christ,

Luke’s story of the call of the first disciples appointed for this Sunday reminds us of three critical things about following Jesus in this moment:  

• Jesus doesn’t wait for us to invite him in. He’s walking along the lakeshore, and he sees an opening in a boat because the fishermen are out washing their nets, so he climbs in uninvited. Jesus isn’t some distant figure who sits back and waits for us to find him. He’s always seeking us out - in our mundane tasks, in our fears, in the places we hide. Our job isn’t to put in some heroic effort required to find him, but rather to keep he door of our hearts and lives open to him.

• Following Jesus is risky. When Simon Peter and the others have had a bad night of fishing, he tells them to put out into the deeper waters. The deeper waters are riskier, more mysterious, full of both great uncertainty and great possibility. God is always calling God’s people to leave the safety of what is known, trusting entirely on God, in order to discover an abundance of grace, mercy and love. Right now, the world doesn’t need anymore of the safe Jesus who simply authorizes the status quo, it needs a risky Jesus who pushes us out, challenges business as usual, and upends the broken world order.

• Jesus radically reorients our purpose and priorities. “From now on, you will be fishing for people,” Jesus says. His call requires the disciples to leave what is known and who they think they are for a new identity that is fully devoted to God’s project to heal the world with love. To follow Jesus means to accept the painful and liberating truth that my life is not about me. It’s not about getting what I want, insisting on my way, or being right. Following Jesus is about giving myself fully over to God’s will and project. For following Jesus to mean anything at all, it can’t be a side hobby, it has to be the center of our lives. 

As we walk through these incredibly chaotic, painful, and fearful days in the life of our nation, how can we make more room for Jesus in our boats, because God knows we can’t sail them through these waters alone? What does it look like for us to put out into deeper waters together? How can we set aside who we thought we were, and devote ourselves utterly to his holy work of loving, healing, standing with the poor, forgotten and pushed aside, and bearing witness with every breath, every decision, and every encounter, to God’s perfect kingdom of peace, love, justice, and joy?

Grace and Peace,

The Right Rev. Craig Loya