There is a
great scene in Apollo 13 where astronaut Jim Lovell, who is played by Tom Hanks,
talks about an instrument malfunction on his airplane while flying over the Sea
of Japan. To make matters worse, the aircraft carrier’s lights were off because
of combat conditions.
It was
pitch black. He couldn’t see. His radar was jammed. He couldn’t use the radio.
When he turned on the map light, everything in the cockpit shorted out –
instruments, lights, he didn’t know what his altitude was. Because he was
running out of fuel he thought about ditching into the ocean.
He looked
out over the ocean and saw what he described as a phosphorescent green carpet.
It was algae that was churned up in the wake of a ship. It was leading him
home. Lovell reflected, “if my cockpit lights hadn’t shorted out, then there is
no way I would have been able to see that. You never know what events are to
transpire to get you home.”
The opening
verses of today’s gospel lesson read, “After John was arrested.” In other
words, the cockpit lights have shorted out on the people of Israel. John the
Baptist, the instrument that is supposed to point the people of Israel home, is
gone.
If you
remember, John created a lot of excitement for the people of Israel. He looked
like one of the prophets of old crying out in the wilderness. After 400 years
of silence, God’s promise is once again at hand. There is a glimmer of hope on
the horizon. There is a way out of the oppressive regime of Rome.
John
announces a new way home that begins with confession and repentance, a way
found through the baptism of Jesus. But after the baptism, Jesus goes off into
the wilderness to be tested by Satan. And
then John is arrested. The cockpit lights have shorted out and the dream of a
redeemed Israel is once again dead.
But there
is something glowing in the darkness and it is much more impressive than a phosphorescent
green carpet. The people remember that John said something about a highway for
our God. John said, there is one more powerful than I coming after me, and I am
not worthy to stoop down to untie the thong of his sandal. They remember there
is a Jesus of Nazareth who is the Messiah.
John was
right. Jesus arrives in Galilee and
says, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near, repent and
believe in the good news.” Now that all eyes are off John the Baptist the
people can see more clearly how God’s plan of salvation is taking shape. And God’s plan will not rely on conventional
wisdom to take them home.
Instead,
God’s plan is fulfilled through a king who was born without any pomp and
circumstance. God’s plan is announced in remote fishing village on the Sea of Galilee.
And as we see in today’s lesson, God’s plan relies on simple fishermen whom
Jesus will make fish for people.
God’s plan can only truly be seen
when our man-made instruments of salvation are shorted out. There will be no
great kings with extensive military experience to come and save the day. There
will be no great army with the best training and equipment. Again and again,
even the best and brightest crumble under the weight of power and control.
Instead, the One who will save the
people leads with humility and mercy. The One who will save the people leads
with a heart of justice - not a justice found in the court of law but a justice that starts by lifting up the lowly and most vulnerable
in society. And the One who will save the people recruits a band of followers –
not by going to the synagogues, not by picking from a group of lobbyists, but
by gathering a few blue-collar workers whose only agenda is to run their
business and take care of their family.
And that’s just who Jesus is
looking for. He doesn’t need single-issue followers. He doesn’t need followers
who are trying to climb the proverbial ladder. He doesn’t need people bringing
their own agendas to the table. He needs followers who are completely open to
his way and these fishermen fit just the bill.
Even then, following Jesus is hard
for these fishermen. They will develop their own hopes and dreams and agendas
along the way. They will argue with one another about who should be greatest
once Jesus takes the throne.
They, too, will fail to see the way
of Jesus even when his way is at arm’s length. And for a moment, at the end on
Calvary, the cockpit lights will short out for them and one by one they will at
ditch into the ocean. But once and for all, on the third day, Jesus will show
them and the whole world that God’s light will never be vanquished and one day
God’s light will never be hidden from sight.
So, when Jesus says, “Repent and
believe in the good news,” he is saying, drop your agendas, drop your desire
for greatness, drop your proverbial nets, and live toward the true light, live
toward the things that will get you through the darkest of days – live toward
love and compassion, humility and kindness, justice and mercy - live through me.
Live as if the kingdom is at hand. Even
when the cockpit lights short out, even when your dreams of a better family
life, a better Selma, a better country, a better world die, live as if you
trust that a light is glowing somewhere in the darkness, live with a faith that
believes that God’s dream for humanity has been and is being and will be
accomplished in the way of Jesus – for you never know what events are going to
transpire to lead you and the whole world home. Amen
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