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The concept you’re referring to is often called “presentism.” Presentism is the practice of interpreting past events, people, or cultures by the standards and values of the present. It involves judging historical figures and actions based on contemporary ethical and moral standards. Critics of presentism argue that it can lead to anachronistic assessments, where past societies are unfairly criticized for not adhering to modern values, which they could not have known or embraced at their time. It’s a topic that generates much debate, especially in the fields of history and ethics, as it touches on how we understand and learn from the past.

2 Junuary 2024

Port Elizabeth 14 January 2024

Transcribed using OCR so there may be transcriprion errors

Sermon

I came across this short passage that sums up the bible in fifty

words:

“God made, Adam bit, Noah arked, Abraham split, Joseph ruled,
Jacob Fooled, bush talk, Moses balked, Pharaoh plagued, people
walked, Sea divided, tablets guided, promised landed, Saul
freaked, David peeked, prophets warned, Jesus born, God
walked, love talked, anger crucified, hope died, love rose, Spirit
flamed, word spread, God remained.”

Someone once observed that disciples come in three varieties,
tugboat, sailboats and rafts.

Tugboats follow Jesus not only in sunny weather, but also in
stormy weather. They follow him not only when the wind and
waves serve them, but when they oppose them. They are people
who love always, day in and day out, not just when they feel
like it.

Sailboats disciples follow Jesus in sunny weather. They go in

his direction only when the wind and waves serve them. When

stormy weather comes they go in the direction that they are

blown. following the crowd more than Jesus.

Then we have the rafts disciples. They are not really followers
of Jesus at all. They won’t follow him even when the wind and
waves serve them. They follow only when they are pushed or
pulled, acting like Christians because they have to or because it
is to their personal advantage to do so.

Transition 1
Today we find The Old Testament and the Gospel really link
together and the impact and importance of them warrants a
closer look. Both of these passages talks to us today about
God’s call on the lives of people and as we consider the way in
which God has called people in the past we can begin to
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understand a little better the way in which God is calling us
today to do his work in the world.

Main point 1
Samuel had been born in response to his mother’s prayer to cure
her barrenness and to show her thankfulness for her miracle
child, his mother dedicated him to the Lord. After he had been
weaned his mother had brought him to the sanctuary of Shiloh

and there he has been brought up by the priest Eli.

One night Samuel hears a voice calling to him. Now hearing
voices can be very dangerous. People have done and still do
dreadful things while claiming that a voice told them to do them.
An American comedian used to utter phrase, “The devil made
me do it.”

The youthful Samuel didn’t know what to make of the voice so
he sought the guidance of the elderly priest Eli and perhaps this
is the first thing that we can learn today.

If we think that God is calling us to do something we must

check it out, get a second opinion, get it confirmed before we
commit ourselves to a course of action. Eventually, convinced
that it truly was the voice of God that was calling him, Samuel
responded, ‘Speak Lord, your servant is listening.’ That was
how he received the call to be a prophet.
As a result as his response to his call Samuel played a huge part

in the building up of Israel and he was the instrument through

whom Israel got its first kings.

Transition 2

In the Gospel passage we have St John’s version of Jesus
calling Philip and Nathanael to follow him. It’s quite an
interesting account because of the way in which Philip
responded to God’s call on his life.
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Main point 2

Jesus found Philip and said to him, “Come with me!”

Now at that period of time in Israel for a rabbi to approach
someone and call them to follow was a very great honour
because it meant that the rabbi had seen something very special
in you and was now prepared to continue your education.

To put this in the present day context it would be like getting a
matric university exemption and then having the university
contact you and them asking you to study with them.

But look at Philip’s reaction to this good news he does not keep

it to himself but goes out straight away, sharing it with

Nathanael and then most important of all brings him to meet

Jesus.

This is another thing that we can learn today, that when Jesus
touches our lives, we need to be ready to share this good news
with others so that Jesus can touch their lives as well.

Jesus confirms Nathanael’s call by showing him that it was a
very special personal call from Jesus to him and only him, by
giving him some personal information that could only apply to
Nathanael and nobody else. Jesus saw within Nathanael that he
was a true Israelite, in whom there was nothing false.
Further to that Jesus said that he had seen Nathanael while he sat
under the fig tree. A favourite place for study and prayer in hot
weather.

Transition 3

Who knows in what way a person’s call make itself heard?

We might conclude from the story of Samuel’s call that we must
hear God’s voice calling clearly if we are supposed to do a
particular thing.
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Main point 3

In the old and Gospel readings we are dealing with a unique and
specific call, what is more commonly called a vocation.
Samuel is being called to the role of prophet, and Philip and

Nathanael to discipleship. However the common thread that

flows through both these accounts is that the initiative is always

with God, the call’ is always his, and every call demands a

response.

Great events often begin very simply. This is how Jesus began
his mission. He looked for a little band of kindred souls, and
demanded total commitment from them and got it.

God calls us too, in many ways, and at different levels.

He called us into life itself and throughout our lives God
continues to call us to a life worthy of our dignity as his
children. And finally at death God will call us from this life into
eternal life.

God’s call can take many forms, and be fulfilled in different
ways. It may not be as dramatic as was the call of Samuel, or as
*real’ as that of the first apostles. Yet God speaks to us in the
depths of our heart, calling us into intimacy with himself, and t
be his co-workers in the world.
Rather than a voice, his call may be more of a tug at our hearts,

which we feel at quiet and reflective moments in our lives.

Sometimes this may make itself felt in a very forceful way. But

most times it is likely to be as gentle as a breeze, very casy to

miss if we are not listening for it.

Conclusion
The call of Samuel and the call of the first disciples are both
relevant for our lives. Just as Samuel was called by God to the
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task of being a prophet, so each of us is called to do some
specific work for God in the world.

And the call of the disciples applies to us too, because at our
baptism and again at our confirmation we were called to
discipleship.

Every vocation is worthy of honour. And every vocation is a call
to the fullness of love.

Just in case you still need a definition of what a vocation is St
Francis de Sales defined it as, “A good vocation is simply a firm
and constant will in which the called person has to serve God in
the way and in the places to which the Almighty God has called
him (or her).”

Follow Me

Follow Me – Transcribed using OCR

Dr Mason of Burma once wanted a teacher to visit and labour among
a warlike tribe and asked his converted boatman if he would go. He
told him that as a teacher he would receive only four rupees per
month whereas as a boatman he was receiving fifteen rupees.

After praying over the matter, the boatman returned to the doctor and
the following conversation occurred.

“Well Shapon,” said the doctor, “what have you decided? Will you go
for four rupees a month?”

No, teacher,” replied the Shapon, “I will not go for four rupees a
month but I will go for Christ.”

Transition point one

Mark’s gospel passage is telling us two things, one it is following on
from John’s gospel of last week, when we recalled the calling of
Nathanael and Phillip and secondly, According to Mark this is the
first time Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God.

Jesus does not at this point say much about the kingdom, but the
passage goes on to say more about the calling of four more disciples.
The reality that the gospels make much of the stories of Jesus calling
his disciple’s and who he chooses tells us just how important it was
and still is today.

But let’s first look at Jesus statement, The Kingdom of God is near,

repent and believe the good news.

Main point one

Jesus message of the Good News has those three great, dominant
words of the Christian faith. There is the good news, repent and

believe.
The good news gives us six points to hold on to.
Until Jesus came, people could only guess and grope about after God,
but with the coming of Jesus, people could clearly see what God is
like. The news that Jesus brought was of hope. The world at that time
was a pessimistic world and people became defeated very quickly.

It was good news of peace. Everyone has two competing natures, the

nature of goodness and the nature of sin. The coming of Jesus unities

the two natures and victory is won over the sinful nature.

The good news is God’s promise. God is often perceived to bea God
of threats, but Jesus shows us that God is a God of promise, always
more ready to give more then we are to ask.

The good news that Jesus brings us is the news of immortality,

characteristically we are all dying, but Jesus came with the news that
we are on the way to life, eternal life not to death.

Finally there is the good news of salvation. This is not simply
liberation from penalties and escape from past sinfulness, it is the
power to live our life in such a way that leads to victory.
The second dominant word is repent. Jesus is calling us to repent.

True repentance means that we have come to hate the sin, not just the

consequences. There are many people who are sorry for the mess that

their sin has gotten them into, but who would probably commit the

same sin again if the consequences of such could be avoided.

The final word here is to believe. To believe in the good news is
simply to take Jesus at his word. To believe that God so loves the
world that he will make any sacrifice to bring us back to himself. To
believe in what sounds too good to be true, yet is truly the truth.

Transition point two

This brings us to the second part of Mark’s writing today and is
perhaps for some of us here today a very important call. Jesus
continues to call his followers, his friends, the ones who will carry his
message on when he has gone.
Jesus was a good leader, he knew he needed staff, so he set about
inviting people to join him in his vision. Inviting ordinary people, for
one doesn’t have to be exceptional to be a disciple of Jesus.

Main point two

Who were these men? They were fishermen, simple folk, neither
learned nor wealthy, not from the ecclesiastics or aristocracy. They
were ordinary people. People that Jesus believed in. What were they
doing? They were doing their work, catching fish. Josephus, who was
governor of Galilee and was an historian of the Jews, tells us that in
his day there were 330 fishing boats that sailed the waters of the lake.
That is how ordinary these men were. Fish was the staple diet in
Palestine and was mostly salt fish as there was no other means of
transporting fresh fish. So many people in the area would have been
employed in some way in the fishing industry.

God calls those that work, when we sit idle God has little for us to do.
There is that old saying, “If you want something done, ask a busy
person to do it.”

Transition point three

How did Jesus call them? He simply said “Follow me”. There was no
interview, or suggestion that they might like to be involved in a new
theological debate, just a quiet invitation to follow. Which raises the
question, “why did they?”

Main point three

These men, had no doubt been in the crowds that had listen to Jesus
and maybe had stayed to ask questions. Their hearts had been stirred
and they felt the magnetism of his presence. They followed in
response to their own personal reaction to him. The greatest number
of people who follow Christ do so, not because of anything that Jesus
said or did but because of everything that He is.

What did Jesus offer them? A task, work, service, Jesus offered them

a cause to which they could dedicate their lives to.
Jesus told them that he would make them fishers of men. Meaning
this was a call to be of service to others. These men were not called to
be of service to himself, but to others. Jesus was not looking to
round himself with a group of people who would do his bidding
and be his slaves. He called men who would carry on after he had

gone.
This call meant giving up all their own plans, ambitions and
securities. James and John in particular, they were in their father’s
boat and would have expectations of inheriting upon their father’s
death. They put their careers on the line so to speak. This was not just
a change of career, but a whole new vocation that which would serve
others.

Conclusion
If Jesus were to walk among us today and see us at our daily work,
would he see that special something within us that would encourage
him to say to us “Follow me”. Even more importantly would we be
ready to leave our nets and go