You Won't Believe What Happened at Work Today

Matthew 4:12-23

"You Won't Believe What Happened at Work Today"

So, our family was gathered together around the TV, something which happens less & less often. We were watching the start of the new season of American Idol. We agreed that we enjoy the early rounds much more than the later. In the later rounds, the contestants are all being coached and polished into the next great superstars, like Carrie Underwood or Phillip Phillips. Late in the season Idol's just a matter of who's slightly better enough to be voted #1 by Americans with phones and computers. But in the early rounds, it's like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Some are diamonds in the rough, and some are just rough. In a way, I really miss Simon, especially when someone with as much vocal talent as I have tries singing "House of the Rising Sun." Simon was so honest. "That was absolute rubbish! Please do not even whistle a tune ever again!" The judges now are so nice. And I think the producers might be weeding out the embarrassingly awful. Still, hope springs eternal for another "Pants on the Ground."

The other complaint I have about American Idol is that it seems to take forever. It's not suspenseful; it's just long. The show would be so different if on the first night of competition, Ryan Seacrest walked through the convention center, looked around for a minute and pointed out a winner without ever hearing them sing. "You. And for second place, you. OK, that's good. Everybody else can go home now."

OK, I know that's probably not the best idea. The choice criterion isn't, you're the best. It's not, you're pretty good. It's not, you've got some potential. It's not, at least you're better than him. It's not, well, you're not rubbish. The criterion for choosing the next winner is, you'll do.

How many people do you think would watch that? How many viewers would the show catch? What's the point?

Today's scripture is about Jesus selecting the first disciples. And his selection process is unspectacular. No combines, no playoffs, no dance-offs, no sing-offs. No preach-offs. No judging panel. No nationwide voting. No Idol-ish winner, no heartbroken losers. The closer I look at this passage, the more convinced I get that the Bible's intentionally showing the disciple-picking process as almost totally random. Jesus just walks through the convention center, or along the seashore, and said, "You'll do."

That is SO opposite the way we pick anything. Job applicants, college students, spouses, singing sensations… cars, homes… fresh produce. All our important choices involve a process of elimination. Pick the best of the bunch, the highest rated in Consumer Reports, the most stars on Amazon. It's almost impossible for us to think that Jesus would choose his followers, his disciples, any other way.

Good news for the disciples: Jesus just isn't that picky. Good news for us: he still isn't. As far as we're concerned, two of the most merciful words we'll ever hear are: "You'll do."

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"…he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him."

I always wonder how the discussion went when Zebedee got home. 

Mrs. Z says, "Evening, dear. How was your day?"

And Zeb says, "Honey, you won't believe what happened at work today."

Now. Other preachers, including younger versions of myself, have spoken about the calling of the fishermen. And because preachers are also men and women who apply the selection standards of American Idol to almost all our life choices, especially important ones, we aren't satisfied with the bare bones of the Bible. It's too simple. It's too random. So we make up explanations why the disciples just walked away from their nets, their jobs, their families.

Explanation #1. Charm. Jesus had a magnetic personality. Jesus was so charismatic that his call was irresistible. It was as if he hypnotized them, or put a magic spell on them. Or summoned forth the strength of Almighty God's will upon them. 

Explanation #2. Marketing. He had the world's best slogan: "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." Pure genius. That's even better than, "I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Explanation #3. Condensed disciples. Time was short and parchment was expensive, so the Bible just gives us the Reader's Digest version of what happened. The disciples had been sneaking off on their lunch hours for weeks to hear Jesus preach. So when he walked by, they already had their bags packed and were ready to go.

Explanation #4. Job dissatisfaction. They hated fishing so much even preaching looked better.

Explanation #5. Fate. The stereotypical Presbyterian answer: it was *predestined.*

The real explanation could be any or all of the above. Or something else. You might have a better idea. It's not the explanation itself; it's that we hunt for explanations. Any reason is better than no reason. We hate irrational actions. Even good ones make us suspicious. "Honey, the boys say they're leaving us and quitting their jobs to follow Jesus. Today." Now, normally, following Jesus is a good thing, right? But to literally drop your responsibilities and to treat your mom and dad that way? That's not right. Something's up.

The disciples and their choices are one thing. The truly bothersome person in all this, I think, is Jesus. That Jesus might really just be walking along the shore, and call out to some arbitrary guys at work strains our faith in the power of the Almighty Lord. We think, He must have had some sort of vetting process. But maybe not. We think, Maybe he could see the future. But maybe not. Maybe he was confident he could do amazing things with even the least-talented contestants. But maybe not.

It doesn't make sense that Jesus, the Lord of Lords, would so casually pick anyone less than the finest. The Son of God is worthy of our best and worthy of THE best of the best of followers. We think of the Son of God and we think he had to be irresistible. He had to be undeniable. He had to be incontestable. 

But that would be turning Jesus into an idol. The Bible itself testifies that Jesus's own disciples denied him. One betrayed him. All of them deserted him. A population refused him. A crowd crucified him. 

And it's not just the people in the Bible. We vote against Jesus, whenever it's more expedient to do otherwise. We deny Jesus, whenever a more attractive idea comes along. We can put him on trial. We can set him aside, erase him from consideration. The disciples weren't finalists; they were more like preliminaries, better than some, not as talented as others. Just random, everyday people who happened to be in the right place at the right time, the day Jesus went for a walk by the sea.

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The amazingly good news in this is that Jesus picks followers not because they're the best, but because they're present. He picks people who might have said no to him in the past, but who will surely say no to him sometime in the future, not because they're bad, but because followers do. Jesus picks people he knows are going to mess up. He picks people he knows are a mess. He doesn't care about picking idols; he picks people. Real people. Men, women, kids and seniors. People who rush headlong into stuff they're not ready for and people who can't remember why they came into a room. He doesn't pick people who line up at a competition. He picks people who are doing whatever work they normally do in a regular day. He looks around and people like you and says, "You'll do. Now, come, follow me."

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I don't want to crush anyone's dreams. But the odds of you winning American Idol are not good. But the odds of Jesus picking you to be his follower, the odds of Jesus choosing you to do something for him, something in his name, something randomly kind and extra-ordinarily merciful? Those odds are pretty good. You may not be the most talented person on the face of the earth, but in the eyes of Jesus, you'll do.