Epiphany III

Reformation, Media

Larry V. Smoose

“My son is looking around for a possible career change.  He’s been at his job for over twenty years, but he is getting tired of always worrying about the bottom line – all the company thinks about, he says, is money.  He wants to do something where he can have more contact with people – transformational leadership.”  It was a casual remark made as part of a “Care check” at a recent ministry meeting.  But as I heard it, I thought what makes people consider changing jobs or changing careers? 

For a lot of people, losing a job becomes an opportunity to re-evaluate what they want to do and which direction they want to go.  For others, like Vicar Frances, retirement can become an opportunity to explore paths that were not open or practical earlier in life.  Sometimes a new opportunity that just falls in your lap or maybe it’s weariness with a dead-end job that drives you to look at your options.  Whatever the reason, statisticians tell us that you can expect three career changes – not job changes, but career changes – in your life time and life coaches say it is closer to 4 to 7 career changes as technology drives constantly evolving life skills.

I don’t think evolving technology was the issue with Peter and Andrew and James and John.  But I have to wonder if their career change as recorded in our gospel lesson was as simple as Mark’s recollection.  Even if they did immediately drop their nets and just follow Jesus, I have to wonder if they had been thinking about a change – wanting some travel and adventure, or simply were dissatisfied with their present job.  Why would they abruptly drop their nets, leave their job and follow Jesus?

James and John obviously grew up in a fishing family.  They were with their father who had prospered enough in the business to have at least one boat and some hired hands.  Undoubtedly they were expected to take over the family business – whether or not it was something they wanted to do.  And, after all, it would provide security – if that’s most the important thing in life.  But what if you don’t really like what you are doing? 

And then there’s Peter and Andrew may have been like the young men I saw in Tanzania last year.  As I sat having breakfast looking out over the Indian Ocean, I noticed along the shore two young men pulling in a net.  They had cast it out about 15-20 yards, and then had waited and after 15-20 minutes they began to pull the two ends toward the shore to trap fish in the billowing net.  Not an easy life and without a boat, limited mobility and likely a smaller catch. If Peter and James had been doing that since their early teen years, it’s possible that an opportunity for a change – even with all of the uncertainty – might be welcome.   Jesus came along at the right time. 

As I think about it, God has called people in every age to evaluate their jobs, evaluate their lives, evaluate their attitudes and purpose in order to consider changes that will align their lives with God’s mighty plan and give them a joy, a satisfaction and a purpose in their lives that is missing in their present position.  Look at Jonah – now here was a guy who was resisting any change in his life.  You can’t get a much clearer call from God than Jonah received.  But, Jonah was not about to help people he did not like.  He was the George Wallace of the Old Testament with his pre-conceived, ingrained prejudicial attitudes about Ninevites.  God had his hands full, trying to change Jonah’s attitude and mindset in order to get him to understand that the Ninevites were also children loved by God.  Sometimes God puts us in positions that force us to look at dimensions about ourselves that are not healthy – pull us in directions that we don’t want to go – only to later discover those changes made our lives much better.

Jonah wasn’t the first one who God encouraged to change careers, and he wouldn’t be the last.  Before Peter and Andrew were told to leaving fishing, David was told to leave his sheep – “I’ll make you a shepherd of people,” God said, “You will lead the nation to a new era of prosperity and peace.”  And after James and John left their boat and were following Jesus, they watched as a man named Zaccheus went through a transformation that did not involve a job change, but certainly changed his attitude about his job.  While Jonah had to change his attitude about certain people, Zaccheus had to change his attitude about money and wealth.  He had to reconsider the definition of honesty, question whether to use his legal options to acquire bigger profits; and hear – really hear – why people disliked and did not trust tax collectors because of the way the system had given them unfair power over the average person.  Time with Jesus gave him a new attitude and with it, he gained new purpose and new self-respect, and while he kept the same job, he changed to best business practices.

And what about the women, whose stories are almost always tucked in the margins of the Bible?  There’s Mary Magdalene, Salome and Joanna and even the mother of our fishermen, James and John, all of whom are listed among the women following Jesus and keeping vigil at Calvary and caring for Jesus’ body.  Surely they had made decisions about following Jesus that involved balancing family life or leaving homes and pursuing new directions.  They had to re-think their role and reconsider their purpose in life.  Jesus gave women a new respect and status long before society would consider women’s roles,  and it changed their lives too. 

When you think about it, God is calling all of us to evaluate our jobs, our lives, our attitudes and to follow him.  To the Zaccheus’ of the financial world, God is calling us to re-evaluate the greed dominated attitudes that compromise business standards and use the system to get ahead at the expense of others and to be transformed by a Lord who models generosity to those in need, encourages the proper use of wealth and following responsible business practices. 

The Jonah’s of white supremism, and modern racism with their hate-filled narrow-mindedness, are called to be transformed to a God’s eye view of humanity where all are loved, all have value and all are treated with equal opportunity and respect.  And to the Ninevites whose destructive ways threaten a nation, God sends Mahatma Ghandi’s and Martin Luther King’s and Nelson Mandella’s to proclaim the need to change attitudes and actions or face the destructive consequences of their ways.

And to the rest of us – the Peter’s and Andrew’s, James’ and John’s; Mary Magdalene’s and Joanna’s and Martha’s and Mary’s of life – those of us who are just doing our jobs, but perhaps grappling for guidance in life -- thinking about going back to school or moving in a new direction; struggling with decisions about staying in a family business or considering a career change that will give new purpose in life; or wanting to stay in our job but looking for ways to give that job new meaning – take time in the midst of your uncertainty and struggle to pray.  Seek God’s guidance in your life.  Talk to others – who knows where God might be leading you. 

For, it’s while people are in the midst of everyday life that the invitation comes to act on your inclination, to hear God’s voice in your need for change, to venture into the future with God’s purposes guiding your decisions.  Ultimately, God wants you to be happy in your life as you serve God’s purpose, whatever that may be.   No one who has responded to God’s call, who has aligned their life with God’s ways, or decided to live as a follower of Jesus, even with all of the struggle and difficulty it might require, has ever regretted it.  Indeed, with Peter and Andrew, James and John, their life began anew when they decided to follow Jesus.  Your struggles might be God’s opportunities beckoning you; your prayers are for Jesus to lead you. 

Amen.