Duccio c. 1308 – The Calling of Peter & Andrew
Epiphany III A_RCL
Jan 23, 2011
St. Benedict’s, Los Osos CA
The Rev. Brian H. O. A. McHugh
Isaiah 9: 1-4
Isaiah 9: 1-4
Ps 27: 1,5-13
1 Corinthians 1: 10-18
Matthew 4: 12-23
“Called” ….. yes. All persons are called to Wholeness and to Fullness of Humanity. I believe that this Call is intrinsic to our very nature, and that all the great spiritual paths of the World give voice to this Call. The Episcopal Church made its thinking clear on a poster during the time when Ed Browning was our Presiding Bishop; it said “The glory of God is a human being fully alive”. It derives from the teachings of Irenaeus of Lyons in the late 2nd century. [ link: http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/149/Man_Fully_Alive_is_the_Glory_of_God___St._Irenaeus.html ]
There is, of course, the other side of the coin. Yes, the Call is voiced, out of the very depth of the Mystery of Being ….. but who hears, how do they hear, and who answers? There seems to be a general consensus that “few” answer. Cynthia Bourgeault, Episcopal priest and author of “The Wisdom Jesus”, using a computer software image, reflects that every human being is born with a “hard-wired operating system” which allows us to establish a distinct identity, but that we are all called to chose a “system upgrade”, which essentially moves us from isolation and separateness to a sense of Oneness with God and each other and the World. Jesus prays intensely for this in the version of the Gospel called John – Father, may they be One as You and I are One.
One of the mysteries is that few seem to choose this “upgrade”, this Path, and it is important to ask, “Why?”. We all know the phrase, Many are called, but few are chosen. In the context of that statement, I think the phrase means, All are called, but many reject it. Is it because, in part, we don’t have many good teachers or exemplars? And that by nature we human beings are lazy about doing the work that keeps on the Path to Wholeness and Fullness of Humanity? I’ve just finished reading a book called "The Value of Nothing”, by an economist named Raj Patel. He says basically that we have allowed an extreme view of unregulated free market profit economics to define what is of value, including ourselves, and that we must change this if the human race is not to descend into both physical and spiritual poverty.
So yes: we Christians are Called by the Gospel….. but essentially to what? Here is a painting from the 14th century Renaissance painter Duccio, depicting the Calling of Peter and Andrew to be apostles and disciples of Jesus. [ I will leave this here on the lectern if you would like to see it more closely, and I will include it with the sermon when it is posted to my sermon blog.] Duccio was greatly influenced by the Byzantine icon style, and that style is strong in this painting. Peter and Andrew are in their boat fishing; this is some time after both had met Jesus. Andrew is waving, and Peter looks stern and skeptical. The sky is golden behind them, indicating that this is a moment set in Eternity. Their net is full of fish ….. live food to feed the biological body. Jesus is standing on the rocky shore, reminding us of the parable of the man who built his house on the solid rock. He is holding out his hand to Peter and Andrew. The Gospel reading tells us that he is saying, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fish for people.” It is the same invitation He will offer to them at the Last Supper: “This bread is my Body broken for you; this cup is my blood of the New Covenant; anyone who eats this bread and drinks this cup will live forever”. It is the same invitation He offers to the Syrophoenecian woman: Anyone who drinks this living water will never be thirsty. What Jesus is saying to Peter and Andrew is that if they accept His call to transformation, accept His invitation to renounce their “little self” and become their “larger self”, One with God and with all fellow human beings, they will become a Fellowship of Life in which wholeness and fullness will be found.
This of course is the Call of the Church, the Call to us here at St. Benedict’s: to be that Mystical Body of the Christ, where separation and exclusivity and isolation are renounced. As Fishers of People, we cast out the net of Compassion and Unity and draw men and women into the Kingdom. The Church is not a place where we “admire Jesus, but acquire His consciousness”. The Church is called to be a place which lives by the Heart – through harmony, where “separation as a category disappears”, and we are free to live in “fearlessness, coherence and compassion, in other words, as true human beings”
Here also is found the meaning of the Cross. The Way of the Cross is our journey – where the “horizontal axis of our life in time” meets with “the vertical access of timeless reality: the realm of meaning, value, and conscience” . Where they cross is the Heart of Jesus.
The Call is an invitation with far more consequences that “doing good”, far harder than “dying for the Faith”. It is about coming alive and living for the Faith, about being transformed into a “new person in Christ”. C.S. Lewis depicts it beautifully in "The Chronicles of Narnia” when Eustace, by his greed and lack of caring for his cousins becomes a dragon; being transformed back into a true human being by Aslan is painful, but worth it; Eustace is clothed in the personhood of the Christ, clothed in his divine Humanity.
Every day that you and I live, we are sitting in front of the Laptop of Life. And every now and then, the Message appears on the screen: “An upgrade to this software is available.” There are usually three choices: Yes; Remind me Later; No”. Any one of the three choices comes with a cost and, counterintuitively, in terms of our health and growth as a person, “Yes” is the least costly choice in the long run that is Life. “Remind me Later” or “No” only infantilize us and the cost is heavy.
Every time we come to this altar, hear the Word spoken and interpreted, and hear the invitation to feed on the Body and Blood of the Christ, we are like Peter and Andrew being Called to be transformed, to become an instrument of transformation, a place where the old, out of date software is upgraded for the Journey towards Wholeness.
Each time an “upgrade” is offered, as it is today here at St. Benedict’s – in the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and in the Prayers, those vows of our Baptism – the invitation is yet again offered to leave the “small Self” and enter into the “larger Self” ….. to “put on the mind of Christ”.
Christ holds out His hand to us. Like Peter, let’s be lifted onto a new plane of Being. Let us be Fishers of Women and Men.
“Called” ….. yes. All persons are called to Wholeness and to Fullness of Humanity. I believe that this Call is intrinsic to our very nature, and that all the great spiritual paths of the World give voice to this Call. The Episcopal Church made its thinking clear on a poster during the time when Ed Browning was our Presiding Bishop; it said “The glory of God is a human being fully alive”. It derives from the teachings of Irenaeus of Lyons in the late 2nd century. [ link: http://www.crossroadsinitiative.com/library_article/149/Man_Fully_Alive_is_the_Glory_of_God___St._Irenaeus.html ]
There is, of course, the other side of the coin. Yes, the Call is voiced, out of the very depth of the Mystery of Being ….. but who hears, how do they hear, and who answers? There seems to be a general consensus that “few” answer. Cynthia Bourgeault, Episcopal priest and author of “The Wisdom Jesus”, using a computer software image, reflects that every human being is born with a “hard-wired operating system” which allows us to establish a distinct identity, but that we are all called to chose a “system upgrade”, which essentially moves us from isolation and separateness to a sense of Oneness with God and each other and the World. Jesus prays intensely for this in the version of the Gospel called John – Father, may they be One as You and I are One.
One of the mysteries is that few seem to choose this “upgrade”, this Path, and it is important to ask, “Why?”. We all know the phrase, Many are called, but few are chosen. In the context of that statement, I think the phrase means, All are called, but many reject it. Is it because, in part, we don’t have many good teachers or exemplars? And that by nature we human beings are lazy about doing the work that keeps on the Path to Wholeness and Fullness of Humanity? I’ve just finished reading a book called "The Value of Nothing”, by an economist named Raj Patel. He says basically that we have allowed an extreme view of unregulated free market profit economics to define what is of value, including ourselves, and that we must change this if the human race is not to descend into both physical and spiritual poverty.
So yes: we Christians are Called by the Gospel….. but essentially to what? Here is a painting from the 14th century Renaissance painter Duccio, depicting the Calling of Peter and Andrew to be apostles and disciples of Jesus. [ I will leave this here on the lectern if you would like to see it more closely, and I will include it with the sermon when it is posted to my sermon blog.] Duccio was greatly influenced by the Byzantine icon style, and that style is strong in this painting. Peter and Andrew are in their boat fishing; this is some time after both had met Jesus. Andrew is waving, and Peter looks stern and skeptical. The sky is golden behind them, indicating that this is a moment set in Eternity. Their net is full of fish ….. live food to feed the biological body. Jesus is standing on the rocky shore, reminding us of the parable of the man who built his house on the solid rock. He is holding out his hand to Peter and Andrew. The Gospel reading tells us that he is saying, “Come, follow Me, and I will make you fish for people.” It is the same invitation He will offer to them at the Last Supper: “This bread is my Body broken for you; this cup is my blood of the New Covenant; anyone who eats this bread and drinks this cup will live forever”. It is the same invitation He offers to the Syrophoenecian woman: Anyone who drinks this living water will never be thirsty. What Jesus is saying to Peter and Andrew is that if they accept His call to transformation, accept His invitation to renounce their “little self” and become their “larger self”, One with God and with all fellow human beings, they will become a Fellowship of Life in which wholeness and fullness will be found.
This of course is the Call of the Church, the Call to us here at St. Benedict’s: to be that Mystical Body of the Christ, where separation and exclusivity and isolation are renounced. As Fishers of People, we cast out the net of Compassion and Unity and draw men and women into the Kingdom. The Church is not a place where we “admire Jesus, but acquire His consciousness”. The Church is called to be a place which lives by the Heart – through harmony, where “separation as a category disappears”, and we are free to live in “fearlessness, coherence and compassion, in other words, as true human beings”
Here also is found the meaning of the Cross. The Way of the Cross is our journey – where the “horizontal axis of our life in time” meets with “the vertical access of timeless reality: the realm of meaning, value, and conscience” . Where they cross is the Heart of Jesus.
The Call is an invitation with far more consequences that “doing good”, far harder than “dying for the Faith”. It is about coming alive and living for the Faith, about being transformed into a “new person in Christ”. C.S. Lewis depicts it beautifully in "The Chronicles of Narnia” when Eustace, by his greed and lack of caring for his cousins becomes a dragon; being transformed back into a true human being by Aslan is painful, but worth it; Eustace is clothed in the personhood of the Christ, clothed in his divine Humanity.
Every day that you and I live, we are sitting in front of the Laptop of Life. And every now and then, the Message appears on the screen: “An upgrade to this software is available.” There are usually three choices: Yes; Remind me Later; No”. Any one of the three choices comes with a cost and, counterintuitively, in terms of our health and growth as a person, “Yes” is the least costly choice in the long run that is Life. “Remind me Later” or “No” only infantilize us and the cost is heavy.
Every time we come to this altar, hear the Word spoken and interpreted, and hear the invitation to feed on the Body and Blood of the Christ, we are like Peter and Andrew being Called to be transformed, to become an instrument of transformation, a place where the old, out of date software is upgraded for the Journey towards Wholeness.
Each time an “upgrade” is offered, as it is today here at St. Benedict’s – in the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and in the Prayers, those vows of our Baptism – the invitation is yet again offered to leave the “small Self” and enter into the “larger Self” ….. to “put on the mind of Christ”.
Christ holds out His hand to us. Like Peter, let’s be lifted onto a new plane of Being. Let us be Fishers of Women and Men.
